COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL : Pepperdine Plays Penn State in Semifinal

The No. 2-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team is top seeded in the NCAA final four, which begins today at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

Pepperdine defeated defending national champion Cal State Long Beach, 15-13, 15-13, 11-15, 17-16, to win the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. championship on April 15 and earn the West Region’s automatic berth in the final four.

The Waves (22-4) will play eighth-ranked Penn State (16-12), the East Region champion, in the first semifinal today at 3:30 p.m. Pepperdine defeated Penn State twice during the regular season, both times in three games--once at Penn State on Feb. 13 and again in the finals of the Fieldhouse Classic in Buffalo, N.Y., on Feb. 15.

Top-ranked Stanford (23-3) is seeded second. Stanford earned the lone at-large berth by defeating Cal State Northridge in the WIVA tournament finals, 17-15, 15-7, 15-10, on Saturday. Stanford will meet Midwest Region champion Indiana Purdue-Ft. Wayne (27-7), seeded third, in the other semifinal at 5:30.

Pepperdine last reached the final four in 1986, when it defeated USC for the national title. This is the Waves’ eighth trip to the NCAA tournament, including four consecutive appearances from 1983-86. Pepperdine also won national titles in 1978 and 1985.

The Waves are led by outside hitters Tom Sorenson a first team All-WIVA selection who averages 7.32 kills a game, and Alon Grinberg, who has a 4.61 average.

The championship match is Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

A WIVA team has won all 22 NCAA men’s volleyball titles since the sport was sanctioned in 1970.