VOLLEYBALL / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : East Finally Beats West With UCLA Loss

This isn’t the type of history UCLA likes to make.

The top-ranked Bruins became the first school to lose an NCAA men’s volleyball championship match to an Eastern school Saturday night, falling to second-seeded Penn State, 9-15, 15-13, 4-15, 15-12, 15-12, at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

“This should be a boon for East Coast volleyball,” said UCLA Coach Al Scates, who was seeking his 15th national crown. “We’re looking forward to playing them again.”

The defending champion Bruins had not played Penn State this season, which Scates said evened things up considerably.

“They’re the only good team that we didn’t play this year, and we didn’t see them until last night,” Scates said. “They’re a difficult team to score on because they run a very quick attack, and when they’re allowed to move the ball around quite a bit, they can be very deceptive.”

UCLA had the Nittany Lions confused early in Game 4 with a 6-0 lead and a two-games-to-one advantage.

That’s when tournament most valuable player Ramon Hernandez rallied Penn State, notching 17 kills with no errors in the game, including three straight kills to give the Nittany Lions a 13-12 lead.

UCLA’s Jeff Nygaard followed by misfiring on two straight kill attempts to complete a seven-point run and extend the match to a decisive fifth game.

Penn State, buoyed by a crowd of 7,908, rode a wave of emotion to a 12-8 lead in Game 5. The Bruins rallied to a 12-12 tie before Paul Nihipali and Erik Sullivan committed errors and Penn State’s Byron Schneider converted a kill to complete one of the biggest upsets in collegiate volleyball history.

“We knew Penn State had been in this position before. Penn State was not nervous,” said Penn State’s Ed Josefoski, noting UCLA’s 17 three-game wins this season. “UCLA had not been in that position before. They were going to crack.”

West Coast schools won the first 24 volleyball crowns, and schools outside California appeared in championship matches only two times before Saturday night.

“This should put a lot of people on notice,” said Penn State Coach Tom Peterson.

Nygaard tied a school match record with 37 kills, but he also committed 18 errors to finish with a .229 kill percentage.

The Bruins started strong, taking a 6-0 lead in the first game before Penn State rallied briefly to make it 11-9. UCLA, however, scored three straight points on Nihipali’s serve to effectively put the game away.

Penn State trailed, 7-3, in Game 2 but rallied to tie the match.

UCLA dominated Game 3, posting a .552 kill percentage.

Penn State’s rally forced the Bruins to lose their composure, reaching a peak in Game 5, when Kevin Wong ripped off his jersey after an official’s call went against UCLA. He received a yellow card.

Penn State converted at a .462 clip in the final game to UCLA’s .182.

The loss breaks UCLA’s 27-match overall, 14-match NCAA tournament and seven-match NCAA championship match winning streaks.

Hernandez, Schneider, Josefoski, Nygaard, Nihipali and Sullivan earned all-tournament honors.