Bruins, Waves in Final Four

UCLA’s Al Scates begins the final push for NCAA title No. 18.

Pepperdine’s Jeff Stork would be happy with No. 1.

Scates, the coach of the UCLA men’s volleyball team, will guide the Bruins to their 22nd appearance in the NCAA Final Four, against Penn State on Thursday at Fort Wayne, Ind.

The top-seeded Bruins (27-5) earned the bid by defeating Pepperdine in four games in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament championship match.

Second-seeded Pepperdine (22-5) earned the lone at-large bid and will play third-seeded Ohio State (24-3) Thursday.

Scates, in his 38th year of coaching the Bruins, has won 17 NCAA titles.

“It’s nice,” Scates said. “What’s nicer is getting back there and winning it with a team that some people discounted.”

Among the 18 players selected for All-American honors, only one, setter Brandon Taliaferro, was chosen from UCLA.

The lineup for the Bruins, who were seeded No. 4 in the MPSF tournament, changes throughout a match, with Scates substituting liberally to find a combination that works.

Stork, the interim coach at Pepperdine while Marv Dunphy is assisting the U.S. national team for a year, would be satisfied winning his first NCAA title.

“On the national stage, this is the biggest you get,” Stork said. “It’s certainly going to be memorable. But you don’t have much time to think about the big picture.”

The championship match will be played Saturday.