Pepperdine Seeking Fifth Championship
It’s hard enough to defeat a team three times in a season, but four?
That will be the challenge for Pepperdine today when the Waves go for their fifth national men’s volleyball championship as they face Hawaii at State College, Pa. The match is scheduled for 4 p.m. PDT and will be shown live on ESPN2.
Top-ranked Pepperdine (29-4) twice beat second-seeded Hawaii (23-8) in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play and again in the championship of the conference tournament last weekend.
Pepperdine freshman outside hitter Sean Rooney has 58 kills against Hawaii in the three matches with a .457 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Lance Walker has 52 kills and junior middle blocker Brad Keenan has 26 blocks.
The Waves also have been successful in holding Hawaii senior outside hitter Costas Theocharidis to a hitting percentage of .303.
This is Pepperdine’s ninth appearance in the NCAA title game, but its first since a 1998 loss to UCLA. Hawaii, which is seeking its first national championship in any men’s sport, last reached the title game in 1996, also losing to UCLA.
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