League’s Strength Could Be Weakness

In any other year, Long Beach State men’s volleyball Coach Alan Knipe might have felt more at ease after advancing to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation final, as his team did Thursday night with a victory over UC Santa Barbara.

Four teams will advance to next week’s NCAA championships at UCLA, three receiving automatic bids awarded to conference champions and one receiving an at-large bid. Making the MPSF final often is enough to guarantee a spot in the Final Four; the conference has sent two teams in each of the past 11 seasons because of its status as the nation’s toughest league.

But this season is different. Long Beach State won’t be comfortable at all, even after its 30-20, 30-24, 30-25 semifinal victory at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse, because it isn’t the only team that will be considered for the at-large spot.

Facing top-seeded Pepperdine in Saturday’s final may be a must-win situation.

“We’re going to try hard not to get caught up in all of that,” Knipe said. “I’ve been told that it’s going to be hard not to vote for us after getting to the finals. That makes me feel good but we’re prepared to try to win the conference championship.”

Knipe said he believes Long Beach (22-9) has a case if it fails to defeat Pepperdine (22-2), which advanced with a 32-30, 30-27, 28-30, 30-19 victory over Cal State Northridge. If the Waves lose, they figure to be the top candidate to be selected because of their overall record.

UCLA also has an argument. The Bruins were the second-place team in the MPSF and have a 25-5 record with two wins over Long Beach and one against Pepperdine.

But their chances at making a record 24th NCAA appearance were put in danger after a five-game upset loss to Northridge in the quarterfinals. The defeat hasn’t stopped them from practicing, and politicking, this week.

“I’m hoping Pepperdine can win,” the MPSF, UCLA Coach Al Scates said. “That would make an easier path for us. This is a team that can definitely win the NCAA championship and we’ve demonstrated that throughout the season.”

Knipe said a championship-caliber team is going to be left out in any case and questioned the consideration of a team that didn’t win its only match in the conference tournament.

“They have a good argument,” he said of the Bruins, “but the bottom line is, I don’t know any sport where you don’t advance past the first round of the playoffs and make it into the NCAAs.”

The at-large berth will be awarded Sunday after a meeting of the NCAA Division I men’s volleyball committee. Bill Shumard, the committee chair who is athletic director at Long Beach State, said he would set himself aside if the 49ers were under consideration.

An MPSF finalist’s not making the NCAA tournament is “not without precedent,” Shumard said.

Pepperdine took care of its business by erasing late deficits in the first two games to foil upset-minded Northridge. Sean Rooney had 23 kills, John Parfitt added 13 and setter Jonathan Winder had 46 assists.

“It comes down to the ability to play well late in the games,” Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. “The players have to take over.”

Said Northridge Coach Jeff Campbell, whose team finishes 19-14: “In Game 1 and in Game 2, I didn’t feel like we played very well at the end. I felt like Pepperdine either steadied out or played better and we kind of dropped off a little bit. Had we won Game 1, it’s a completely different ball game.”