Men's Volleyball Weekly Release
April 14, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
LONG BEACH STATE claimed the MPSF regular season title with 3-0 wins at No. 14 UC Santa Barbara and No. 3 CS Northridge, and as a result, has earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. The 49ers tied for first with BYU, but hold the tiebreaker with two wins over the Cougars this year. Sophomore Dean Bittner collected 22 kills (.645) to help the 49ers give CSUN its lone home loss of the season. He had 13 kills (.333) and five blocks at UCSB. LBSU brought a huge serve all weekend, with 19 total aces (3.17 A/G). Senior Paul Lotman recorded six of the 11 team aces at SB, while the 49ers nailed several aces early in the match at CSUN and totaled eight on the night. Long Beach State earns a quarterfinal bye and hosts the MPSF semi-finals and championship Apr. 24-26 in the Pyramid, where it will meet the winner of the UCLA-Pepperdine match.
BYU won twice over No. 8 seed USC, 3-0 to end the '08 regular campaign, and is therefore the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. The Cougars managed to tie Long Beach State for first in the final standings, though settles for the two-seed due to their two losses this year to the 49ers. BYU awaits the play-in winner between USC-UCI for Saturday's quarterfinal round in Provo. Senior Russell Holmes ranks second in the MPSF in blocking and hitting percentage (1.50 B/G, .461 hit %)
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE is the No. 3 seed and hosts No. 6 Stanford Saturday (Apr. 19) in the quarterfinals. Both conference meetings this year were won by the Matadors 3-0, while the non-league match was won by Stanford 3-1 to open the season. Saturday's winner faces the BYU/Play-in winner in one semi-final on Apr. 24 in Long Beach. CSUN (22-6 overall/17-5 MPSF) won 3-0 over UC San Diego and lost 3-0 to Long Beach State to end the regular season, and is led by Junior Eric Vance with 4.46 kills and 0.51 aces per game.
UCLA received the final tournament home slot with a weekend split in Northern California coupled with a Pepperdine loss to Hawaii. The fourth-seeded Bruins (17-13 overall/12-10 MPSF) host the No. 5 Waves Saturday (Apr. 19) in a quarterfinal match. Both regular season meetings were won by UCLA, 3-2 in Malibu and 3-1 in Westwood. Senior three-time All-American Tony Ker recently became the NCAA All-Time leader in career digs, and is second in the conference this year with 3.21 per game.
PEPPERDINE will be seeded fifth and visits No. 4 seed UCLA in the quarterfinal round. The Waves are led by national-kill and point leader Paul Carroll (6.49 K/G, 7.41 P/G). Pepperdine split at home with No. 13 Hawaii to finish the regular season.
STANFORD is the six-seed and travels to three-seed CS Northridge. The Cardinal (17-10 overall/12-10 MPSF) avoided the play-in with a pair of 3-1 home wins over UCLA and UC Irvine, and makes their first tournament appearance since 2005. Stanford took one of the three meetings with CSUN this year, winning the very first match Jan. 4 on the UCSB campus, 3-1. Sophomore Evan Romero ranks sixth in the conference with 4.49 kills per game.
UC IRVINE is the No. 7 seed and hosts No. 8 seed USC on Wednesday (Apr. 16) in the tournament play-in match. The Anteaters (15-14 overall/11-11 MPSF) defeated the Trojans twice this year, 3-1 on Jan. 25 in Los Angeles and 3-0 on Feb. 8 in Irvine. UCI split to end the regular season, a 3-0 win at Pacific and 3-1 loss at No. 6 Stanford. Junior Jon Steller is third in the conference in total service aces with 37 (0.36 A/G). Wednesday's winner heads to No. 2 BYU Saturday for quarterfinal action.
USC visits UC Irvine in Wednesday's (Apr. 16) MPSF Play-In match. The eighth-seeded Trojans (13-15 overall/10-12 MPSF) are coming off two 3-0 losses at No. 2 BYU. Senior Juan Figueroa ranks eighth in the conference with 4.41 kills per game.
HAWAII upset No. 5 Pepperdine, 3-2, in Malibu Saturday to finish the season. Senior Jacob Schkud tallied 17 kills, one ace, nine digs, and five blocks in his final match. The Warriors owned the toughest block in the MPSF this year, 3.35 per game, led by national-leader Steven Grgas with 1.51 per game.
UC SANTA BARBARA head coach Ken Preston wrapped up his 30-year career with a 3-1 win over UC San Diego Saturday. He finishes with 516 career wins at a .575 win percentage. Senior '07 All-American Theo Brunner concluded his collegiate career with 15 kills (.667) and seven blocks vs. UCSD. He also hit .636 vs. LBSU (7-0-11) with five blocks.
UC SAN DIEGO ends its best season in program history with 10 wins. 2008 featured several firsts including 10 overall wins, a two-match season-sweep over an MPSF team, a win over powerhouse UCLA, and a 3-0 match win over an MPSF team. Sophomore Jason Spangler also became just the second Triton to be named a conference and national player of the week.
PACIFIC fell 3-0 to both UCI and UCLA. Senior Pekka Seppanen finished a brilliant career with an average of 4.19 kills this year, No. 10 in the MPSF.
BITTNER NAMED MPSF MOLTEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK Woodland, Calif. - Long Beach State sophomore Dean Bittner (Lakewood, CA/Lakewood HS) played a large role over the weekend in leading the 49ers to an MPSF regular season title. He totaled 35 kills in six games (5.83 K/G) with a .500 hitting attack (35-6-58) in 3-0 wins at No. 14 UCSB and No. 3 CSUN. Bittner registered 22 kills (.645), twice the amount of the next highest output, in the showdown at No. 3 CSUN. He was also a factor at the net, combining for seven blocks (1.17 B/G) in the two road wins. This is Bittner's third weekly award in the conference this year, also earning it on Jan. 7 and Mar. 24.