Men's Volleyball Weekly Release
April 21, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
NO. 1 Seed LONG BEACH STATE (23-5 overall/18-4 MPSF) is the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament, received a quarterfinal bye, and hosts the conference semi-finals and championship Apr. 24 & 26 in the Walter Pyramid. No. 5 seed Pepperdine (14-10 Overall/12-10 MPSF) is the semi-final opponent. Each meeting this year resulted in a 3-0 sweep for the home team. The 49ers clinched the MPSF regular season title with 3-0 wins at UC Santa Barbara and CS Northridge on the last weekend of the regular season. Tied for first with BYU, LBSU held the tiebreaker with two wins over the Cougars this year. Long Beach State delivered one of the largest conference one-year turn-arounds in NCAA Volleyball history, finishing 10th in 2007 to 1st in 2008. Senior outside hitter Paul Lotman was named MPSF Player of the Year, setter Mike Klipsch was freshman of the year, and Alan Knipe earned his first award for conference coach of the year.
NO. 5 Seed PEPPERDINE (14-10 overall/12-10 MPSF) avenged two regular season losses to No. 4 seed UCLA, 3-1 (30-27, 20-30, 30-21, 30-28) in Saturday's quarterfinal in Westwood, and meets No. 1 seed Long Beach State Thursday (Apr. 24) for the third time. The Waves are making their seventh straight semi-final appearance, and 11th of 16 total in the tournament's history. Junior first-team All-MPSF selection Paul Carroll competed against the Bruins for the first time this year, and proved to be a large factor. He totaled a match-high 29 kills, to go along with 11 digs, five blocks, and four aces. Down 14-10 in game four, Carroll ran off four straight points nearly single-handedly, serving a pair of aces plus a kill to guide a 7-2 run and a quick momentum swing. Freshman Cory Riecks added 22 kills and Junior Mark Hulse stuffed a match-high seven blocks.
NO. 2 Seed BYU (24-4 overall/18-4 MPSF) makes its second straight MPSF semi-final appearance, facing No. 3 seed CS Northridge Thursday (Apr. 24) at 8pm (PDT) in the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach State. BYU won both meetings this year in Provo, UT, 3-1 and 3-2 (Feb. 1-2). The Cougars tied for first in the regular season, and defeated No. 7 seed UC Irvine, 3-1 (30-20, 30-22, 28-30, 30-28) in Saturday's quarterfinal round at home to reach this point. BYU dominated the overall hitting (.364-.193) and blocking (14.5-5.0) to advance in four games. Senior All-MPSF first-team selection Ivan Perez tallied a match-high 19 kills (.406) and picked up his ninth double-double with 12 digs. Sophomore Andrew Stewart added 12 kills, senior Jonathan Charette had 11, and senior Russell Holmes' 10 completed the double-digit efforts for the Cougar offense.
NO. 3 Seed CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (23-6 overall/17-5 MPSF) battles No. 2 BYU Thursday (Apr. 24) at 8 pm in a conference semi-final match from the Long Beach State Pyramid. CSUN came up with a 3-0 win at home over No. 6 Stanford Saturday in the quarterfinals. The Matadors tallied eight service aces and out-hit the Cardinal .406-.192. Junior first-team All-MPSF selection Eric Vance registered a match-high 15 kills to go along with three aces and seven digs. Freshman second-team pick Cody Loe had 13 kills with a .524 hitting clip. Senior second-team pick Isaac Kneubuhl recorded 12 kills in 19 errorless swings (.632), along with a pair of aces and nine digs. Sophomore honorable-mention Kevin McKniff added 10 kills (.467).
NO. 4 Seed UCLA (17-14 overall/12-10 MPSF) ended its season with a 3-1 home loss to No. 5 Seed Pepperdine Saturday. Junior honorable-mention Sean O'Malley and sophomore second-team pick Garrett Muagututia each recorded 13 kills. Senior libero Tony Ker ended his career as the all-time dig leader in NCAA history with 1,220. He also nailed the UCLA single-season record this year with 368 digs and the single-match record early this year with 27.
NO. 6 Seed STANFORD (17-11 overall/12-10 MPSF) ended its season Saturday night in a 3-0 loss at No. 3 CS Northridge. Freshman Spencer McLachlin led the Cardinal with 10 kills. Sophomore setter Kawika Shoji was a second-team All-MPSF honoree at the conclusion of the season. On Feb. 23, he set an `08 three-game match MPSF high of 53 assists in leading the Cardinal to a stunning 3-0 sweep at BYU, the only home loss of the year for the Cougars. Stanford improved by 10 conference matches from '07 to '08 (2-20 to 12-10) and by 14 matches overall (3-25 to 17-11).
NO. 7 Seed UC IRVINE (16-15 overall/11-11 MPSF) outlasted No. 8 seed USC (3-2) in last Wednesday's play-in match, before coming up short in the quarterfinals at No. 2 BYU (3-1) Saturday. Juniors Jon Steller and Taylor Wilson both had 12 kills in the final match of the year for the Anteaters. Steller was recently named to the All-MPSF third-team. Wilson finished with 10 kills, four aces, and four blocks in the play-in victory, while freshman Cory Yoder collected 17 kills (.517) and eight digs. UCI managed to erase a 2-1 deficit to the Trojans that night to extend its season.
NO. 8 Seed USC (13-16 overall/10-12 MPSF) was edged in five games at No. 7 UC Irvine in the MPSF Play-In match. Senior All-MPSF third-team pick Juan Figueroa tallied 22 kills, eight digs, and five blocks in his last collegiate match. In addition to Figueroa, freshman Murphy Troy was a third-team selection at the end of the season, while senior setter Jimmy Killian was named to the honorable-mention team. Killian dished out a 2008 MPSF single-match high 77 assists in the Trojans' comeback win at Pepperdine on April 5.