Waves Denied in Title Bid by Penn State

IRVINE, Calif. Â The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team was denied a sixth NCAA title as top-ranked Penn State proved worthy of its ranking in a four-game victory (27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23) in Saturday’s national championship match at the Bren Events Center.

The #2 Waves, who had been on an impressive postseason run that began with the #5 seeding in the MPSF Tournament and had recorded four straight road and neutral-site victories to get into this position, ended their year with a 17-11 record. The Nittany Lions captured their second NCAA title, the last coming in 1994, and finished 30-1.

Senior setter Jonathan Winder (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS), junior opposite Paul Carroll (Forster, Australia) and junior outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach (Ventura, Calif./Ventura HS) earned spots on the NCAA All-Tournament team.

Winder had 60 assists and seven digs, Carroll had a season-high 35 kills along with eight digs, four blocks and three aces and Schleppenbach had 15 kills, seven digs and four blocks with a .324 hitting percentage.

“Give all the credit to Penn State,” Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. “We had our chances. We snuck back and won game one, and in game two we had our opportunities. They made some good plays to win game two. Maybe if we win that, who knows what would have happened. But when it was tied they made the plays and that’s the way it goes. Give Penn State credit, they had the firepower and made the plays when they needed to.”

Game one featured a tremendous comeback by the Waves. The Nittany Lions utilized their size and service prowess to take a 15-7 lead, with five blocks and three aces propelling them to the eight-point advantage. It turned around from there, as the Waves went on a 12-3 run to go up 19-18. Carroll had three kills and an ace, freshman outside hitter Cory Riecks (Auburn, Calif./Placer HS) had two kills and Penn State committed three hitting errors during the run. A Schleppenbach kill tied it at 18-18 and a Nittany Lion attack error gave the Waves the lead. Pepperdine built a four-point lead at 26-22 after a Carroll ace, though Penn State closed the gap to within one point at 27-26. A Winder block allowed the Waves to keep the lead, and after a PSU point, Schleppenbach had a kill and assisted freshman middle blocker Tyler Jaynes (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) on a game-ending block.

It was the second eight-point deficit that the Waves have overcome this postseason, as they trailed 22-14 in game one of the MPSF Tournament semifinals at Long Beach State on April 24 before rallying for a 30-27 win and a three-game sweep.

It was only the third time this season that Penn State had lost the opening game. Carroll had eight kills in the first game as the Waves had a .258-.219 edge in hitting.

Game two went back and forth for a while. Riecks had all three kills during a 3-1 run that gave Pepperdine a 15-14 lead. A television timeout sapped Pepperdine’s momentum, however, as the Nittany Lions came back from the break with a 6-1 run and a 20-16 lead. The Waves slowly chipped away, however, tying it at 27-27 on a Schleppenbach ace and taking a 29-28 lead after a Carroll block. The Waves served for game point twice, but the Nittany Lions came up with the kill both times. Penn State scored four of the game’s final five points after the Waves took a 30-29 lead.

“It felt like (momentum) had swung over our way,” said Carroll of his block that made it 29-28 in game two. “But they were able to rally with the last few points. They made some good plays to win the game.”

Carroll had 12 kills in game two, though the Waves were outhit .487-.372 by the Nittany Lions.

Pepperdine’s biggest lead of game three came at 10-8 after a Riecks kill, but the Nittany Lions took the lead for good after a 3-0 run made it 14-12. Another 3-0 run gave them their largest lead at 22-17. Pepperdine did a nice job of getting back into the game with a 6-2 run, led by a kill, ace and block assist by Schleppenbach, that cut the deficit to one point at 26-25. But the Nittany Lions ended game three with four straight points, two on kills and two on blocks.

Carroll had nine more kills in game three but Penn State had a big edge in hitting, .382 to .186.

There was unfortunately little drama in game four after the Nittany Lions scored the first six points. Pepperdine got no closer than four points, first at 15-11 after a block by Jaynes and Carroll, and last at 18-14. The Nittany Lions then scored four straight points to put it out of reach. Penn State had its best hitting performance of the match at .533 to the Waves’ .270.

Overall, Penn State outhit Pepperdine .407 to .273 and had a 19-10 advantage in blocks. Co-National Player of the Year Matt Anderson led four players in double-figures with 29 kills.

History wasn’t on the Waves’ side, as Pepperdine would have had the lowest winning percentage ever of an NCAA champion and the fewest overall wins by a title team since the 1970s. This was the Waves’ sixth second-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

The Waves will hope to be back in 2009 and will return nearly all of their players. Of Pepperdine’s regular rotation, only Winder will be lost to graduation.

“It was a great decision (to come to Pepperdine),” said Winder, who finished one of the top volleyball careers in school history with three NCAA final fours, the 2005 national championship, four All-American honors and the 2007 AVCA National Player of the Year award. “It’s hard to believe that it’s over. I finished school last week and that’s nice, but it will be tough to leave. The coaching staff we have here is incredible and they’ve been a blessing for me. It’s the classiest school in all of America, from top to bottom. There’s no place like it. We won the national championship my freshman year and it was great to do that. But all the stats and awards haven’t been what’s made this a good career, it’s who I’ve become on and off the court.”

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