MPSF TOURNAMENT: MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: TOP-RANKED WAVES ROLL OVER BYU PEPPERDINE 3, BYU 1.Byline: Sean Ceglinsky Staff Writer It took Brad Keenan three games to play to his potential Thursday in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a college athletic conference whose member teams are located in the western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I. men's volleyball tournament. And once he did, defending national champion BYU BYU Brigham Young University BYU Bayou BYU Bob's Your Uncle BYU Bayreuth, Germany - Bindlacher Berg (Airport Code) BYU Beyond Your Understanding didn't stand a chance. The Pepperdine junior dominated play at the net in the fourth and deciding game with five kills and six blocks as the top-ranked Waves defeated the third-ranked Cougars 30-26, 30-24, 22-30, 30-25 in front of about 1,127 at Firestone Fieldhouse Firestone Fieldhouse is a multipurpose arena located in Malibu, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It was built in 1973 as the home of the Pepperdine University Waves basketball and volleyball teams, who still play at the Fieldhouse today. . The Waves advance to Saturday's final against second-ranked Hawaii. ``I was pretty lazy in the first couple of games and I knew I had to step it up in the final one,'' said Keenan, the MPSF MPSF Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player of the year, who finished with 13 kills and eight blocks. ``This was a big win for us.'' The Waves (27-4) and Hawaii likely earned spots in the four-team NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association national championship tournament next week regardless of Saturday's outcome. Pepperdine used a four-point run to take a 23-20 lead in Game 1 and pulled away for the win. In Game 2, Pepperdine scored six of the first eight points and led 23-16 and was seemingly in control. But BYU (23-7), which had won the national title in 1999 and '01, pulled to within two. After a timeout, the Waves got two kills from Chris Van Reusen and two blocks from Fred Winters, the last of which gave Pepperdine the game. Mike Wall led BYU to an easy victory in Game 3 with seven kills as Pepperdine looked sluggish. But the Waves came out strong in Game 4 behind Keenan, who had four blocks and three kills as Pepperdine led 16-9. MPSF Freshman of the Year Sean Rooney clinched the match with a kill that bounced off the face of BYU setter Carlos Moreno Carlos Moreno may refer to:
Lance Walker led the Waves with 14 kills and Rooney had 13 kills and four aces. --Hawaii 3, UC Santa Barbara 1: Costas Theocharidis had 21 kills to lead the Warriors (22-7) to a 30-27, 29-31, 31-29, 30-26 victory over the Gauchos. UCSB UCSB University of California at Santa Barbara UCSB University of Casual Sex and Beer (18-11) was led by Andy Rivera, an Eagle Rock High grad, who had 21 kills and hit .361. |
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