VOLLEYBALL: PEPPERDINE TOPS CSUN, REACHES MPSF FINAL PEPPERDINE 3, CSUN 1.Byline: Sean Martin Sean Martin may refer to:
MALIBU - Pepperdine's Sean Rooney turned to his teammates and let out a scream after he blocked a Cal State Northridge hit in the opening game of Thursday's 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. Tournament semifinal match. The 6-foot-9 senior was elated because his play set the tone for the Waves, who went on to beat the Matadors 3-1 with game scores of 32-30, 30-27, 28-30 and 30-19. The victory put Pepperdine into Saturday's MPSF MPSF Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament final against Long Beach State (22-9), a 3-0 winner over UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. in the other semifinal. The MPSF Tournament champion earns the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
A first-game win was important Thursday because top-ranked Pepperdine (22-2) was facing a confident CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge team. The Matadors upset second-seeded UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX in the MPSF quarterfinals on April 23. ``(Northridge) could have easily been one up on us, and who knows would have happened,'' said Rooney, this year's MPSF Player of the Year. Rooney and his teammates didn't have to find out. Instead, the first game revealed two problems plaguing CSUN (19-14) for most of the match - its inability to win a close game and stopping Rooney. CSUN led the first game 30-29 before giving up three consecutive points. The Matadors also led the second game 26-24 before losing. Rooney not only closed out the first game, but he also had a match-high 23 kills. ``No one could stop that guy,'' CSUN's Isaac Kneubuhl said. ``That's a testament to how good he is.'' Thursday's victory put Pepperdine one step closer to the NCAA Tournament. The Waves are a top candidate to earn the event's only at-large bid even if they lose Saturday. It's not something the Waves are dwelling on, though. ``I don't think any team deserves it more than us,'' Rooney said. ``But it's not something we look forward to thinking about.'' Sean Martin, (818) 713-3608 sean.martin(at)dailynews.com |
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