After the UCLA men’s volleyball team lost its quarterfinal
match in the conference playoffs last Saturday to Cal State
Northridge, it was hoping all week for a second chance. The
Bruins’ prayers were answered Sunday afternoon when it was
announced that UCLA was selected as the lone at-large team for this
year’s Final Four at Pauley Pavilion. “I couldn’t
sleep the entire night,” freshman libero Tony Ker said.
“When I saw the yellow jersey on TV, my heart just dropped
because I was so excited to see us get in.” UCLA will face
second-seeded Penn State on Thursday in the first of two semifinal
matches at Pauley Pavilion. Top-ranked Pepperdine will take on
tenth-ranked Ohio State in the nightcap. The Bruins’ chances
of making the Final Four were buoyed by Saturday’s Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation final, in which top-seeded Pepperdine
swept fifth-seeded Long Beach 3-0 and earned the automatic bid to
the Final Four. The Bruins, who had all gathered at senior Brennan
Prahler’s house to watch the match, knew that Pepperdine had
to win, because the Waves likely would have received the at-large
bid if they had lost. “When I saw that Long Beach got swept,
I knew that we had a pretty good chance,” outside hitter
Steve Klosterman said. The NCAA tournament committee’s
decision came down to the fact that UCLA (25-5) had a better
won-loss record than Long Beach State (22-10), had a better record
in head-to-head matchups against the 49ers, and had been the more
consistent team all along. “If you look at the criteria, we
were the only logical choice,” UCLA coach Al Scates said.
“I mean I wrote the criteria 30 years ago, so I knew that we
would be selected.” Even if the criteria appeared to favor
the Bruins, they still must feel fortunate about the circumstances.
In its last 14 games, Long Beach State registered a 12-2 record, a
better record than the Bruins during that span, and defeated the
top four teams in the MPSF, including UCLA. The 49ers also advanced
two rounds farther in the MPSF Tournament than UCLA, which Long
Beach State coach Alan Knipe felt should have given his team the
advantage. “There’s never been a team that lost that
early that has been considered for an at-large,” Knipe told
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “If they’re going to give
it to UCLA, why did we bother having the playoffs?” Long
Beach State’s struggles earlier in the season proved to be
monumental. In the span of one month, the 49ers lost twice to
sixth-ranked UC Santa Barbara and got swept on consecutive nights
to conference dwellers Pacific and Stanford. It’s those tough
losses that seemed to have left the 49ers on the outside, while
UCLA will now begin to prepare for this Thursday’s match. The
Bruins will be pitted against the Eastern Intercollegiate
Volleyball Association champion and No. 2 seed Penn State. UCLA
faced off against the Nittany Lions earlier this season and swept
them at Pauley Pavilion, where this Thursday’s semifinal
match will be taking place. “We feel very confident going
into this weekend’s match,” setter Gaby Acevedo said.
“We know that we have beaten both Pepperdine and Penn State
before, and we just need to take care of business.” Only
twice before has a team lost in the conference quarterfinals and
still received an at-large bid to the Final Four. Neither of those
teams won the NCAA Championship. The last time the situation
occurred was in 1991, when USC lost to UCLA in the MPSF
quarterfinals, but still received the at-large bid over the Bruins
because it boasted a better record during the regular season. This
time around, the criteria worked in the Bruins’ favor.
“I feel so relieved. This next week is like a second half of
the season for us,” Klosterman said. “We have nothing
to lose. We know that we got shocked by Northridge, but now is when
all of our hard work comes through.”
QUICK SETS: Thursday’s semifinal between UCLA and Penn
State will be televised live by ESPN2. The second semifinal will be
carried live by ESPNU. … The Bruins are 24-0 all-time when
hosting the Final Four.