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The BYU men's volleyball team held its destiny in its own hands, but let it slip away in a 3-2 loss to Pepperdine in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship match on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Cougars lost again.
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee awarded the at-large bid to the Final Four to Long Beach State, which lost to Pepperdine in three straight games in the semifinals on Thursday.
"We had our chance to win the MPSF Tournament and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament," BYU head coach Shawn Patchell said. "We wish Pepperdine the best of luck, and we'll be pulling for the MPSF Tournament winners. I'm proud of our guys. They faced a lot of adversity this season, and they never quit battling."
While the Cougars (25-5) have a better overall record than the 49ers (23-6), tied with LBSU for the MPSF regular-season title and advanced further in the league playoffs, the committee obviously put a lot of weight on Long Beach State's two victories over BYU during the regular season. Both matches were played in Long Beach. The committee is matching up Pepperdine and Long Beach State in one of the NCAA semifinal matches.
Ironically, the last time Long Beach State was in the Final Four was 2004, when the 49ers lost in five games to BYU in the title match in Hawaii.
The 2008 Final Four will take place Thursday and Saturday in Irvine, Calif., at UC-Irvine's Bren Events Center. Automatic qualification was awarded to Pepperdine, Ohio State (winner of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) and Penn State (winner of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association).
Semifinal No. 1 will be top seed Penn State (28-1) vs. No. 4 seed Ohio State (20-7) and will be broadcast live on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT on ESPN2. Semifinal No. 2 will be No. 2 seed Pepperdine (16-10) vs. No. 3 seed Long Beach State (23-6) and will be broadcast at 9 p.m. MT, also on ESPN2. The national championship match will be on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT on ESPN2.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association will announce All-American honors during the Final Four. Cougars Ivan Perez and Russell Holmes are expected to repeat as All-Americans this season.
• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at
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Fair Deal?
The BYU men's volleyball team lost out to Long Beach State for the at-large bid to the NCAA Final Four. Here's a look at both teams' resumes.
BYU Long Beach State
Record 25-5 23-6
Head-to-head 0-2 2-0
MPSF 1st (18-4) 1st (18-4)
MPSF Tournament 2-1 1-1
At home 14-1 10-3
On the road 10-3 11-2
Neutral Site 1-1 0-2
Past 10 matches 8-2 6-4
vs. Final Four teams 2-3 3-3
vs. Pepperdine 2-1 1-2 |
