Second-Seeded Pepperdine Sweeps No. 3 Long Beach State, 3-0 in Final Four
Showdown

Waves to meet top-seeded Penn State in Saturday's national championship match

May 2, 2008

IRVINE, Calif. - Second-seeded Pepperdine won the battle of Southern California
rivals at the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships on Thursday evening, taking a
3-0 (30-26, 30-21, 30-26) victory over third-seeded Long Beach State in a Final
Four showdown at UC Irvine's Bren Events Center. The Waves (17-10) will face
top-seeded Penn State (29-1) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the national
championship match. The Nittany Lions were 3-1 winners over fourth-seeded Ohio
State in the other national semifinal on Thursday.

Pepperdine's Cory Riecks paced the Waves in game one, throwing in a game-high
six kills in what turned out to be a competitive back-and-forth contest between
the two familiar foes. Pepperdine, which never trailed in the game, moved out to
a 29-26 lead off a kill by outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach. The Waves would
take the game on the very next point following a hitting error by Long Beach
State's Paul Lotman. Pepperdine hit .379 for the game, compared to just .188 for
the 49ers.

Pepperdine moved out to an early 5-1 lead in game two, however Long Beach State
(23-7) came right back, taking the next four points to tie it at 5-5. That was
as close as the 49ers would get, however, as before they knew it Pepperdine had
taken a 23-16 lead. A block by Schleppenbach followed by an attack error by the
49ers put the Waves up 25-16. Schleppenbach, who had five kills in game two
alone, ended the game with his ninth kill of the match to give the Waves a 30-21
win.

Game three provided much of the same, as Long Beach State never had an answer
for Pepperdine's potent attack. Up 29-26, the Waves took the match following a
penetrating serve by Paul Carroll that was dug up back over the net. Riecks
pounced on it, ending the match on a single swing to send Pepperdine to its
first NCAA title match since 2005.

Long Beach State was paced by Lotman, who had a team-high 14 kills. Carroll and
Schleppenbach were dominant for the Waves, finishing with 15 and 14 kills
respectively.

Game Notes: Pepperdine upped its record to 3-1 against Long Beach State this
season
... The Waves also defeated the 49ers by the same 3-0 score in the MPSF
Semifinals last week
... Pepperdine has won the second most NCAA Championships to UCLA, taking its
five titles in 1978, 1985, 1986, 1992 and 2005).
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Game Two Quotes - No. 2 Pepperdine def. No. 3 Long Beach State, 3-0

May 2, 2008

Pepperdine
Head Coach Marv Dunphy:
"I thought we hit the court pretty well. That is always a good sign. I don't how
many hitting errors they made, but we did a pretty good job of hitting the
court. All year long Long Beach State has put out some great numbers. We just
got hot at their place and then just hit the court well tonight."

"Doesn't matter how you get here, competing in the NCAAs is special. My guess is
at one time this year we were just above .500 and then we got better. The team
has improved quite a bit. We will have to be good on Saturday night because Penn
State looks pretty good. They are by far the best team I have seen."

Regarding JD Schleppenbach hitting .778
"He has been getting better. It isn't just a one time deal like at UCLA. He has
been really good towards the end of the season. He is a really good volleyball
player, he can receive a serve. Usually who wins the serving-receiving battle
wins the match and he helps us with that."

Jonathan Winder:
Regarding LBSU's Paul Lotman looking frustrated
"He continues to hit pretty hard and pretty well. He tried to hit the line a
lot. I thought he was playing alright. The only frustration might have been that
he wasn't serving that well."

Long Beach State
Head Coach Alan Knipe:
"First of all, I thought that Pepperdine played very well tonight. They're
cohesive and playing at a high level, and have been since the MPSF tournament. I
thought there were times in game one where we were doing well, but things
didn't' work out in the end, and a lot of that is on what Pepperdine did."

"We're a sophomore and freshman oriented team right now, and I think we're
moving in a direction that will bring us success, let us play here again and
hopefully do a little bit better."

"Both guys that they have on the right-side block are real solid blockers, and
Winder is a great blocking setter. For having those guys on the floor all six
rotations makes things really tough. I thought they tried to serve Paul short to
limit his chances. When you play a team that often, there aren't a lot of
secrets. Paul's the co-national player of the year, and he's going to get some
balls."

Paul Lotman:
On his struggles with Pepperdine
"I was really frustrated. It's not everyday you go against somebody as tall or
big as those two. I tried to deal with it the best that I could, but hit a
couple balls out, and hit off the block. I tried to not let it show though,
because if my teammates see that, then they could feed off it."

On his career at Long Beach State
"Obviously, I don't regret anything, and I'd do it all over again. I'm glad I
came to Long Beach, I love playing for Alan and the coaching staff. They're the
best coaching staff in the nation. It's sad that we didn't win the whole thing,
but I wouldn't take anything back."

Adam Schlesinger:
On entering the game with Tommy Pestolesi
"I've known Tommy for a couple years, and when he's on the floor, he plays with
a lot of heart, and for me, playing in what could be my last game, you don't
need a lot of motivation. I just wanted to leave it all out the court, since I'm
so appreciative of the opportunity I've been give."


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