Selection Announcement

May 1, 2005

Pepperdine, Penn State, UCLA and Ohio State Advance to NCAA
Championship

UCLA will host the men's volleyball national championship for the 13th
time.

Top-ranked Pepperdine, No.2 Penn State, 4th-ranked UCLA, and
10th-ranked Ohio State will battle for the 2005 NCAA National
Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship May 5-7 at UCLA's
Pauley Pavilion.

Pepperdine (23-2), which earned the top seed in the tournament, meets
fourth-seeded Ohio State (27-4) in Thursday's second semifinal at 9
p.m. Second-seeded Penn State (30-3) meets third-seeded
UCLA (25-5) in the first semifinal, scheduled for 7 p.m.
The first semifinal match will be carried live on ESPN2 and ESPNU. The
second semifinal will be broadcast live on ESPNU. It also will be shown
tape-delayed on May 6 on ESPN2 at 10 a.m. All times
are Pacific.

Pepperdine, Penn State and Ohio State each earned an automatic berth by
winning their respective conference tournaments on Saturday night. The
Waves defeated No. 3 Long Beach State 3-0 in
Malibu to secure the final automatic berth. Penn State beat No. 14
George Mason 3-1 at University Park, PA. Ohio State was the first team
to earn a trip to Westwood, by outlasting unranked IPFW 3-1 at
Chicago, IL.

Pepperdine will be making its 13th appearance in the NCAA Championship,
and its third in the last four years. The Waves last won the title in
1992 when they defeated Stanford 3-0 at Munci, IN. In 2002, Pepperdine
lost in four games in the finals to Hawaii, and in 2004, the Waves lost
in the semifinals to Lewis University.

Penn State has appeared in the NCAA Championship 20 times, including
five straight years. The Nittany Lions last won the national
championship in 1994 when they defeated UCLA 3-2 in Ft. Wayne,
IN. In the last five years, Penn State has lost in the semifinals.

UCLA was selected as the at-large participant and seeded third. The
Bruins will be making a record 24th NCAA Championship appearance and
their first since 2001. The Bruins have won a record 18 NCAA men's
volleyball championships, and last won the title in 2000 when they
defeated Ohio State at Ft. Wayne, IN. UCLA is undefeated on its home
court (24-0) in the current four-team championship format.

Ohio State will be making its 14th appearance in the NCAA Championship
and its first since 2001. The Buckeyes last advanced to the
championship match in 2000 before losing 3-0 to UCLA at Ft.
Wayne, IN.

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