Penn State Volleyball - National Championship Contenders

I watched the, #1 seeded, Penn State Mens' Volleyball match last night - it was the national semifinal against 4th seeded Ohio State.

And Penn State won 3 games to 1. They dominated the first game - the score of 30 - 21 is deceptively close as tosu had a short run at the end of the game. PSU dropped the 2nd game 26 -30 - tosu led that game throughout - and any time PSU would get back to even, they would fault on serve - where they had been nearly perfect in the first game (just 2 errors), they certainly looked more wobbly in the 2nd -

But it didn't really matter - tosu put up some fight in the 3rd game (which PSU won 30 - 22) - but PSU's defense and outside hitter Matt Andersen stepped up the quality of play. PSU racked up 9 of their 18.5 blocks in that game alone. By the 4th game, it was a done deal - Penn State sailed through that game, winning 30 - 17, to take the match. The final point was won on a massive PSU block - which was fitting.

Andersen finished the evening with 30 kills.

PSU will face the Waves of Pepperdine (can you say "bye bye"?) - for the National Championship - Saturday Evening, beginning at 7pm on ESPN2.

The 2nd seeded Waves (17-10), who won their semifinal against Long Beach State in 3 games (30-26, 30-21, 30-26), are vying for their 6th Volleyball National Championship - the Lions are going for their 2nd.