COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL : Northridge, Long Beach Win on Night of Upsets

It was a night of upsets Friday in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball tournament at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

Fourth-ranked Cal State Northridge upset third-ranked Pepperdine, 2-15, 15-10, 15-13, 15-9, eliminating the defending national champion Waves from contention for the NCAA Final Four.

And seventh-ranked Cal State Long Beach surprised second-ranked Stanford, 15-13, 10-15, 15-9, 15-11.

The winner of tonight’s final between Long Beach and Northridge will join UCLA, Penn State and Ohio State in the Final Four May 7-8 at Pauley Pavilion.

Pepperdine concentrated its block on Northridge’s best hitter, Coley Kyman, but was surprised by the play of Ken Lynch.

Lynch led the Matadors (21-9) with 31 kills and hit .407.

Tom Sorensen led the Waves (18-6) with 31 kills, but hit .227.

The Pepperdine players were disappointed afterward. The Waves, who had all but one starter back from last season, expected to return to the Final Four.

“I don’t gamble,” Coach Marv Dunphy said, “but you just train with (the Final Four) in mind and we definitely had as good a shot as anybody.”

Brent Hilliard led Long Beach (18-12) in its improbable victory over Stanford (18-6), finishing with 43 kills.

The crowd of 1,078 applauded loudly when it was announced after the third game that Hilliard had become the first college player to make 3,000 kills. He ended the night with3,015.

Hilliard, a U.S. Olympian last summer, is one of only three returning starters for the 49ers.