Posted on: Sunday, May 2, 2004

Top-ranked BYU earns NCAA volleyball berth

Advertiser Staff

Top-ranked Brigham Young defeated No. 2 Long Beach State, 27-30, 32-30, 30-28, 30-24, at Provo, Utah, yesterday to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball championship and a berth in the NCAA Championships.

The NCAA semifinals will be played Thursday and the championship on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

BYU (27-4) joins No. 8 Penn State (23-6) and No. 14 Lewis, Ill., (19-13) in the NCAA final four. Long Beach State (27-6) will learn today if it has earned the tournament's at-large berth.

Joe Hillman led the Cougars yesterday with 19 kills. Setter Carlos Moreno, the MPSF Player of the Year, had 66 assists.

Penn State beat Rutgers-Newark for the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship. Lewis, the defending national champions, beat Ball State for the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association title.