Top-seeded Nittany Lions face Pepperdine for national title Saturday
Irvine, Calif. — Penn State men's volleyball junior outside hitter Matt Anderson (West Seneca, N.Y.) added another award to his long list of accolades as he was named the 2008 AVCA National Co-Player of the Year. Anderson shares the award with Long Beach State's Paul Lotman. The announcement was made Wednesday night at the annual Men's Volleyball All-America banquet in Irvine, Calif., held in conjunction with the NCAA Championship.
Anderson becomes only the second player in program history, and the second-ever non-MPSF player, to be named the AVCA National Player of the Year. He joins former Lion standout Ivan Contreras, who earned both distinctions in 1997. A 6-10 outside hitter for the top-ranked and top-seeded Penn State program, Anderson led the EIVA Champion squad with 5.64 kills per game on .390 hitting. Named the EIVA regular-season Player of the Year and Championship Most Outstanding Player, he has double-digit kill numbers in 28 of 29 contests, including eight matches with 20 or more kills.
Anderson earned AVCA All-America honors earlier in the week, joining teammate and junior middle hitter Max Holt (Cincinnati, Ohio) on the first team while senior setter Luke Murray (East Petersburg, Pa.), sophomore middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) and freshman libero Dennis Del Valle (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) all picked up AVCA Second Team All-America honors. The Lions' five All-America awards led the nation and are the most for the Nittany Lions since the 1982 season.
For the second time in three years, the top-ranked Penn State men's volleyball team will play for the national title. The Nittany Lions (29-1) defeated seventh-ranked and fourth-seed Ohio State (20-8) in four games (30-21, 26-30, 30-22, 30-17) Thursday night at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., in the first of two NCAA National Semifinals.
Penn State will face Pepperdine for the NCAA National Championship title on Saturday, May 3 at 4:00 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. ET) at the Bren Events Center. The match will be televised live on ESPN2 and can be heard on the web at www.GoPSUsports.com and on WRSC 1390 AM in the State College area.
AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Year
2008: Matt Anderson (Penn State), Paul Lotman (Long Beach State)
2007: Jonathan Winder (Pepperdine)
2006: Jayson Jablonsky (UC Irvine)
2005: Sean Rooney (Pepperdine)
2004: Carlos Moreno (BYU)
2003: Costas Theocharidis (Hawai'i)
2002: Brad Keenan (Pepperdine)
2001: Costas Theocharidis (Hawai'i)
2000: Donald Suxho (USC)
1999: George Roumain (Pepperdine)
1998: George Roumain (Pepperdine)
1997: Ivan Contreras (Penn State)
1996: Yuval Katz (Hawai'i), Stein Metzger (UCLA)
1995: Jeff Nygaard (UCLA)
1994: Jeff Nygaard (UCLA)
1993: Canyon Ceman (Stanford)
1992: Brent Hilliard (Long Beach State)
1991: Bryan Ivie (USC)