Fort Wayne, IN - In a bit of a surprise, the MIVA Tournament Champion IPFW Mastodons have been seeded fourth for the NCAA men's volleyball semi-finals, hosted by Ohio State.
The Mastodons will face the tournament's at-large, and top-seed, Pepperdine in the opening match on Thursday at 5:00pm.
Pepperdine (26-2) holds the top ranking in the latest CSTV/AVCA Top 15 Poll. The Wave held a 2-0 lead before falling to UC-Irvine in the finals of the MPSF Tournament, 3-2. The loss snapped a 23 match winning streak.
IPFW (22-7) beat No. 6 Ohio State in three straight sets to capture the MIVA last night at Ohio State.
The Mastodons had expected a No. 3 seed for the tournament, but that slot went to the 7th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. PSU easily defeated unranked St. Francis (PA) in straight sets to win the EIVA. IPFW had swept PSU at the Hilliard Gates Sports Center, but lost to the Lions 3-2 in Happy Valley. Penn State also finished the season with a 22-7 record.
Penn State will face the tournament's second seed, UC-Irvine in the late semi-final.
The Anteaters (27-6) stormed back from that 0-2 deficit to drop the top seeded Wave in five. UC-Irvine was ranked third in the latest CSTV/AVCA Top-15 Poll.
The pairings were announced this afternoon on ESPN2.
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