Max Holt slammed down a kill and turned to meet teammate Dennis Del Valle in the middle of the court.
The 6-foot-9 Holt and 5-foot-8 Del Valle stood chin to chest and shared a shout and smiles with each other just two points away from the championship point.
They were humbled early after Game 1, but now they could sense a national title in their grasp.
"The only thing I could think then was finish," junior outside hitter Matt Anderson said. "We had two points to go and a couple of the guys were getting a little crazy, but we had to stay calm, keep playing and get those final two points."
The No. 1 Penn State men's volleyball team fought off a talented Pepperdine attack to overcome the No. 2 Waves 3-1 (27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23) Saturday night in Irvine, Calif., to become the first school east of the Mississippi to win an NCAA volleyball championship on the West Coast.
Anderson led the way for the Lions (30-1) with 29 kills and sophomore middle hitter Max Lipsitz added 17 kills while hitting .500 for the match. Holt tallied 12 kills and junior opposite Ryan Sweitzer notched 10 kills.
In his final match as a Nittany Lion, senior setter Luke Murray recorded the first triple double of his career with 63 assists, 12 digs and 11 blocks. It was Murray who led an attack that outhit the Waves (17-11) .407 to .273.
"I would like to say I couldn't have done anything better," Murray said. "But there were a couple things I could have done better, but I'm pretty happy with my performance."
In the early stages of Game 1, the Lions looked fired up and in control, celebrating with shouts and pumping fists after each block, kill and Pepperdine error.
However, after coming out strong, the Lions saw a 15-7 lead evaporate as the Waves' attackers -- led by Paul Carroll's game-high 35 kills -- found their rhythm at the net.
"We just needed to calm down a little bit and eliminate some of our unforced errors," Murray said. "We knew if we cut those out we would be fine. We could move on and put it in the past and play some good volleyball."
The Lions had dropped Game 1 of a match only twice all season. One of those Game 1 losses led to the Lions lone loss on the road to George Mason, the other was the season's opening match against Hawaii.
The Game 1 loss in the national title match sent an angered Holt and Anderson back to the bench before heading into Game 2.
"It was very similar to our first match of the year against Hawaii," Pavlik said. "We let a lead slip and the guys came off the court really ticked off. The same thing happened tonight. Matty [Anderson] and Max [Holt] were just fuming after letting that lead slip, but they knew we had it under control and they responded really well from that point on."
When Game 2 ended, it was clear the Lions had regained control of the match. Although the energy and celebrations weren't as apparent after each point, they had done everything they could do to silent the Pepperdine side of the net by outblocking the Waves 19-10.
As Pepperdine's final attack sailed across the endline for the match's championship point, the bench emptied and the team scrambled to the floor.
Sophomore middle hitter max Lipsitz raised the NCAA championship trophy in the air while sending a smile to his teammates piled on the court. All season long the Lions had one goal, and the early speed bump in Game 1 had served as just a reminder of what they'd been working for all season: the 2008 men's volleyball national championship.
"It was amazing," Murray said. "To end my career on that note, I couldn't have scripted it any better."
