Top-ranked Penn State won its first NCAA men's volleyball championship in 14 years, rallying for a 27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23 victory against second-ranked Pepperdine last night in Irvine, Calif.

Matt Anderson had 29 kills for the Nittany Lions (30-1), who beat UCLA in 1994 for their previous NCAA title. Anderson, the national co-player of the year, was selected the NCAA tournament's most valuable player.

Teammate Luke Murray added a career-high 12 digs, tied a season best with 63 assists and had nine block assists. Max Lipsitz had 17 kills, and Max Holt added 12 kills, 9 block assists and 2 service aces.

Penn State also became the second school to win NCAA men's and women's titles in the same academic year. Stanford accomplished the feat in 1997.

Paul Carroll had 35 kills, 8 digs and 3 aces for the Waves (17-11).

Hockey

Patric Hornqvist scored twice and Sweden fended off Belarus, 6-5, in an opening preliminary-round game of the world championships in Quebec City. In a Group C opener in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mikko Koivu scored twice in leading Finland to a 5-1 win against Germany.

• Chris Minard scored 2:07 into overtime as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins rallied for a 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Phantoms in AHL Calder Cup action at Wachovia Arena. The victory allowed the Penguins to tie this East Division final at 1-1.

Tennis

Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal cruised past Denis Gremelmayr, 6-1, 6-0, to reach his fourth consecutive Barcelona Open final in Spain. Today, Nadal will play second-seeded David Ferrer, who defeated Stanislas Wawrinka, 7-6 (8), 6-3. Nadal defeated Ferrer in the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo last week en route to a fourth consecutive trophy. Nadal won his 20th consecutive match on the clay courts in Barcelona.

• Fernando Gonzalez of Chile remained unbeaten on clay this year, beating Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the BMW Open final in Munich, Germany. Gonzalez, seeded second, will go for his 10th title today against Simone Bolelli, an Italian who upset top-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-6 (4).

• The Carnegie Mellon men's team (19-7) advanced to an NCAA Division III regional final in Gambier, Ohio, with a 5-2 victory against Kalamazoo.

• The host Carnegie Mellon women's team (18-7) advanced to an NCAA Division III regional final with a 5-0 win vs. Ithaca.

Baseball

The Washington Wild Things of the independent Frontier League signed left-hander Mat Foard, a former non-drafted free agent of the New York Yankees, and infielder Matt Colella, a New Castle native who played at Geneva.

• Pitt (15-27, 6-14) blew an early two-run lead and lost to host Villanova (24-22, 8-12), 8-4, in the Big East Conference. Morgan Kielty's two-out double drove in the first run and Dan Williams' single scored Kielty for the Panthers.

Softball

Sophomore Kayla Zinger's two-run single to center field gave Pitt (30-23, 11-9) a 4-2 victory against Notre Dame (36-18-1, 13-7) in a Big East game at Trees Field. It was the first time the Panthers defeated the Fighting Irish.

Football

The Passion moved to 3-0 after a 38-34 victory against Washington in the Independent Women's Football League at Cupples Stadium on the South Side. Lisa Horton completed 6 of 15 passes for 145 yards and three TDs for the Passion.

Harness racing

Amy Kane raised her record to 7-0 after winning a division of the $204,860 Pennsylvania Sires Stake at The Meadows.

Soccer

Ed Hayden scored off a rebound in the second minute but the Riverhounds (0-3-1) gave up a goal in the 77th minute and earned a 1-1 tie against the Harrisburg City Islanders in a USL Second Division matchup at Chartiers Valley High School.

Elsewhere

Linda McMillin, whose family previously owned Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, died of an undisclosed illness Friday at Butler Hospital.