Pepperdine

Head Coach Marv Dunphy

Opening statement- Overall tonight Hawaii was the best team and their outside hitters played real well. Tony Ching played the best he has against us all year so I give him a lot of credit. I thought Hawaii served pretty well and we didn't receive as well as we're use to so we didn't stay consistent.

On serving- I think we're usually a little bit better than we were tonight. I thought they dug some balls out and I think one of the strengths of their team is the ability to receive serves and if I had my choice we probably would have made less errors.

On Hawaii against the Pepperdine offense- I thought they were getting a lot of touches off of our blocks and they turned some balls in transition. I think they served pretty well and we were popping the ball up and not being able to run our offense.

Lance Walker

Was the addition of the drums a distraction? No, wherever you go there you are going to have noise. It is a part of the game."

Beau Daniels

Was this a new Hawaii team? They were more consistent than normal. They played good volleyball the whole match."

Hawaii

Head Coach Mike Wilton:

Opening Statement In game one we were a little concerned because we had gotten in trouble and Pepperdine had only one option to go to and they made the play just about every time. I was concerned with that wearing on us. In game two we steadied out and for sure we played our best game of the year and the best match of the year. You have to be steady against Pepperdine because they are steady.

What does this mean for the people of Hawaii? First and foremost we are playing for the guys in the Hawaii uniforms. The most important thing is to focus on all the hard work we have put in. Last year the party lasted all summer and we got second.

Dejan Miladinovic

How did the drums and the crowd help? It created a home-court atmosphere. From Thursday night, we knew (the drummer) was on his way here. We felt like we were in Hawaii.

Costas Theocharidis

Was it nice to have Tony Ching step up and help you out tonight? Sometimes it's really hard to take all the balls. Tony Ching had an All-American performance tonight. Everybody stepped up. It was a team effort. I always want the ball in crunch time, though."

Tony Ching

What did coach say when you took a 2-1 lead? It was important to just take it one point at a time. We couldn't get ahead of ourselves.

Being from Hawaii, what does it feel like to take home the National Championship It's the best birthday present I've ever had. When I get home, it'll be special. To win a National Championship, it's more than I would've imagined.

Hawaii-Pepperdine Post-Match Notes 2002 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship - Hawaii wins its first NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in its second appearance in the championship match.

- The national championship is the first by a University of Hawaii men's team.

- Hawaii becomes the ninth different school to win the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in the 33 years of the event.

- Tony Ching's 17 kills are a season-high. His previous best was 14 vs. BYU on April 12.

- Tonight's attendance was a standing room only crowd of 5,357. Capacity in Rec Hall was 5,127. The total championship attendance was 10,616, which is fourth highest for the 15 times the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship has been hosted in the East or Midwest.