Lipsitz helps Penn State win NCAA volleyball title
Williamsville North graduate named to all-tournament team
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North graduate Max Lipsitz celebrates with the NCAA championship following the Penn State University men's volleyball team win over Pepperdine in the NCAA final on May 3.

Max Lipsitz didn't like volleyball five years ago. Now he's a national champion.

The 2006 Williamsville North graduate helped the Penn State men's volleyball team rally to a 27-30, 33-31, 30-25, 30-23 victory over Pepperdine on May 3 in Irvine, Calif. to win its first NCAA volleyball championship in 14 years.

Lipsitz, a sophomore 6-foot-7 middle hitter for the Nittany Lions, recorded a career-high 17 kills on .500 hitting in the championship game.

"It's like a dream come true," said Lipsitz. "Being a national champion is pretty cool. It's starting to set in now."

Despite losing the first game to Pepperdine, Lipsitz knew his team was going to win the match.

"We knew they were weak in the middle so the plan was to run our middles down their throat," said Lipsitz. "They couldn't stop us. I got up in the air quick, (setter) Luke (Murray) gave me the target and I got the job done."

Max Lipsitz recorded a career-high 17 kills in the Nittany Lions' victory over Pepperdine. The Penn State sophomore blocked a career-high 12 shots against Ohio State in the NCAA semifinal.

Lipsitz also tallied a career high 12 blocks to help Penn State beat Ohio State, 30-21, 26-30, 30-22, 30-17, in a national semifinal on May 1.

"Going into to Ohio State match, we knew their hitters' tendencies," said Lipsitz. "I got out there and did what my coaches asked of me. I have to give a lot of credit to guys on the block next to me - Matt Anderson, Ryan Sweitzer, Jay Stauffer and Luke Murray."

Lipsitz was also named a second team All-American and to the NCAA all-tournament team. All of these accomplishments are incredible considering he had to be coaxed by North volleyball coach Paul O'Connor and his mother, Ruth, to come out for the North varsity team when he was a sophomore in high school.

"He was my JV boys basketball coach at the time and he told me and my older brother, Joe, to come out for volleyball tryouts," said Lipsitz. "I didn't know anything about volleyball, didn't like the idea. When we didn't show up to the first tryout, he called and left a message on my parents' answering machine telling our mom, Ruth, to make us go to tryouts. She heard it and forced us to go."

As soon as Max and his brother Joe went tryouts, they loved it. Max, a sophomore at the time, would be named to the All-Western New York team as a junior and senior as an outside hitter. He later started playing middle hitter for Eden Volleyball Club. It was there Lipsitz befriended West Seneca West graduate and Penn State teammate Matt Anderson, who was selected as the NCAA tournament's most valuable player and national co-player of the year.

Lipsitz put on 20 pounds of muscle before he attended Penn State. After adjusting to the speed of the game and improving his technique, he really started to excel. In his first collegiate match, he recorded eight kills on eight swings.

He finished his freshman year by being named to the All-East first team. He averaged 2.21 kills per game on .477 hitting, which was eighth on the all-time single-season list for Penn State.

Last summer, Lipsitz started at middle hitter for the United States Junior National team at the World Championships in Rabat, Morocco. He led the team in blocks (14), blocks per game (0.61) and kill efficiency (61 percent).

"Just watching how confident he is with jump serve is pretty unbelievable," said O'Connor. "When he gets a set, he puts it down. Rarely does he get blocked."

With only two seniors on the roster, Penn State has all of the tools needed to win another national title.

"That's definitely our No. 1 goal," said Lipsitz. "We'll see what happens from there."