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One more week to go.
The men’s volleyball team has four more games on its regular schedule, and after sitting comfortably on top for many weeks, the men must win their remaining games to claim the Mountain-Pacific Sports Federation regular season championship.
After a surprise loss to No. 6 University of the Pacific, but a victorious contest at Stanford, it is time for Pepperdine to face reality.
“All the games left are important especially since we lost last weekend,” junior outside hitter Fred Winters said. “We have to win to stay in first. The last games against (Brigham Young University) are huge.”
To close the season, Pepperdine will finish a four-game home series with weekend games against BYU. This will also be the finale to the third-ranked Cougars’ winning season, a team Pepperdine holds a one-game lead over in conference play.
Although anticipation is building for the game against BYU, the Waves won’t lose focus on the two prior games that will be played at home in the Firestone Fieldhouse against University of California, Irvine and UCLA.
UC Irvine is a blemish on the Waves’ 19-3 record — they split the season with the Anteaters so far. No. 10 UCLA is one of the few teams Pepperdine has defeated in more than three games.
With so many 3-0 victories, even a win in four or five games shows either skill on the opponent’s part or a lapse in the Waves’ play.
“Both these teams need wins,” sophomore setter John Mayer said. “They are fighting for spots.”
April 19 marks the beginning of the MPSF Tournament, which the Waves say they plan on winning, despite their recent loss.
“Maybe it’s good to for us to lose one at this point,” senior outside hitter Brian Wagner said. “We’ll win the rest on out. We got it out of our system. A game like this makes it easier to pinpoint our faults.”
Some players didn’t look at it that way.
“We knew these were both tough teams,” Mayer said. “We knew we’d have to come back and play our best against them. Did we play like we knew that? No.”
Head Coach Marv Dunphy said Pacific showed a lot of skill against the Waves.
“Real close,” Dunphy said. “They dug a lot of balls and passed well against us. They stayed in their system, ran quicks and had a lot of success.”
Pacific took the Waves in three games by scores of 30-28, 30-28, 30-27, ending Pepperdine’s five-match winning streak.
Sophomore outside hitter Sean Rooney took the team-high total 18 kills, followed by Winters with 13.
“Our coach said we didn’t play too badly, statistically,” Winters said. “They played really well. We just didn’t fight hard enough.”
The conference match was played at the Spanos Center in Stockton — Pacific’s win marks the second consecutive year the Tigers took the Waves at home.
Pacific’s Sean Rodgers collected a team-high total of 14 kills in the match; he was assisted by Nil Daubers with three service aces.
“I was disappointed,” Mayer said. “They are a good team and we played them tough. A lot of it was them, they played really well. A little of it was us, we didn’t step up when we needed to. We cruised along and then we realized ‘oh, we could lose,’ but it was too late.”
After the first stop on their Northern California road trip ended with a loss, the Waves moved on to Palo Alto to face the Cardinal. Motivated by their loss the night before, the men battled Stanford hard, winning in three games by scores of 37-35, 41-39, 30-28.
“We played with a lot of fire,” Wagner said. “It was a must-win situation for us mentally.”
With game scores going into the 40s, emotions were high and the Waves’ mentality proved to give them the edge to make the big plays.
“Every point was so crucial,” Mayer said. “It was a matter of five of six points over two hours . . . Every point, play, pass, hit was huge in that game. It had to be our best.”
Rooney had the match-high total of 20 kills against the No. 11 Cardinal, and added 11 digs and five blocks.
Senior middle blocker Brad Keenan recorded 13 kills and four service aces. Freshman middle blocker Andy Hein had a team-high total seven blocks and 10 kills.
“The game was just back and forth all night,” Winters, who had 12 kills in the match, said. “There were real points being scored. One team would have a chance to win and then there would be a side-out. It was a battle. I think we pulled out the win with our big digs.”
Whatever it was, they pulled out a close win and they did it with team effort.
“Brad Keenan was serving, hitting and blocking well all game,” Dunphy said. “Mayer was setting for Sean well and Diraj was making some key digs for us.”
They did it together, and, as Dunphy said, they took the win having fun.
“As long as you win, that is the type of match that is really fun to be involved in,” Dunphy said. “The first game went well into overtime and people were on their feet. Game two topped that. It was a really exciting environment.”
The first game of the match started with a Stanford six-point lead, which the Waves eventually tied at 28. After battling back and forth, Pepperdine’s men prevailed 37-35.
Game two was the climax of the match, boasting 12 game points before Winters and Keenan teamed up to finish it off with two consecutive kills. After two hours, game two expired, 41-39.
After a tough two games, both teams continued fighting, getting within one point at 26-25, but the Waves held them back, sealing the win.
“It was their senior night and their All-American was back for them,” Mayer said. “They really needed the win from a ranking standpoint. We had to come out to prove something after the night before. They wanted to beat us bad.”
Curt Toppel, an All-American, was the star of Stanford’s show, leading his team with 16 kills — unfortunately for the Cardinal, it wasn’t enough.
After seniors graduated and new players were moved into the team’s fluid mix, the Waves counted on a rough start. But as Pepperdine’s volleyball program’s history has shown, the team has survived as a result of talent, and more importantly, adaptation to change — changes in their opponents and changes in their own squad.
Adding this victory to their 16-2 record in MPSF play, and 19-3 overall, the Waves move to finish the year on top.
In two weeks, the conference tournament will begin, and a week after that, the Waves hope to be on their way to capture the NCAA National Championship they came so close to last year.
Submitted April 03, 2003
MALIBU, CA
