The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team continued their strong start defeating No.-11 Hawaii on Jan. 15-16 in a pair of matches in Honolulu. The Waves took the victory in four games 24-30 30-32 30-24 30-22 on Thursday before winning another four-game duel against the Warriors 30-27 30-22 27-30 30-26 on the following day.
“We want to be as good as we possibly can be said Pepperdine Head Coach Marv Dunphy. We want to improve from start to finish.”
In their first match on Jan. 15 the Waves attacked with force as senior opposite Paul Carroll hammered out 18 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Cory Riecks had 17 kills and senior outside hitter Matt McKee pitched in another 14 kills. Sophomore setter Kasey Crider was credited with 48 assists. These players each reached double digits in digs. Carroll had 11 Crider both McKee and Riecks had 10. Junior libero Sean Grubbs added to that with 11 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Tyler Jaynes had nine blocks leading team to a 17.5-7.0 blocking advantage.
Hawaii won the first game with a hitting percentage of .316 but Pepperdine dominated the Warriors in the next three games holding their opponents to percentages of .050 .019 and .073. The Warriors struggled after the first game finishing the match with just a .105 hitting percentage. The Waves hit .275 over the entire match which was boosted by a fourth-game hitting percentage of .389.
Through their digs and intensity Pepperdine came out with the victory.
“We wanted to play all-around volleyball against Hawaii and that is how we beat them Grubbs said.
On the next day, the Waves beat Hawaii once again in four games. After winning the first two games, the Waves made some mistakes to drop the third, but they were able to overcome their setback by taking the fourth game and ultimately earning the victory.
Carroll had a team-high 23 kills, while McKee had 21, and each posted 10 digs. Crider also improved with 62 assists and 14 digs.
The Waves played better on Friday and wrapped up the match with a .419 hitting percentage. Even though Pepperdine lost the third game, in the fourth their .448 hitting percentage dominated Hawaii’s .351. Overall, Hawaii hit .270.
Dunphy said he was very pleased with his team’s performance in Hawaii.
In order to seal the deal the team had to play well and we got better as the matches went on he said.
Despite the two victories, McKee said the team still has some room for improvement.
As a team we need to continue to talk during each point and be able to score points off our block and defense McKee said.
Grubbs added that the team needs to work on shutting out its opponents in three games.
We need to work on closing out our games to be the best that we can be Grubbs said.
The Waves will play Pacific (2-4, 0-1 MPSF) tomorrow and No.-4 Stanford (4-1, 1-0 MPSF) on Saturday. Both matches will kick off at 7 p.m. in the Firestone Fieldhouse.
This season I look forward to proving that we are the best team in the nation said junior outside hitter Brent Schirripa. Rankings have put us at four currently and that is a mistake. We will work to correct [that] through practice and hard work.”