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Pepperdine’s No. 9 ranked Men’s Volleyball team fell to No. 6 Long Beach State on Wednesday Feb. 24 losing three straight sets (25-13 25-22 25-17). The Waves fell to 5-7 overall and 3-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Junior Matt Pollock hit nine kills during the match to lead the Waves with a .500 hitting percentage on the night. Senior Kasey Crider tabbed a substantial 30 assists on the night and freshman Mike McMahon pulled out seven digs but the 49ers still pulled out three straight sets.
Inconsistency during the first set forced Head Coach Marv Dunphy to use both of his timeouts early in the match. Unfortunately Long Beach State held consistent with a .500 attack percentage on the night. 49er Brad Hammerling dominated the night with 16 kills a career high for him and a .625 hitting percentage. LBSU outswung Pepperdine on the night with a .369 success rate vs. Pepperdine’s .110 according to Pepperdine Sports.
The opponents went point for point during the second frame as Dunphy changed the line-up in order to adjust to the 49er attack but fell short losing the frame 25-22.
Although senior Tyler Jaynes served four consecutive points the 49ers rallied again to earn the 25th point despite Pollock’s four kills during the set finishing the third set down 25-17.
The Waves began the season ranked No. 3 and recently fell to No. 12 in the MPSF. After their Feb. 11 victory over No. 2 ranked USC (3-2) and Feb. 18 victory over No. 15 ranked Pacific (3-1) Pepperdine has suffered two straight 3-0 losses the first of which coming from No. 5 ranked Stanford University.
During the match against Stanford Pollock Jaynes and Crider led the team in points and digs however the Waves collectively struggled to control the momentum of the match. Much like Stanford Long Beach State asserted control early in the match with defense and utilized their attackers to drive points to the court. All in all the Waves simply couldn’t gain momentum and suffered a significantly lower hitting percentage weakly putting up half the attack percentage of both Stanford and LBSU (.553 to .316 and .369 to .110 respectively).
Coming off of the loss the Waves next face Cal State Northridge on Friday Feb. 25 in Northridge.