In a five set thriller the No. 11 Men’s Volleyball team upset the undefeated No. 1 ranked USC Trojans at home to improve its overall season record to 4-5. This marks the fifth 5-set match the Waves have played this season.
The upset also marked the first loss for USC this season bringing their conference record to 6-1. Pepperdine defeated No. 1 ranked USC last season on Jan. 29 2010 when ranked No. 11.
Sophomore hitter Maurice Torres who lead the team with 17 kills on the night said the Waves were “fired up to play and that it really showed tonight.”
Sophomore Beau Vandeweghe his a career-high 15 points with a .545 hitting percentage on the night and senior Cory Riecks finished with 10 kills becoming one of 16 Waves in history to reach the 1000th kill milestone.
Giving credit to the unity of the team Riecks said “for me to reach 1000 kills means 1000 good passes were made and 1.000 good sets came to me … All the credit goes to my teammates.”
The match was fairly even going almost point for point throughout the entire game with the exception of the fourth frame in which the Waves aggressively pushed a 25-16 set. After regaining momentum in the fifth set the Waves came back to tie at 12 points 13 points1415 until senior Kasey Crider with 55 assists in the match was able to save the Waves by digging up the ball. And it was ultimately Torres that put the match away with his five kills in the last set.
The Waves next face Pacific and Stanford at home on Friday and Saturday Feb. 18 and 19 at 7 p.m.