Pepperdine came back form a two-game deficit to take the Trojans 3-2 Saturday night at the Lyon Center.
By Lindsey Besecker
Assistant Sports Editor
In one of its most dramatic matches yet this season, the No. 6 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team came back from two games down to defeat No. 15 University of Southern California, 3-2.
The competition just keeps getting tougher for the Waves, as they finally return home to host No. 7 UC Santa Barbara tonight and No. 4 California State University, Northridge on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.
“Northridge will be a good battle,” Head Coach Marv Dunphy said. “They’ll have a big crowd – they always bring a real big crowd when they come this way. It’s an important match for both teams.”
Last time the Waves and the Gauchos met up, Pepperdine took the match in three games. The week before, Pepperdine played a tough match against Northridge, but the Matadors came out on top 3-2.
“It’s our first home game in five games, so it’s good to play in front of your own stands,” freshman middle blocker John Parfitt said. “Hopefully we’ll have more intensity to bring to the game. Every time we’ve played (UCSB) before in the past, we’ve had some close matches. Hopefully since we’re at home, we can take them.”
Since that match, the Matadors have only lost one match. They played No. 2 Long Beach State University, which won the match 3-0. UCSB has lost four matches since its Pepperdine match, but not without three impressive wins. The Gauchos defeated Long Beach 3-0 and lost a close 3-2 match to Northridge.
“I’m feeling good (about the match) as usual,” freshman outside hitter Tanner Sutherland said. “Last time we played them, we beat them 3-0. When we beat them, it boosted our confidence.”
The UCSB match will mark a homecoming for the Pepperdine team – it has not had a home match in 28 days. To make up for that, the team’s next four matches will take place in Firestone Fieldhouse.
“It’ll be good to be home,” Dunphy said. “They’re the leading blocking team in the conference, so we’re looking forward to playing a good team that can play really well. It’s a real good test.”
Before they could worry about any Gauchos or Matadors, the Waves had to take on the Trojans. The team traveled to the Lyon Center on Saturday for its closest match to home in three weeks.
“They served real well, and we did not pass very well,” Dunphy said. “Once we smoothed out we got them pretty good. I give them credit, they played real well for a few games.”
The Trojans took the first two games, 19-30 and 26-30. In the first game, USC held an 8-0 lead to start off the night.
“At first I was getting irritated that we weren’t playing too well,” Parfitt said. “But it’s always good to come back.”
Dunphy said the team started out in a rotation that did not have a good match-up between Pepperdine and USC players. After the second game, the Waves altered their rotation to try and match players up better.
“We started in a couple different places,” Dunphy said. “We changed the match-up and I think that helped us. Basically we just played a lot better.”
After that, Pepperdine surged forward to take the last three games, 30-23, 30-21, 15-11.
“It was just a real good comeback,” Dunphy said. “We hadn’t played for a week. It’s good knowing we can come back on the road.”
Senior outside hitter Fred Winters contributed 21 kills, 11 digs and six blocks for the Pepperdine defense. Junior outside hitter Sean Rooney matches Winter’s 21 kills and added eight digs and four blocks.
“In the recent games, (our defense) has been a little bit better,” Sutherland said. “But we can always get better.”
Adding to the Pepperdine attack, sophomore middle blocker Andy Hein pounded 12 kills, junior libero James Ka recorded 13 digs, Parfitt contributed eight blocks, and junior setter John Mayer had 55 set assists. Overall, the Waves had 15.5 team blocks, which overpowered the Trojans’ 6.5 team blocks.
“We’ve had a couple players injured, so a few bench players have been coming in,” Parfitt said. “They’ve been doing a real good job. It’s good that our whole team is contributing.”
With the win, the Waves improved to 12-6 overall and 8-6 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play. The Trojans dropped to 6-15 overall and 4-10 in conference.
Submitted March 25, 2004