Nevada crashes Waves in tournament opener
GREGORY BARNETT
Staff Writer
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team kicked off its home schedule with a frustrating loss to Nevada this evening. The match was the first of the Waves’ annual Asics Classic held in Malibu. Pepperdine, Nevada, Lipscomb, and Arizona are participating in the event this year.
The Waves got off to a solid start with convincing wins in games one and two, but the Wolfpack would not go away. Nevada came back to win the final three games, stealing the match away from Pepperdine.
Pepperdine started quick in front of the home crowd with dominating performances in both games one and two. Pepperdine stunned Nevada 30-11 in game one with zero hitting errors on the home side. Juniors Julie Rubenstein and Rachel Lumsden combined for twelve points to lead the Waves. Nevada woke up in game two, but Rubenstein’s 13 kills were too much for Nevada and the Waves took game two 30-26.
While the match looked like it was going to be all Pepperdine, the Wolfpack were not going to go down without a fight. Games three and four were tight the entire way with Nevada pulling out the victory in both. The Waves had multiple match points in both games but couldn’t close it out.
Up 29-27 in the third game, an ill-timed service error tied the match at 29 and the Wolfpack won the next two points to take the game. The fourth game saw Pepperdine up 29-25 and Nevada wheeled off six straight points to stun the home crowd and take the fourth game 31-29.
“We just stopped executing,” said Head Coach Nina Matthies. “I think we thought, ‘Hey, we are young, and we are home, so we are going to win.’ It’s college, it doesn’t work that way.”
The drama filled fifth and final game was a heartbreaker for the Waves. With a match point at 15-14, the Waves blew another chance to win with a net violation. The Wolfpack then took the next two points to cap off an amazing comeback with a 17-15 win in the final game.
The Waves (2-2) have two more games tomorrow against Lipscomb and Arizona. Pepperdine plays Lipscomb at 10 a.m. and Arizona at 7:30 p.m.
“I think we need to come back and decide if we are going to play volleyball, play for an entire match, and not just win two games,” Matthies said. “We’ve been playing well for spurts of time but not on a consistent basis.”
08-31-2007