By Jill Oberly
Staff Writer
It was a showdown for supremacy in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rankings.
But someone forgot to inform UCLA that it needed to show up ready to do battle.
The No. 1 Bruins let the No. 2 Waves roll in three games, 30-27, 30-27, 30-23, Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Waves also defeated Cal State Northridge in four games, 30-25, 28-30, 30-22, 30-20 on Wednesday night.
With the support of more than 3,000 fans at the UCLA game, the Waves dominated play in almost all areas of the match.
As a team, Pepperdine notched a .402 hitting percentage.
Junior middle blocker Brad Keenan lead the way for the Waves with 12 kills on 15 errorless attempts, giving him a hitting percentage of .800. Keenan also had eight blocks and four service aces.
Freshmen outside hitter Sean Rooney, who was named last week’s American Volleyball Coaches Player of the Week, added nine kills and five blocks.
Senior middle blocker Chris Van Reusen and sophomore outside hitter Fred Winters each tallied eight kills.
Senior setter Beau Daniels continued a season of solid play, coming up big at the net with six blocks to go along with 39 set assists.
Despite leading the kills 50-44, the Bruins only managed a team hitting percentage of .273 and committed 23 hitting errors. The Waves snapped the Bruins’ eight-game winning streak, while extending their win streak to nine. With four games left to play, the Waves currently sit atop the standings as their record improved to 22-4 overall and 17-2 in MPSF play.
The Bruins, who dropped to No. 2 in the nation, according to the AVCA, fell to 23-4 overall and 15-3 in league action.
The clash between Pepperdine and UCLA marked one of the key matches and perhaps one of the most anticipated showdowns of the season. However, the Waves’ season is far from over.
“In each of our upcoming games we have to be ready to play,” head coach Marv Dunphy said. “I think the key at this point is to take it one game at time.”
The Waves came ready to play against No. 10 Northridge at the Matadome last night. In the previous matchup between the two teams, Pepperdine fell to Northridge in five games. But this time the Waves took the match confidently, in four games.
Senior Lance Walker collected 19 kills to lead Pepperdine to victory.
Winters followed with 17 kills to help Pepperdine to its 10th consecutive match win.
Rooney added 14 kills in the game as Pepperdine finished with a .375 team hitting percentage.
Keenan collected seven kills, nine blocks and seven service aces for the Waves while hitting .600 on the evening. Daniels contributed 55 assists.
Pepperdine now holds a game- and-a-half lead over UCLA in the league standings, with just three league matches remaining in the season. UCLA will face No. 3 Hawaii this weekend.
In order to earn the right to host the MPSF tournament, the Waves must finish the season with the best record.
“Hosting conference will be an advantage, especially in this league,” Keenan said, “especially with the way we’ve been playing at home.”
The Waves are 12-1 at home on the season. If the Waves are awarded the MSPF final, they could possibly be playing on the night of graduation.
“We have Cal State Northridge on the road, and Pacific and Stanford at home,” Dunphy said. “We went to five games with all three. You never know what is going to turn the tide.”
This Saturday, the Waves head up to Gaucho territory to face UCSB.
Then it’s back to Firestone Fieldhouse to finish off regular season MPSF play against Pacific on April 12 and Stanford on April 13. All matches begin at 7 p.m
April 04, 2002