Matt Llewellyn
Staff Writer
While the rain continues to haunt Malibu, the sun is still shining for the No. 1-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team.
The Waves are now 15-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and are coming off their 14th consecutive win. In their victory over University of the Pacific on Saturday, the Waves celebrated yet another accomplishment to add to this season’s list. Pepperdine’s head coach, Marv Dunphy, received his 400th career win with that match.
“It’s nice to get (the wins),” Dunphy said. “But I think every coach and athlete who does something special recalls who they did it with and how they did it. Pepperdine has been really great to me from top to bottom.”
The Waves manhandled the Tigers in three straight games capping off a season sweep of UOP.
On March 17, the Waves hosted the University of Southern California Trojans, who were 2-14 in MPSF. The match got underway and Pepperdine dominated early, pulling away with an easy 30-23 victory in game one.
Game two appeared to be no sweat for the Waves as they served an excellent percentage from the service line. Pepperdine freshman setter Jonathan Winder continued to set the ball well, finding senior outside hitters Sean Rooney and John Mayer time after time. The Waves exploited the shorter Trojan middle blockers who struggled with Pepperdine junior Andy Hein and sophomore John Parfitt.
Later in the game, Pepperdine benefited from two USC blocking errors, which started a 6-0 Wave run. Game two was finally ended by All-American Rooney, who tallied his seventh kill of the game on game point. The team went on to win game two easily 30-22.
Despite the Waves’ dominating performance in games one and two, they found a fight in game three. Pepperdine appeared to have control of the match, but when the Trojans tied things up at 16-all, the Waves found themselves struggling to score a point.
USC went on a 5-2 run, which was countered by a strong Parfitt and Rooney attack. With the game tied at 24 a piece, USC’s Joao Grangeiro recorded another kill, taking the first lead of the night. Both teams continued to trade points, but the Trojans were too much and went on to defeat the Waves 31-29.
With game three behind them, the Waves found themselves back in familiar territory. Although Pepperdine trailed much of game four, the Waves pulled it all together behind Parfitt, Winder and Hein’s strong swings. Pepperdine cruised and won the match, defeating the Trojans for the second time this season.
“Everything seems to be coming together at the right time for us,” Winder said. “As long as we continue to take one match at a time, we should continue to be successful.”
Up next for the Waves were the 11th-ranked Pacific Tigers. The Waves went on to shock the Tigers in three straight games, defeating them in under 73 minutes.
Game one was a struggle for the Tigers as they committed five ball handling errors, for all of which the Waves made them pay. Despite the Tigers’ best efforts, the Waves were too much and cruised to a 30-27 win.
In game two, the Tigers outplayed and out hit the Waves by a .467 to .250 margin. UOP also out blocked Pepperdine during the game, six to one. However, the Tigers committed nine service errors including four consecutive errors in the middle of the game and one on game point. The Waves capitalized on all the Tiger errors and came away with the 30-27 game two victory.
In game three, the Waves took the early lead behind the play of their seniors, Mayer and Rooney. Mayer led the team with 12 kills while Rooney led the Waves on a 9-2 run, coming up with two service aces. Winder and Hein teamed up with several blocks putting the game out of reach for the visiting Tigers. The Waves swept the Tigers with a 30-20 win in game three.
The win clinched a special place in history for Pepperdine’s Dunphy, who with this win, won his 400th match.
“It’s such an honor to be a part of something so special,” Hein said. “Playing for Marv has been such a great experience, but being able to contribute to this win is something I will always remember.”
The Waves now look ahead to a match with No.-10 Stanford University who they will host on March 25.
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