MACK CARROLL/Assistant Photo Editor
GREG BARNETT
Sports Editor
In front of a homecoming crowd of 1,074 on Saturday afternoon, the No.-7 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team swept visiting UC San Diego (30-22, 30-20, 30-24). With the win, the Waves improved to 34-0 all-time against the Tritons.
“We came off a pretty emotional win against Long Beach where we had to play really hard and I thought we were solid,” Head Coach Marv Dunphy said. “I was pleased with everything but our serving — we were over-hitting some serves and missing them.”
Junior opposite Paul Carroll returned for his second match after being injured and led the Waves with 17 kills and 6 digs while hitting .520 on 25 attempts.
“It’s not normal yet, [Paul’s] still really rusty, he still can’t do all the things he could do before he was hurt,” senior setter Jonathan Winder said. “It’ll be nice once he gets fully adjusted, but it’s great to have him out there.”
Winder tallied 43 assists while guiding the men to a .437 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach added 11 kills for the team while freshman Cory Rieks had 10 kills. Junior middle blocker Eric Liebert chipped in with 7 kills and 5 blocks.
The Waves started the match strong despite not serving well. The men jumped out to a 17-12 lead and kills by Schleppenbach and Carroll extended the lead to 24-18 before the Tritons called timeout to try and re-group. The timeout did not change much, as a kill by Rieks gave the Waves a 30-22 win in game one.
In game two, Pepperdine continued to dominate the match. They quickly led 13-5 and never looked back. The Waves surged to a 29-19 lead after a Schleppenbach kill and the Tritons saved one game point after a service error by junior middle blocker Mark Hulse. However, a Liebert kill on the next point gave the Waves a 30-20 win in game two.
The Tritons got off to a great start in game three by jumping out to an 8-3 lead after three straight blocks, with Tyler Kern tallying block assists on all three. Dunphy immediately called a timeout to stop their momentum.
“I didn’t say much during the timeout, they made a couple good blocks,” Dunphy said. “One on J.D. and two on Paul, and once in a while you have to give the other guys credit.”
UCSD did not have the lead long as Pepperdine rallied and took the lead at 11-10. The Tritons kept it close, going on a 4-0 run thanks to a few hitting errors by the Waves to get within one point, 20-19. However, Pepperdine got back on track and pulled away to take the final game by six points, 30-24.
Up next, the men play five straight matches on the road, beginning with a match at USC on Feb. 29.
02-21-2008
