By Joann Groff
Assistant Sports Editor
“This is going to be big.”
These were the words Head Coach Marv Dunphy spoke ominously last week as he and the men’s volleyball team prepared for the Univerity of Southern California game. Players said the highly anticipated match up would be tough, but they were determined to win their first league game. The Waves stuck true to their word, claiming a victory over the Trojans not only in a three-game sweep, but with confident scores of 30-20, 30-22, 30-17.
Sophomore outside hitter Sean Rooney and junior outside hitter Fred Winters tallied a team-high 12 kills against USC on Friday, proving they will be an unstoppable team this season.
“I think after our first few matches in the tournament, we had a lot to work on,” Rooney said. “It was the only match of the week, and everyone was really fired up to play. Now we have a lot more confidence, we’re practicing really well, and are excited about the season.”
Winters agreed.
“Basically we want to play like that all the time, and if we do, we’ll do well,” he said.
Winters recorded a .571 hitting percentage against the Trojans, errorless in 21 total attempts.
“The USC game was a combination of us playing real well and USC not playing particularly well,” Dunphy said. “But we were definitely part of that.”
He said the team was working together, and the game statistics back his claims.
“We served in and we hit in — the stats say we had 85 swings in the match, three hitting errors,” Dunphy said. “That is a fabulous number. If we keep something like that going, and just battle with teams, that’s really going to help us.”
Senior middle blocker Brad Keegan collected eight kills and 11 total blocks, holding USC to a team hitting percentage of .129.
“I think it had a lot to do with our ability to receive serves well,” Dunphy said. “We can run our offense quite easily, and we did, we actually did it. It was a real exciting game to watch.”
USC is the first of 22 matches the Waves will play in their conference, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. They continue their conference run with two tough matches next week.
The No. 9 Waves will be back in action tonight when they battle the No. 10 University of California Santa Barbara Gauchos. The match, at Firestone Fieldhouse, begins at 7 p.m. and is one of 10 games scheduled to be broadcast via the Internet this year.
“We need to win every game. If we don’t win our conference, we want to get the at large bid, so every game counts,” Winters said. “This is a game we should win, so we have to win.”
The men meet another MPSF team Saturday, facing No. 6 California State University Northridge, a game that promises a close battle.
“Northridge is real good,” Dunphy said. “I think Northridge has their best team in 20 years, if not their best team ever. It’s going to be tough.”
Tough, perhaps. But the players say they’re up for the challenge.
January 23, 2003