GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
Pepperdine’s men’s volleyball team remained perfect this season after upsetting No.-1 Long Beach State University and demolishing University of California, San Diego, both on the road this weekend.
The Waves came into the Long Beach match as the No.-3 team in the nation, according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association, while the 49ers were a nearly unanimous No.-1. However, the match proved that the defending national champs weren’t going to go quietly as they try to ward off teams attempting to take their title.
Pepperdine won the match 3-1 (30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 30-28) thanks to a balanced offense and stout defense. The Waves had four players with double-figure kill totals. Senior Jon Grobe led the way with 16 kills, while senior middle blocker Andy Hein had 15. Sophomore Paul Carroll and junior John Parfitt each tallied 13 kills.
Pepperdine out hit the 49ers .286 to .188 but allowed Long Beach senior Robert Tarr to notch 28 kills on the night. The win allowed the Waves to avenge their road loss to Long Beach during the 2005 season. Head Coach Marv Dunphy was proud of the way the Waves played but said he sees room for improvement.
“I don’t think we completely shut them down,” Dunphy said. “They’re pretty potent. I thought we played basically just well enough to win. We were able to side out well enough to prevent them from scoring some real points. I thought our ability to side was out the key to the match.”
The Waves second match of the weekend came against lowly UCSD, which has yet to win a match this season. Pepperdine continued its winning streak while elongating UCSD’s losing streak with a dominant 3-0 victory in San Diego on Saturday. Pepperdine won 30-28, 30-18, 30-25.
Pepperdine had three players with double-figure kill totals against the Tritons. Hein led the team with 15 kills while Grobe and Parfitt each had a dozen. Pepperdine’s win took its record to 5-0 on the season while UCSD dropped to 0-6.
The Waves took over the top spot in the AVCA poll after the weekend’s two victories, but Dunphy doesn’t see Pepperdine as the best team in the nation just yet.
“Being ranked No.-1 doesn’t mean anything,” Dunphy said. “What’s important is at the end of the season what is the seed for our tournament. That’s what counts. Maybe in other sports the ranking means something along way. For us it doesn’t. Plus, it’s January. It’s pretty early. I’m not apologizing for our team winning matches but to me, we’re a work in progress.”
The Waves’ next two matches are on the road against Brigham Young University. The Cougars are the second-ranked team in the nation according to the AVCA, but Dunphy said he thinks BYU could prove to be a pretty tough test for the Waves.
“I voted BYU No.-1,” Dunphy said. “They’re the most athletically talented team in the nation. They have a new player from Cuba, a 6-8 opposite who was on the Cuban national team that just got eligible. That makes them most athletically talented team in the
country.”
Dunphy said Pepperdine will need to serve well in order to come home from Utah victorious.
“I’ve seen BYU play once,” Dunphy said. “I think we need to serve and receive well. Usually the team who wins the serving an receiving battle will win that match and we’re a little young in that area, so we’re working on it.”
02-02-2006
