GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team, which had won five of its past six matches, split against UCLA and UC Irvine over the weekend. The Waves managed to sweep the UCLA season series Thursday with a home victory, but couldn’t finish the season sweep of UC Irvine on the road Saturday.
In the match against the Bruins, the Waves produced a balanced attack that saw four team members notch double-digit kill totals. Freshman outside hitter Paul Carroll led all players with 22 kills on the match, tying his career high. Junior Tom Hulse added 15 kills, junior John Parfitt had 12 kills and senior Jon Grobe chipped in with 10 kills.
Sophomore setter Jonathan Winder had 60 assists in the match as Pepperdine out-hit the Bruins .329-.255. Pepperdine finished off the Bruins, 30-21, 31-29, 26-30, 30-25. Hulse led all players with a .577 attack percentage, earning accolades from Head Coach Marv Dunphy.
“That was a good match, it was a good win for us,” Dunphy said. “We played pretty solid throughout, and I thought Tom Hulse had a great match.”
Dunphy said he’s been pleased with the way the team has shared the ball all season, saying that the attack has been fairly even for most of the season.
“I think we’ve had a pretty balanced attack throughout the year,” Dunphy said. “That’s one of the pluses for this team.”
On Saturday, the fourth-ranked Waves played the No.-1 ranked UC Irvine Anteaters in a rematch of a Pepperdine victory early in the season when the Waves were ranked No.-1 and UC Irvine was ranked No. 4.
Pepperdine took the first game 30-25, but UC Irvine’s attack was able to sweep the next three games in the back-and-forth match, 34-32, 30-28, 30-27.
The Waves had three players in double figures in kills. Parfitt led the team with 19 kills, Carroll had 17 and senior Andy Hein added 14 for the Waves. The Anteaters had four players in double digits, with senior Matt Weber leading the match with 24 kills.
Dunphy said the match was played at a much higher level than the one the Waves won Jan. 20 in Firestone Fieldhouse.
“Both teams played at a high level on Saturday and the first match, neither team did,” Dunphy said. “We were both much better. That match could’ve gone either way. They made the plays to win those games in the end and I give them credit.”
Though the Waves have raced out to a 13-5 record, Dunphy thinks the team will continue to get better as the season goes along and doesn’t believe Pepperdine has played its best volleyball yet.
“I don’t really believe in this peaking stuff,” Dunphy said. “We want to be as good as we can possibly be in the coming weeks. It’s not like everything happens in that one instant. I think we’re playing pretty well lately, though.”
Dunphy went on to say the Waves should still be considered one of the favorites in the national title picture because they played so well against UC Irvine and other top teams.
“I think we’re in that picture,” Dunphy said. “Irvine has been the unanimous No.-1 the last couple weeks and really you could just flip a coin in that match.”
Pepeprdine’s next match is against cross-town rival University of Southern California. The Trojans and the Waves have yet to meet this season. USC sits at 10-14 on the season and in a tie for the No.-12 spot in the nation. Dunphy said the key to the match will be containing the Trojan serve and getting possession of the ball.
“If we can side out on a consistent basis, we’ll score some real points along the way,” Dunphy said. “They’re a real good side out team. They don’t give up points in bunches and we’ve got to make sure we don’t either. It’s a big match, we’re looking forward to it.”
The match will start at 7 p.m. in the Lyon Center on the USC campus.
03-23-2006
