Usually the No. 2 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team knows how to pull off a win in the fifth game but in their last home meeting Saturday April 3 against No. 11 UC Irvine the Waves just couldn’t end up on top falling short 3-2.
Coming into the match Pepperdine had a chance to move up in the polls because of Stanford’s recent loss to Cal State Northridge. Chances looked good for the Waves who were 4-0 in tied matches that went into five games. Unfortunately UC?Irvine got the better of Pepperdine on Saturday.
“The UCI match was tough because we had an opportunity to reclaim the league lead on Saturday night senior outside hitter Brent Schirripa said. Now we have to win out to win league.”
Senior outside hitter JD Schleppenbach and freshman opposite Maurice Torres led the team with 17 kills each. Following right behind them was junior outside hitter Cory Riecks who had 16 while senior middle blocker Rodnei Santos added 11.
Junior setter Kasey Crider had a double-double with 74 assists and senior libero Sean Grubbs had 10 digs. The match high for blocks was seven achieved by junior middle blocker Tyler Jaynes. Schirripa put forth a great show coming off the bench with 11 errorless swings and nine kills.
“We played really well in the first set and completely shut them down Grubbs said. Also we competed pretty hard in the fifth set which is a good experience for us.”
In the first game the Waves never trailed and at one point enjoyed a 5-0 run that Schleppenbach started with a cross-court kill. Another five-point run included great plays by Jaynes that gave Pepperdine a comfortable 16-6 lead. At the end of the match Riecks got three kills in the final four points.
In the second game the Anteaters never lost their lead taking the match with a six-point advantage.
Game three escalated the crowd excitement with the board always reading tied scores. UCI eventually took the lead for good but the Waves put up a good showing in the last crucial portion of the game closing the gap at 29-28.
The Waves finally took a win in the fourth set. After a block from Crider and Santos Pepperdine held the score at 18-11. Toward the end of the match Irvine caught up and was only behind by two points 28-26. But a service ace by Schleppenbach and a huge block by Jaynes and Torres earned Pepperdine the match.
With six attack errors by Pepperdine 11 ties and six lead changes the fifth game was in UCI’s favor. The Anteaters never led by more than two while the Waves never led by more than one. After a long battle UCI tied the fifth game at 17-17 then took the lead. The match ended with a hitting error on a hit that went wide.
“We are still in great position to win it all Schirripa said, and we are probably [in the] top two or three teams favored to do so. Obviously that is our goal. We look forward to seeing if we have what it takes when the games get tough.”
The Waves will play their final four regular season matches on the road with the first match at No. 1 Stanford on Friday at 7 p.m. and one against the University of the Pacific on Saturday. Pepperdine looks to derail the mighty Cardinal winners of 13 of their last 15 games.
Grubbs said he is looking forward to Friday’s match.
“We need to take one match at a time and Friday will be the biggest match we have played all season Grubbs said. I also enjoy playing on the road because it is a good test to see how tough we are and if we can stick together as a team in order to win.”
