Sophomore opposite hitter Cole Hartke goes for the kill against the Penn State Nittany Lions on March 11 at Firestone Fieldhouse. Hartke recorded 15 kills in the match, leading the Waves. Photos by Ava Walton
No. 6 Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball won 3-1 in a defensive shutdown against the No. 15 Penn State Nittany Lions on March 11 at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Head Coach Jonathan Winder said how important pregame adjustments and building momentum are in each game, especially against strong opponents.
“Some people think it [momentum] doesn’t exist,” Winder said. “But I think it gives confidence when you’re making good plays, and then that is contagious.”
Pepperdine won the first two sets in dominant fashion, taking both in a 25-16 score. The Waves recorded 4.5 total blocks in the second set, as sophomore opposite hitter Cole Hartke recorded a solo block and block assist himself.
The Waves lost the third set 25-22 but bounced back, dominating the fourth set. Pepperdine held the Nittany Lions to only six kills, while also forcing nine attack errors in the final set as the Waves won 25-16.
Senior libero Jacob Reilly said wins like this give the momentum needed to end the season strong, especially helping their confidence as a team.
“It just builds a lot of confidence. We know that they [Penn State] are a good team,” Reilly said. “Just knowing who we are, as a team, building that confidence together, finding ways to win, I think that’s just something really big.”
Winder said his goal heading into the game was establishing the middle of the court with junior setter Andrej Polomac, allowing the offense to start flowing through senior outside hitter Ryan Barnett and Hartke.
“It’s kind of like in football, you have your run game and want to get that established so you can start to kind of go elsewhere,” Winder said.
Junior setter Andrej Polomac sets for his hitters against the Penn State Nittany Lions on March 11 at Firestone Fieldhouse. Polomac paired his 39 assists with three service aces in the match.
Sophomore outside hitter Jose Gomez, who recorded 11 kills, three service aces and five digs, said how important it is for each player to put in time improving themselves individually.
“We always say this phrase in practice, that improving yourself is the best way to improve your team,” Gomez said. “We go by that when we get awards or something like that, so it’s just like a way to make it seem better.”
Despite the strong win, the Waves look to keep improving, as they had 19 service errors and 11 attack errors in the match.
Reilly said mentality lost them the third set, especially after knowing how well they played in the first two sets.
“It was just a little mental thing,” Reilly said. “We know how well we played in the first two sets and just coming together and saying we could just do that again.”
Senior outside hitter Ryan Barnett (left), sophomore middle blocker William Whidden (middle) and sophomore opposite hitter Cole Hartke (right) attempt to block the Penn State attack March 11 at Firestone Fieldhouse. Pepperdine recorded 4.5 total blocks in the match.
Gomez said the Nittany Lions played better than Pepperdine in the third set, shocking the home team, but ultimately the Waves bounced back in the final set, which let them come away with the win.
“Yeah, I think they played better in the third set, and we were shocked by that,” Gomez said. “Then we just kind of went back to the way we wanted to play in the fourth set.”
Alongside the team’s individual performance, Winder said the team served well as a whole, which allowed the Waves to put pressure offensively and force mistakes out of the Nittany Lions. Penn State recorded a 17.4% attack percentage and seven service aces, compared to the Waves’ 40.4% and 13 service aces.
“Our serve was really strong,” Winder said. “That’s probably been the best thing we’ve done all season. That kind of created a ton of pressure on their end, and then we were able to side out or score on our side.”
Winder said a majority of the team’s points this season have come from blocking and serving this season, as Pepperdine entered this match with 118 total service aces compared to their opponents’ 64 throughout the season. according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Junior setter Andrej Polomac serves against the Penn State Nittany Lions on March 11 at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves had 13 service aces in the match, as Polomac recorded three of his own.
Both Winder and Reilly said the chemistry of the team will elevate them to a level above last season. Winder said the team is in the same spot right now as they were at the end of last season, which can let them find more consistency and build more skills.
“This year we’re, like the grittiness Jacob mentioned, just kind of the competitive spirit of the group,” Winder said. “With good teams, you need cultural values, then you also need skills, so I think those things are in place now.”
The Waves now improve to 12-4 on the season, moving to third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings and will enter conference play for the final month of the season. Pepperdine is currently 3-0 in conference play, recording two wins against Jessup University and one against Vanguard University, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Pepperdine’s next match is against Menlo College on March 15 at the Haynes-Prim Pavilion in Atherton, Calif.
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Email Shane Stephens: shane.stephens@pepperdine.edu