By Joann Groff
Assistant Sports Editor
All good things must come to an end.
The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team ended its 12-game winning streak last Friday against the No. 2-ranked University of Hawaii. The Waves defeated the Warriors just two days prior, but the momentum from the win just wasn’t enough to carry them through the next match up.
Last week the team traveled to the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu to face its biggest rivals on Warrior turf. More than 5,000 fans crowded in the state-of-the-art facility to watch their home team get beaten in four games Wednesday.
Hawaii came out kicking, taking the first game 30-24. Maybe the Waves were still getting warmed up. Perhaps it was the bitter taste left from their last match up with the Warriors: the NCAA Championships last May where Pepperdine fell to Hawaii for the first time that season. Whatever the reason, the men stepped up and clinched the next three close games, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28 to claim the match, and remind the Warriors who was No. 1 this year.
“I thought we got on them early,” sophomore outside hitter Mike Gledhill, who tallied eight each of digs and kills, said. “We got inside their heads. They weren’t really prepared to play us. We served and hit well. We gave them our steady game and didn’t let them take control.”
Sophomore setter John Mayor added seven digs and six blocks to the match.
“People just love volleyball there,” Mayor said. “They are the best. They are the team to beat, we’ve known that since the beginning. To beat them at home in front of that crowd was huge.”
Junior outside hitter Fred Winters took a team-high total of 24 kills, also two service aces and nine digs.
“Basically both nights both teams played well,” Head Coach Marv Dunphy said. “All my players went out there and played pretty well in Hawaii.”
Friday was a new day and unfortunately for the Waves, a different outcome. After 12 consecutive wins, the men suffered their first loss since Jan. 6 when they fell to the University of Irvine in three games. The Warriors added 1,500 to the cheering section and a lot more drive behind their play. They took the Waves in four games by scores of 30-25, 31-29, 26-30, 30-16.
“They have great international experience,” Dunphy said. “They are the defending national champions so they are a handful for anyone. They have great arms so their hitting and serving is very good.”
Sophomore outside hitter Sean Rooney pulled hard for the Waves, adding 19 kills, two service aces and eight digs.
Gledhill said the team relied on Winters in the first match, but were also lead by Rooney who played very well throughout the competition.
“As a team we pulled through,” Gledhill said. “Some individuals didn’t play as well and some played really well. The main thing is we played as a team. We didn’t let the long rallies that went their way affect us. We played with heart . . . You have to give Hawaii a lot of credit — they played well, hit well for their home crowd. They wanted to prove they could beat us.”
Mayor said that despite the loss, he recognizes their errors, and all in all, the matches were good for the team.
“They are a tough team to beat twice,” Mayor said. “We were exhausted from practicing every day, even game days. They were ready to go and things for us just weren’t clicking. We ruined a couple chances to get ahead and win. Even losing this was a pretty awesome experience.”
The Waves are back on track, defeating two big Mountain-Pacific Sports Federation teams, University of Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge, both in three games.
Dunphy said certain rivalries may exist, but when it comes down to it, the focus is on taking down the team they are facing.
“There is a good rivalry between us and Hawaii, but then I would say there is a rivalry between us and anyone who gets in our way.”
March 13, 2003