ZACH ENGLUND
Sports Assistant
They were undefeated coming into Saturday’s game. They were the top-ranked team in the nation. They were playing in their own building, yet UC Irvine was not able to overcome the overpowering force that greeted them Saturday night, falling in convincing fashion to the visiting No.-5 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team, 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-23).
The Waves then rallied from down 2-1 to defeat No.-6 Cal State Northridge 3-2 at the Matadome in Northridge on Wednesday night.
Led by the strong play of sophomore Paul Carroll and a career-high performance by senior Tom Hulse with 16.5 and 15 points, respectively, the Waves (5-1, 4-1 MPSF) were able to dominate the Anteaters (9-1, 4-1 MPSF) throughout the contest, out-blocking them 16-6 in the eventual sweep, which took all of 86 minutes to transpire.
Game one of the match was a back and forth grind, as neither team had gained a substantial lead throughout the set and later were tied at 21-all. From that point on, the Waves took control and maintained it the rest of the way, taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
This would be the story once again for both teams in the second set, knotting up at 17-, 18-, 20-, 21-, 22-, 23-, 24-, 25-, and 26-all before either team established a lead. Consecutive kills in crunch time by the Waves would be all the edge needed to secure authority in the game and match with a 2-0 advantage, putting all of the pressure solely on the Anteater’s shoulders.
With a possible sweep and the first loss of the season breathing down their necks, UC Irvine seemed to lose its composure and was not able to muster up a comeback in the third set, as the Waves took control with a 5-0 run early in the game, deflating any hopes that the home team might still be having. Although the Anteaters did pull within one at 15-14, the Waves would respond with a 6-0 run which lead to an upset victory over top-ranked UC Irvine in front of a silent crowd in awe of what they just witnessed.
“You know, sometimes the ball just bounces your way,” said Marv Dunphy, head coach of the Waves. “We weren’t perfect, but I thought we blocked and returned serve pretty well and beat a pretty good team.”
Even though the atmosphere was hostile, Dunphy said he was not at all surprised by his team’s composure and poise from start to finish in the match.
“Any athlete, if you ask him about atmosphere, would much rather be playing in front of a 100,000 fans than one,” he said. “I think it’s nice when they have a good event with lots of people there, and I look forward to coming back.”
While most people would consider the victory for the Waves a statement game, Dunphy knows better than to get too excited or down about any one game, especially at this point in the season.
“It’s early in the year for all teams, so you’re going to see some ebbs and flaws,” he said. “A lot of teams aren’t really smooth yet. I’m going to give you the cliché and say that we’re taking it one game at a time, because that’s really the way it is.”
Another bright spot in the Waves’ victory was the return of two-time All-American junior setter Jonathan Winder, who was out for three weeks with a knee injury. Taking his place in the lineup leading up to Saturday was freshman setter Brett Hughes, whose play was “great” according to Dunphy throughout Winder’s absence.
Pepperdine’s next game finds the Waves traveling to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
Even with the Waves playing so well as of late, Dunphy doesn’t want his team to get overconfident and is not concerned about anything except who is next on the schedule.
“The reality is that every game is a big match,” he said. “Our most important match is our next match.”
02-01-2007
