By Joann Groff
Assistant Sports Editor
Better late than never.
Pepperdine’s men’s volleyball team continued to rebuild its winning streak after a slow start against University of California San Diego last Saturday.
After falling to the Tritons in the first game, 26-30, the Waves made the comeback they needed and took the next three games, 30-21, 30-20, 30-27.
The No. 1-ranked Waves hold a 16-2 record, 14-1 in conference play after their first Mountain-Pacific Sports Federation loss when they split games with Hawaii last week.
Now, the Waves will face No. 4-ranked California State University Long Beach at the Firestone Fieldhouse Friday. The players say the MPSF match-up could be tough.
“It’s going to be a good game,” junior outside hitter Fred Winters said. “They are the only team that has taken us to five games. They’ve improved a lot lately and are now ranked No. 4. We’re going to have to play our best (Thursday night).”
Sophomore setter John Mayer agreed — the Waves will have to step up and play the way they know they can.
“I’m really excited,” Mayer said. “They’re a good team. We’re coming off a struggling win. It’s going to be a good fight and that’s what this sport is all about, two good teams battling it out.”
The Waves say this game will be their first considerable match-up since Hawaii’s tough competition.
“It’s probably the biggest game in a while,” freshman middle blocker Andy Hein said. “Long Beach is playing well. We haven’t been as busy playing games as they’ve been so they’ve got in some experience since we last faced them. They’re going to be prepared to face us and we have to be prepared as well. It’s going to be one of the most pivotal points of the second half of our season.”
The game against San Diego offered an opportunity for Pepperdine to hold its consistent play against a team that was arguably below its level. This proved to be harder than initially expected.
“We need to play up for a team that we’re expected to beat,” Mayer said. “We need to be more prepared mentally. We can’t just walk into the gym and think we can beat a team because we’re Pepperdine. We need to be more fired up.”
The match, played at the Firestone Fieldhouse Saturday night, was led by Winters, who took the team-best total 18 kills and service ace.
“We started off slow in the first game, but the last three games we really came out to play,” Winters said. “I think we beat them because overall we’re more talented.”
Sophomore outside hitters Sean Rooney and Mike Gledhill added 17 and 11 kills respectively.
The men’s team posted a team hitting percentage of .316 at the match, holding UC San Diego to a .187 attack mark. Senior libero Dhiraj Coats contributed to that with his persistent defense.
“It took us a while to get going,” Coats, who recorded 15 digs in the match, said. “I wasn’t pleased at all in the beginning, but as the games went on we got better and took the victory. I was pleased with that.”
He said letting their guard down may have gotten the Waves in trouble early, but they had what it took to pull through in the end.
“I think we’re a better team,” Coats said. “I know we’re better. We underestimated them a little in the beginning. We didn’t come out with the intensity and they jumped on us.”
Senior middle blocker Brad Keenan had 10 total blocks, contributing to the Waves’ blocking battle, winning by a 14-6 margin.
Mayer was on his game, assisting his fellow teammates 50 times during Saturday’s match. He also added three each of digs and blocks. He said Pepperdine didn’t play up to par in the match.
“A good team can play at a high level any night,” Mayer said. “I don’t think we really played at a high level.”
“We had some problems the first game,” Hein said. “We played very flat. The second and third games especially, we bounced back and showed we were the stronger team out there.”
Mayer said he agrees Pepperdine knew they would come out on top.
“Errors kept piling on top of errors,” he said. “The little things went their way. We weren’t too concerned. We knew we could come back.”
He blames a little of the lag to a week off.
“They were an improved team,” Mayer said. “We hadn’t played in a week and that could have had something to do with it. They jumped out to a huge lead and played really well the first game.”
UC San Diego’s junior outside hitter Jim Waller took the match-high total of 21 kills.
Waller was joined by junior middle blocker Andy Rupp and sophomore outside hitter Adam Toren who both added 11 kills to the Triton’s numbers.
UC San Diego dropped to 5-16 overall, 1-15 in MPSF play.
“Most of us expected to be at the top of our league,” Hein said. “We expect to win most if not all of our games for the rest of the season. That should lead into some good postseason action for us, and that’s what we came in expecting.”
Mayer agreed.
“I think we’re a pretty dangerous team,” he said. “We can play with anybody and beat anybody. It’s a good place for us to be, on top.”
March 20, 2003