Photo by Connor Shewmake
It’s about a month away from finals, which I’m sure many Pepperdine Waves are dreading and anticipating in equal measure. But the end of the semester is an even more special culminating moment for the Pepperdine men’s volleyball team. On April 19, the Waves will play in the first round of playoffs together with the other seven teams at the top of the MPSF rankings. This marks the climax of the men’s volleyball season, which determines whether or not they will advance to the nationals.
“I think we are starting to come together and play as a team. We did a good job of battling together through adversity at UCSB last Friday, and going to continue to focus on the overall goal of competing for a national championship in May while remaining present focused,” said sophomore J.J. Mosolf on the season so far.
Pepperdine men’s volleyball has won the NCAA Championships five times to date, but the last time they took the title was in 2005. The Waves have very real hopes of making it to Nationals this year, but as junior Josh Taylor says, “there’s no point focusing too far in the future if you can’t look past tomorrow.”
“Winning the national championship is the final goal, but there are so many obstacles before that … I’m just looking forward to the next game right in front of us,” Taylor said. And if that is the Waves’ game strategy, it seems to be working pretty well for them too. This past week, Pepperdine picked up two key wins on the road against UCLA and UCSB, both teams also ranked in the top eight.
The Waves played the UCLA Bruins at Pauly Pavilion on March 11, where they took victory 3-1, the first time season win against the Bruins since 2010. Four Waves scored kills in the double digits and Head Coach Marv Dunphy praised the team’s hitting that day, though he commented that the service left something to be desired.
The game against No. 4 UCSB on March 14 turned the heat up a notch, but the Waves eventually swamped the Gauchos 3-2. Josh Taylor led the floor and ended the night with 22 kills under his belt, while Matt Tarantino impressed the crowd and statisticians alike, not committing any hitting errors for the third match in a row. Pepperdine also persevered in the blocking battle and had 14 blocks to UCLA’s six.
This game brings the Waves up to 12-5 in their season and at the beginning of this week saw them rise in the rankings from No. 5 to No. 3. However, Pepperdine is up against some stiff competition next, playing No. 2 Long Beach State tonight. The 49ers are 15-4 overall and won their past nine games in a row, their last loss to UCSB more than a month ago.
The Waves played the 49ers in January earlier this year and suffered their first loss of the season 3-2. This will be the first time since that loss that the teams have met on the court, and hopefully this time the Waves will have the offensive and defensive power to outlast the 49ers. In the previous match, Long Beach’s solid defense kept the Waves at bay with 22 blocks in the night. Their offense is supported by Taylor Crabb who leads the nation with 4.96 kills/set, contrasted to Josh Taylor’s respectable 4.12, which is the highest on the Pepperdine team.
“Long Beach is a good veteran team with high volleyball IQ players that we have been preparing and training well for, and tomorrow night should be another solid test for our team,” Mosolf said.
“I think if we play Pepperdine volleyball the way Coach Marv teaches it we have a chance,” said Taylor, who continued to add, “not many people seem to understand … [but] volleyball is an emotionally-driven sport and attendance really affects the home team. We would all really appreciate if everyone comes out to support us [on Thursday].”
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