Pepperdine’s women’s volleyball team played the West Coast Conference’s top team the Saint Mary’s Gaels in another nail-biting five-set match that ended in a Waves loss at 22-25 25-19 24-26 25-20 and 15-13 in Moraga Calif. last Saturday Oct. 31.
In the last four matches played the Waves (12-10 5-4) have lost three of them in five-game matches. Two of these matches were lost by only two points which is always tough in the sport of volleyball games cannot be won by only one point.
“It’s always disheartening to fight so hard and then lose by only two points sophomore opposite Kristen Seaton said.
Along with senior outside hitter Rachel Grochmal, the Waves’ offense was aided by sophomore outside hitter Lilla Frederick and freshman outside hitter Caitlin Racich with 12 kills apiece, sophomore middle blocker Kim Hill with 10 kills and freshman middle blocker Victoria Adelhelm with nine.
The Gaels overpowered the Waves in blocking 12-2, and also had more serving aces at 6-4. As a team, the Gaels hit .315, while the Waves hit .279. Even though the statistics were not looking positive for Pepperdine, the women’s team still brought enough competition to take the match into a set of five games.
The Waves started out on top and won the first game, 25-22, but the Gaels would respond to this loss by fighting back in the second set to win 25-19. Now the true competition began with a win under each team’s belt. Soon the McKeon Pavilion was rocked as both teams responded to a loss with a win.
The Waves barely got by with a win for the third set, 26-24, but once again the Gaels responded to the loss and came back fighting, to take the victory in the fourth set, 25-20. With back-to-back wins by both teams, the tension was high with a quick fifth game to 15 around the corner.
All volleyball teams know how critical it is to start out the fifth game on top. They key to this is to be the first team to eight.
The Gaels had an enormous lead in the fifth set at 8-3. As the teams switched sides of the court, a procedure that must be followed in the fifth set when one team reaches eight points, the Waves had a brief moment to regroup. By pulling away the momentum from Saint Mary’s during the switch, Pepperdine hoped to step it up and correct the necessary mistakes in order to pull through with the victory.
Led by Grochmal’s three kills, the Waves lashed back at the Gaels after the court switch and tied the score at 9-9, which is a huge response for being down.
At 10-10, the Gaels pushed for the victory by scoring three points in a row, which brought the momentum back to Satin Mary’s and finally closed out the match at 15-13.
I think we need to focus on this week and work harder in the beginning of matches so that the end is not life or death Seaton said. We’re working on different things and trying to find something consistent in our game. Hopefully this week the tables turn our way and we can close out the matches early and not let two points decide it again.”
Grochmal hit a career-high 25 kills and had eight digs during the match. Sophomore libero Stevi Robinson had 17 digs and senior setter Kiah Fiers had 63 assists and 12 digs.
The Waves play their last two home matches this week against Portland Nov. 5 and Gonzaga Nov. 7.
