GREG BARNETT
Sports Editor
The No.-5 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team dropped its third consecutive match Wednesday night with a loss at No.-3 Long Beach State University, 30-21, 32-30, 30-21. With the loss, Pepperdine falls to 4-3 overall and 4-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. Long Beach State stays unbeaten on the season, 7-0 overall and 5-0 in MPSF action.
“I think we were ready to play,” senior Jonathan Winder said. “We were in some good spots but we just weren’t able to make the plays.”
The Waves again played without All-American junior opposite Paul Carroll, who missed his fifth straight match with a fractured hand. Pepperdine is 2-3 without Carroll.
Junior outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach led Pepperdine with 11 kills and freshman outside hitter Cory Rieks added 10 kills. Winder contributed with 25 assists, 3 digs and 3 service aces.
Neither team hit particularly well for the match with the 49ers hitting .184, but the 49ers were able to hold the Waves to a season low -.065 hitting percentage. Pepperdine had a total of 30 kills while committing 37 errors with junior Matt McKee, freshman Tyler Jaynes and Schleppenbach all having negative hitting percentages for the match.
“We just hit a lot of balls out of bounds,” Winder said. “We tried, competed and worked hard, but nothing was clicking.”
Head Coach Marv Dunphy said even though the team was not hitting well for the match they still had a chance to win game two, but it just wasn’t to be.
“Offensively we made too many errors,” Dunphy said. “I think we just need to challenge the blocks a little bit more.”
Paul Lotman led the 49ers with 16 kills and Dan Alexander tallied 11 kills while also leading the team with 10 block assists. Long Beach had a total of 17.5 blocks while limiting the Waves to only 10 team blocks.
In game one, the teams exchanged points to 10-10 until an 8-2 run by the 49ers gave them the lead, 18-12. Long Beach never looked back, taking the game 30-21.
Pepperdine had the lead in game two, 28-25, before Long Beach reeled off three straight points to tie the game, 28-28, after a service ace and two Lotman kills. Long Beach also fought off two Pepperdine game points before scoring the game’s final three points to take the game, 32-30.
Last Friday night, the Waves lost to crosstown rival UCLA in front of a large crowd at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves played hard in their first five- set match of the season but dropped their second MPSF conference game (30-21, 20-30, 30-27, 28-30, 12-15).
“I think sometimes you have to give credit to your opponent,” Dunphy said. “I thought they ran their middle really well, they passed well and set it quick at will. Bottom line is you give it your best shot, and you’re either good enough or you’re not, and we were not good enough.”
The Waves were led by McKee and Schleppenbach with 21 kills and 18 kills, respectively. Riecks chipped in with 12 kills while Winder tallied 52 assists.
Pepperdine struggled throughout the match with UCLA’s middle attack. The Bruins repeatedly punished the Waves with quick sets and quick hits. Pepperdine’s blockers and defense were never able to adjust and UCLA finished with a .390 hitting percentage while holding Pepperdine to a .368 hitting percentage.
“We tried to adjust, but they were connecting well,” Winder said. “I think next time, if we face them, and they try to do the same stuff, we’ll know and will be more prepared and will have practice the certain defense we needed tonight.”
The Bruins had two players with more than 20 kills. Junior Ryan Ratelle tallied 23 kills while junior James Diefenbach had 21 kills with a .690 hitting percentage.
The first game started off well for the Waves thanks to great serving by Schleppenbach in the middle of the game. The score was 15-13 in favor of Pepperdine when three monster serves by Schleppenbach gave the Waves an 18-13 advantage, and they never looked back. Pepperdine eventually took the game easily, 30-21.
Game two was the total opposite of game one with the Bruins dominating the Waves all over the court. UCLA held the lead throughout the game and won the game handily, 30-20.
Games three and four were extremely close and hard-fought games that saw both teams take one apiece. Game three was back and forth until an ace by Rieks won it for the Waves, 30-27. Game four was knotted up, 25-25, before two quick points by the Bruins gave them the lead for good, taking the game, 30-28.
Pepperdine’s youth and inexperience proved to be costly in game five when three consecutive hitting errors gave the Bruins a 14-11 lead. A service error by UCLA got the Waves back within two but a Rieks service error ended the game and the match, 15-12.
“We’re young, guys haven’t been in this situation before,” Winder said. “They played really well and they beat us really badly in the middle.”
The Waves continue their four-game road trip Friday when they travel to face No.-15 UC San Diego at 7 p.m.
01-31-2008
