Loss Leaves Pepperdine Speechless

The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team couldn’t really verbalize what happened during a 15-7, 15-10, 15-4 loss to Loyola Marymount on Saturday night in a West Coast Conference match at Gersten Pavilion.

Then again, the score pretty much said it all.

Pepperdine, which came close to defeating the 20th-ranked Lions in a three-hour, five-game marathon last month, were finished off this time in 1 hour 15 minutes.

“It’s really hard to say what happened,” Nicole Sanderson said. “We just had a bad night.”

Sanderson and Kim Ward led the team with seven kills each.

Pepperdine (17-9, 7-3 in the WCC) had trouble consistently setting up its offense, often scrambling around in a state of chaos.

“If you can’t pass, you’re always playing catch-up,” Pepperdine Coach Nina Matthies said. “It’s a big snowball.”

The Lions (18-4, 10-0), who won their 13th consecutive conference match, had better success at the net. Loyola had 11 blocks to only three for Pepperdine.