Pepperdine Leaves Nothing to Chance

Deep down Pepperdine knew it probably had a spot in the NCAA men’s volleyball championships regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title match against Hawaii.

The at-large berth into the Final Four would have surely gone to the Waves, considering their glossy record and No. 1 national ranking. But they also weren’t about to surrender any momentum built up during a winning streak that has stretched into two months.

The Waves fought off every challenge put up by second-ranked Hawaii in a 24-30, 30-25, 30-25, 30-27 victory before 2,589 at Firestone Fieldhouse that gave them an automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs.

“There’s no other way for us to go into the NCAAs,” said outside hitter Lance Walker, who had a match-high 18 kills. “We want to win and we want to beat everybody. We want to show why we’re No. 1.”

Freshman Sean Rooney had 16 kills, sophomore Fred Winters added 10 and junior Brad Keenan had a match-high 11 blocks.

The Waves have set school records for wins, with 28, and winning streak, 16 games.

“I think this team has been as good as any collegiate team I’ve coached in terms of being strong when things aren’t going as well as you hope they can go,” Coach Marv Dunphy said. “Pretty good composure.”

Walker helped power the Waves through the decisive third game.

The senior had a kill to finish a 4-1 run that put Pepperdine (28-4) up by three early. Later, he had a kill and a block to quell a Hawaii rally. When the Warriors pulled to within 23-21, Walker had two kills and a block.

“Walker was a stud,” Hawaii Coach Mike Wilton said. “He was more than a handful all night long.”

Hawaii (22-8) tied the fourth game five times. A kill by Costas Theocharidis, a service ace by Delano Thomas and a block by Theocharidis tied the score, 25-25, setting up the possibility of a fifth game.

Thomas unloaded a serve into the net to give Pepperdine the lead again. The Waves seized on the opening as Rooney hit a crosscourt kill for a point and Daniels drilled a service ace away from the outstretched hand of Eyal Zimet for a 28-25 lead.

The run gave Pepperdine the breathing room it needed.