Pepperdine
defensive wave cools off the Beach
By Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
It
was a battle of two of the Big West top
teams Friday night at The Pyramid as the
no. 5 ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball
team hosted the no. 4 ranked Pepperdine
Waves.
Long Beach State 7-3 (3-2) played a great
game but Pepperdine 6-1 (4-0) played better
to remain undefeated in conference and hand
the 49ers their first loss at home this
season. The 49ers got off to a good start
winning the first set 30-24. The team had
23 kills on 43 attempts for a .395 hitting
percentage in the first frame.
The Waves came back in the second set 30-21
as too many errors cost Long Beach State
the game and the match.
“Absolutely it cost us,” Long Beach State
Head Coach Alan Knipe said.
“This game is a game of perfection,” junior
David Lee said, who had 22 kills. “The team
that has the most errors loses.”
Game three was the closest. Long Beach won
33-31 thanks to performances by David Lee
and 6-foot 8-inch freshman Duncan Budinger.
Both contributed great play and had seven
and five kills respectively. The Waves got
off to a 3-0 start in the se, but the 49ers
came back to tie it at four a piece and
then jumped out to 16-10 lead.
The Waves, however, battled back off solid
play from Fred Winters and Sean Rooney.
Both of who finished the game and led their
team with 20 kills a piece. The Waves tied
it at 25 and both teams exchanged points
until the 49ers got game point and Pepperdine
hit out of bounds.
Set four would not be so close. The Waves
stepped up on defense and were a virtual
wall at the net. The waves out blocked the
49ers 8-0 in the set. They also connected
for 16 kills on 30 attempts and a .452 hitting
percentage to force a fifth and deciding
game.
“We’ve been blocking pretty well this year,”
Pepperdine Head Coach Marv Dunphy said.
In
the final game Pepperdine jumped out to
a 7-2 lead and never looked back as they
defeated the 49ers 15-10.
“They jumped out to a good start,” Coach
Knipe said about the last game. “We made
some unforced errors and then settled down
and played well. But we didn’t have time
to recover. I sure wish we would have started
out that way.”
David Lee had 22 kills. Jeff Wootten and
Clint Coe had solid games contributing 16
kills each, but the Waves defense was too
much for the 49ers.
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