The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team was reminded of just how tough the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is as it fell to fifth-ranked Pepperdine Wednesday night at the Walter Pyramid.
Pepperdine (5-3, 5-3 MPSF) dispatched of the third ranked ‘Niners in three sets (25-22, 26-24, 25-21) with aggressive hitting and consistent energy defensively.
The first set of the night saw LBSU (8-4, 6-3 MPSF) coming out strong with an early lead and kills from five different players. After consecutive poor passes from LBSU, the Waves then took over the lead by three and forced LBSU Head Coach Alan Knipe to call a timeout to refocus his team.
After the timeout the 49ers were able to come within a point of Pepperdine towards the end of the first set, but strong play from opposite Maurice Torres, who registered eight of his 16 kills in the first set, put the Waves on top one set to none.
In the second set LBSU once again took an early lead with a kill from Junior Taylor Crabb and a block from freshman Taylor Gregory. LBSU was up 5-1 when Pepperdine was forced to take a timeout.
Following the timeout, Pepperdine began to slowly crawl its way back into the set by way of a kill from junior Kyle Gerrans and punishing serves that seemed to have the ‘Niners making uncharacteristically bad passes.
Midway through the set the Waves took their first lead, 15-14. They then extended their lead until consecutive kills from juniors Jeff Ornee and Dalton Ammerman brought the ‘Niners within one.
The set then turned into a seesaw battle putting both teams within reach of a set point. Pepperdine was able to come away with defensive stops backed up by two kills down the stretch that gave them the set 26-24.
The set ended with Pepperdine hitting at a .593 clip and LBSU registering its hitting at .650. Where the Waves bested the ‘Niners was through all-out hustle.
Pepperdine held the lead for nearly all of the third set, but LBSU was able to keep it close down the stretch. A tenacious dig by sophomore Connor Olbright kept a long rally alive, and a Colton Echave kill gave the ‘Niners their first lead of the set at 20-19.
Unfortunately for LBSU, it would never get closer winning a set. Pepperdine’s Torres capped off a stellar night by registering five straight kills and giving the Waves the win, 25-21.
Despite the loss, LBSU still managed to put up impressive numbers offensively. Crabb led the 49ers with 13 kills on the evening, and Olbright recorded 42 assists in the match.
“We hit .438 as a team,” Knipe said. “For us it was a big struggle on the defensive side.”
The ‘Niners were unable to match the size and power of Pepperdine, as at least four of the players in the Waves’ rotation registered at least 6 foot 7 inches tall.
“We can’t match up size wise, so we have to do a better job on putting pressure on them,” Knipe said.
Regardless of what some might see the loss reflecting, Coach Knipe did not feel the match was a hindrance on his team’s progression.
“There were a lot of great things that happened tonight that won’t necessarily show up on a 3-0 scoreboard,” he said.
LBSU will return to Walter Pyramid Friday night at 7 p.m. to take on the No. 8 Southern California for the second game of a four-game homestand.