Pepperdine over UC Irvine in 4

[Rocky]

Nothing on the websites yet in the way of stats or write-up. It shows on Irvine's website on their schedule that they lost 1-3. More to come later when it is posted.

[NobodySpecial]

HEIN LEADS PEPPERDINE OVER UC IRVINE

Irvine, Calif. – Andy Hein tied his career-high with 14 kills and hit .722 to lead No. 3 Pepperdine to a 3-1 (30-22, 28-30, 30-24 and 30-27) victory over No. 12 UC Irvine at the the Bren Events Center in front of a crowd of 1,133.

Hein tied his career-best 14 kills, committing only one error in 18 attempts. He also added a match-high eight block assists. Pepperdine’s Sean Rooney led all players with 20 kills. Freshman setter Jonathan Winder tallied 53 set assists, six digs and eight block assists.

For UCI, freshman Jon Steller and sophomore Jayson Jablonsky each had 14 kills. Junior Paul Spittle added 13 kills, while sophomore middle blocker David Smith recorded 11 kills. Setter Brian Thornton had 52 set assists and seven digs.

Pepperdine lead from start to finish in game one, taking the set 30-22. The Waves hit .321 to UCI's .118.

In game two, UCI took a 23-20 advantage on an Aaron Harrell kill only to watch Pepperdine go on a 4-1 spurt to tie it at 24-24. The teams traded points until a Jayson Jablonsky kill and a Pepperdine hitting error gave the Anteaters the two point cushion (27-25). That was all UCI needed to take the game 30-28. Spittle sparked UCI off the bench with seven kills. UCI out-hit Pepperdine .400 to .175.

UCI jumped out to a quick 4-1 advantage in game three, but Pepperdine answered with a 4-1 run to knot the score at 5-5. UCI maintained a lead until a Hein kill gave Pepperdine its second lead of the game at 21-20. UCI followed with three consecutive hitting errors to give the Waves the 24-20 lead and they went on to a 30-24 victory. As a team, Pepperdine hit .600 (19-4-25) for the game.

UCI rallied in game four to catch Pepperdine at 21-21. The teams traded points following a Pepperdine timeout until the Waves used a block and a Rooney kill to go ahead 26-24. The Anteaters could not catch the Waves as Pepperdine won the game 30-27 and the match 3-1.

Pepperdine improves to 3-1 overall and 3-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while UCI goes to 2-5 on the year and 1-2 in league action.

[OC4]

A crowd of 1133, that's pretty damn good for UCI.

[fuzzball]

There should be close to 3,000 when UH comes to the Bren center on friday. OC is waiting for UCI to become a competitive program. They're close, as the match against Pepp. showed. Both the players and the coaching staff are young, and haven't yet learned how to win games, much less matches against good teams. Speraw, for all his genius, continues to be a better game schemer than game manager. By having to match tactics with the likes of Marv, Scates and Wilton, he will learn fast. He also starts two true freshmen, 3 sophs & 1 junior with no seniors on the team. As the team and the coaches mature, they will need the big arena more than twice a year.
By the way, true freshman opposite Jon Stellar appears to be a front runner for FOY, or at the very least the recruiting coup of the year.

[Tiruray2004]

fuzzball said:

There should be close to 3,000 when UH comes to the Bren center on friday. OC is waiting for UCI to become a competitive program. They're close, as the match against Pepp. showed. Both the players and the coaching staff are young, and haven't yet learned how to win games, much less matches against good teams. Speraw, for all his genius, continues to be a better game schemer than game manager. By having to match tactics with the likes of Marv, Scates and Wilton, he will learn fast. He also starts two true freshmen, 3 sophs & 1 junior with no seniors on the team. As the team and the coaches mature, they will need the big arena more than twice a year.
By the way, true freshman opposite Jon Stellar appears to be a front runner for FOY, or at the very least the recruiting coup of the year.

Steller made true on his promise that he would take the opposite position from last year's starting opp. Honestly, I didn't think he would be able to but kudos to his hard work and dedication.

[sjhaysuess]

I played with Steller for about 6 years and is one of my best friends and I can't believe what's happening! Over Christmas break he told me that he was starting to not like volleyball because he didn't even get any playing time in practice, I call him up the day after I read he got all tournament team at the UCSB tourney and wow things have changed. He's gonna be owning people left and right for years to come.

[hwy101]

Keep up the good work, Jon!

Sjhaysuess, why did Dildine transfer to Fresno?

[sjhaysuess]

Check yer PM