CORVALLIS, Ore. ­Â— Senior outside hitter Julie Rubenstein pounded down a career-high 31 kills and the Pepperdine women’s volleyball team needed every one of them as the Waves outlasted Oregon State, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon to claim the championship of the Oregon State Asics Classic.
The 25-15, 27-25, 19-25, 21-25, 15-11 victory gave the Waves their second straight tournament championship and kept their season record perfect at 6-0. The Waves also defeated 17th-ranked Colorado State and Pacific this weekend. Pepperdine is off to its best start since the 2000 season, when the Waves opened up 9-0.
“This was just a great volleyball match,” Pepperdine Coach Nina Matthies said. “Oregon State played great. We served and passed so well in the first and second set. Then we got a little out of our system in the third and fourth. We came back in the fifth. Julie made some big plays in the fifth set and just played unbelievably this weekend. This was a really great match, going back and forth, with good hitting and good serving.”
The Pepperdine-Oregon State match will be shown on a tape-delay basis by FSN Prime Ticket on Sept. 11 at 9:30 p.m.
Rubenstein (Camarillo, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) added to her trophy haul, as she was named tournament MVP for the second consecutive week. She hit .482 (31-4-56) against the Beavers and also had 12 digs and three service aces. For the tournament, she averaged 5.2 kills and hit .359.
Two other Waves were named to the all-tournament team: junior setter Kiah Fiers (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula HS), who had 65 assists and 11 digs against the Beavers and averaged 11.3 assists in the three matches; and junior outside hitter Rachel Lumsden (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS), who had 17 kills and 11 digs today and averaged 3.4 kills and 2.4 digs.
Freshman outside hitter Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif./Cornelia Connelly HS) had 13 kills and eight digs in today’s victory, while freshman libero Stevi Robinson (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) had 11 digs.
The Waves could not have played any better offensively in the first set, as they hit an astounding .810 as a team, recording 17 kills with zero errors on 21 attempts. Lumsden had seven kills on eight swings.
The Beavers (5-2) tightened things up in the second set and led 22-19 before the Waves went on a 5-0 run behind two kills by Rubenstein and two service aces by Fiers. Tied 25-25, the Waves won the second set after an OSU service error and a triple block by Frederick, Lumsden and senior middle blocker Cassi Chamberlain (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood HS).
Oregon State took sets three and four. The Beavers jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the third set and the Waves couldn’t catch up. A 7-0 OSU run in the fourth set gave the Beavers a 13-9 lead and once again, Pepperdine was unable to close the gap.
Pepperdine took back the match’s momentum to start the fifth and decisive set. Back-to-back kills by Rubenstein and freshman middle blocker Kim Hill (Portland, Ore./Portland Christian HS) made it 5-2, and then kills by Lumsden and Frederick and an OSU attack error made it 8-3. The Beavers got no closer than two points at 9-7. Rubenstein scored Pepperdine’s final three points with kills and had seven in the fifth set.
“I don’t think we let down, they just kept up the pressure on us,” Matthies said. “We couldn’t get them out of their system in the third and fourth sets. We couldn’t seem to make them make any mistakes, and we made a couple at the wrong times. The fifth set was our first one this season, and with three freshmen, everything we’ve done has been a new learning experience. We dug a few balls early in the fifth set, Julie put a couple of balls away, and the kids did a nice job of plugging away.”
Pepperdine ended up with a .323-.299 edge in hitting.
The Waves will be on the road for the third straight weekend, as they next take part in the Nevada AT&T Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13. Pepperdine will face UC Davis, Missouri and the host Wolf Pack.
