Pepperdine University
UC Santa Barbara
Men's Volleyball Rallies to Beat UCSB Again
3/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Pepperdine-UC Santa Barbara Box Score 
MALIBU, Calif. - For the second time this season, the #2 Pepperdine men's volleyball team rallied to defeat #10 UC Santa Barbara in five games, as the Waves were victorious 30-17, 28-30, 28-30, 30-25, 15-7 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play on Saturday night in Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Waves (12-5, 10-4) rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win in Santa Barbara back on Feb. 3, and this time around had to do so after falling behind 2-1.
The Waves have now won 11 of their last 12 matches, and defeated UCSB (10-11, 7-8) for the 10th straight time overall and the 10th straight time at home.
Pepperdine had a season-high 25.5 blocks, led by 13 from junior middle blocker Tyler Jaynes (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) and 10 from freshman opposite Maurice Torres (Riverside, Calif./Orange Lutheran HS). That helped the Waves limit the Gauchos to a .167 team hitting percentage. The 25.5 blocks ties the third most by Pepperdine in the rally-scoring era.
Torres, in fact, recorded an extremely rare triple-double with 16 kills and 10 digs to go with his 10 blocks. He had season highs in the latter two categories. It's the first triple-double by an MPSF player this season.
Junior outside hitter Cory Riecks (Auburn, Calif./Placer HS) led the Waves with 18 kills and he also had five blocks. Senior outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach (Ventura, Calif./Ventura HS) had 12 kills and eight blocks, while senior middle blocker Rodnei Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/BYU) had eight kills and six blocks.
Junior setter Kasey Crider (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) had 55 assists, six digs and four blocks and helped the Waves to a .317 team hitting percentage. Senior libero Sean Grubbs (Newport Beach, Calif./Irvine Valley CC) posted a team-high 12 digs.
UCSB's Jeff Menzel, who leads the conference in kills, had a match-high 21 but was also was hindered into 18 attack errors. The Gauchos' Scott Slaughter had 14 kills and Jake Rosener added 11.
Jaynes was in on six of Pepperdine's eight blocks in game one as the Waves held UCSB to .088 hitting while connecting on a .517 clip themselves. Pepperdine got off to a great start as Riecks had four early kills to help the Waves to a 5-1 lead. Up 10-5, Torres had three kills as part of an 8-1 run that made the score 18-6, and the Waves went on to an easy win.
But the Gauchos bounced back in game two, getting six blocks of their own and holding the Waves to .179 hitting. UCSB went up by four at 26-22 after kills by Todd Travis and Rosener, though Pepperdine eventually tied it at 27 after two straight Gaucho attack errors. But a kill by Slaughter was followed by a block by Menzel and Dylan Davis. After a Pepperdine point, Menzel finished off the game with a kill.
The Waves kept building three-point leads in game three, but couldn't put the Gauchos away. Pepperdine led 14-11, and then it was tied at 15. The Waves led 18-15, and then it was tied at 18. And Pepperdine led 23-20, but UCSB tied it at 24 and went ahead 26-24 after a Wave attack error and a solo block by Davis. The Gauchos went up by three at 29-26 and eventually ended it on a kill by Rosener.
Tied 8-8 in the fourth set, the Waves went on a 5-1 run that featured two kills and a solo block by Torres. Pepperdine didn't trail again, although UCSB eventually cut the lead down to one point at 20-19 and 21-10. But the Waves scored the next three points, and then went up by five at 26-21. After hitting less than .200 in the previous two games, the Waves were back up to .341 in the fourth.
A 4-0 run early in the fifth set put the Waves ahead to stay, and they steadily increased their lead. A kill by Riecks, a service ace by Torres and two UCSB attack errors made the score 5-2. Back-to-back kills by Schleppenbach put the Waves' lead at 8-3. Jaynes was in on a couple of blocks that made the score 10-4 and 12-5. The match finally ended on a UCSB service error.
The Waves are in the midst of playing 10 of 12 matches at home, but they'll take the next week off before hosting #5 Hawaii twice on March 26-27. Match times are 7 p.m. "Wave Casts" subscribers can watch both matches online at www.pepperdinesports.com.
