Men's Volleyball Hosts #7 UCLA, #11 UC Irvine
3/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
THE FACTS - The #2 Pepperdine men's volleyball team will try to close out its regular-season home schedule on a good note when the Waves host #7 UCLA and #11 UC Irvine this week. Six seniors will be honored before Saturday's match against the Anteaters. With three weeks left in the season, the Waves are now one match back of top-ranked Stanford in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation race.
MATCH #20 - Wednesday (March 31) at Firestone Fieldhouse: #2 Pepperdine (13-6, 11-5, second place) vs. #7 UCLA (14-9, 9-7, sixth place) at 7 p.m.
MATCH #21 - Saturday (April 3) at Firestone Fieldhouse: #2 Pepperdine vs. #11 UC Irvine (11-12, 6-10, 10th place) at 7 p.m.
ON THE WEB - Subscribers to "Wave Casts" can watch live video of all the Waves' home matches at PepperdineSports.com. Live statistics can be accessed for all home matches free of charge, and links are provided to the home team's website when the Waves are on the road. Go to the "Wave Casts" link toward the top of the home page to find more information.
TICKETS - Single-match tickets to all home men's volleyball games are $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and free to all Pepperdine students and faculty with a university ID.
RANKINGS - The Waves began the season at #4 in the AVCA preseason poll, fell as low as #11, then quickly rose up and held the #1 ranking for two weeks. The Waves are now at #2 for the fourth straight poll. Only once previously has a team ever been ranked #1 after being outside the top 10 (Lewis, 2003).
UCLA - Pepperdine is 35-71 all-time against UCLA, but the Waves have won four straight (including one earlier this season), six of the last eight and 10 of the last 13. The Waves have won four of the last five in Firestone Fieldhouse.
LAST TIME VS. UCLA - Back on Jan. 15 at Pauley Pavilion ... The Waves hit .467 as a team in a three-game sweep at UCLA (30-27, 30-22, 30-23). The match was the 33rd Annual Kilgour Cup at UCLA. Brent Schirripa had 16 kills and Maurice Torres had 14.
UC IRVINE - Pepperdine is 48-13 all-time against UC Irvine. UCI has won five of the last six matches overall (including one earlier this season), but the Waves are 7-2 in their last nine home matches.
LAST TIME VS. UCI - Back on Jan. 13 at the Bren Events Center ... The MPSF opener for both schools resulted in a 30-27, 24-30, 30-25, 30-27 win for UC Irvine. Maurice Torres had 19 kills and Brent Schirripa had 15 to lead the Waves, who were outhit .301 to .237.
LAST WEEK - The Waves won a hard-fought three-game match (30-26, 34-32, 30-26) against Hawaii on Friday night in Firestone Fieldhouse, but the Warriors returned the favor with a 30-21, 34-32, 30-24 victory in Saturday's second match. Pepperdine hit .333 in the first match and .195 in the second, while Hawaii went from .200 to .367. Stat leaders for the two matches were Cory Riecks (5.17 kills), Sean Grubbs (3.17 digs) and Tyler Jaynes (2.50 blocks).
NCAA STATS - In this week's national statistics provided by the NCAA, Pepperdine is third in kills (16.06), fourth in hitting percentage (.332) and fourth in blocks (3.17) ... Kasey Crider is first in the nation in assists (14.34) ... Tyler Jaynes is second in blocks (1.57) ... Cory Riecks is 12th in hitting percentage (.412) and 20th in kills (4.05) ... Maurice Torres is 17th in kills (4.20) ... Rodnei Santos is 20th in blocks (1.19).
MPSF STATS - In the conference, Pepperdine is second in hitting percentage (.332), second in blocks (3.17), second in kills (16.06), ninth in opponent hitting percentage (.286), 10th in service aces (0.93) and 10th in digs (9.29) ... Kasey Crider is first in assists (14.34) ... Tyler Jaynes is first in blocks (1.57) and fourth in hitting percentage (.474) ... Rodnei Santos is seventh in blocks (1.19) ... Maurice Torres is eighth in points (5.01) and ninth in kills (4.20) ... Cory Riecks is 10th in kills (4.05).
NUMBER 500 - Hall of Famer Marv Dunphy reached another major milestone with his 500th career victory in the four-game win vs. Cal State Northridge on Feb. 26. It appears Dunphy is only the fifth men's volleyball coach to reach the 500-win plateau (the NCAA does not keep official records). He began the 2010 season, his 27th at Pepperdine, with 491 wins and four NCAA championships.
RECORDS WATCH - Sean Grubbs is #3 all-time at Pepperdine in digs per game (2.10) ... J.D. Schleppenbach is #6 in career digs (628) and Grubbs is #10 (590) ... Kasey Crider is #4 in career assists per game (12.56) ... If Maurice Torres keeps up his pace of 4.20 kills per game, he'll break into Pepperdine's single-season top 10 in the rally-scoring era.
2010 HIGHLIGHTS - Pepperdine has beaten #1-ranked teams twice and #2-ranked teams twice ... The Waves won the preseason McDonald's International Tournament in Kamloops, B.C., beating three Canadian teams in exhibition play ... Pepperdine won at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion for the sixth time in the last seven visits ... Maurice Torres had 28 kills in Pepperdine's five game-win vs. then-#1 USC on Jan. 29, and the 28 kills tied a freshman record at Pepperdine in the rally-scoring era (Sean Rooney also had 28 in 2002) ... Pepperdine came back from a 2-0 deficit to win at UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 3 ... Tyler Jaynes had 11 block assists to help the Waves' to their second win over a #1 team, on Feb. 5 in four games at Cal State Northridge ... Pepperdine swept the season series with USC after sweeping the then-#2 Trojans at the Galen Center on Feb. 12 ... Cory Riecks hit .800 (17-1-20) in a win vs. then-#2 Stanford on Feb. 19, which tied the fifth-best hitting percentage by a Pepperdine individual in the rally-scoring era ... Pepperdine's team hitting percentage of .544 vs. Stanford was the third-best in the rally-scoring era ... J.D. Schleppenbach had a career-high 24 kills and tied a career high with 17 digs (tying the fourth-highest individual total by a Pepperdine player in the rally-scoring era) in the victory vs. then-#5 Cal State Northridge on Feb. 26 ... Pepperdine earned a rare win in Provo, winning at then-#4 BYU for only the second time in the last nine matches there ... The Waves recorded their second five-game comeback win over UCSB at home on March 13, and Maurice Torres recorded a triple-double with 16 kills, 10 digs and 10 blocks. It was only the second triple-double by a Pepperdine player in the last 10 years (Jonathan Winder, 2007).
2010 HONORS - At the McDonald's International Tournament, Kasey Crider was named MVP, Rodnei Santos made the all-tournament team and Sean Grubbs was selected as the top libero ... Maurice Torres was named MPSF co-Player of the Week on Feb. 1 ... Tyler Jaynes was named Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 8 as well as MPSF co-Player of the Week ... Cory Riecks was named Sports/Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 22 as well as MPSF co-Player of the Week ... J.D. Schleppenbach was named MPSF co-Player of the Week on March 1 ... Maurice Torres was named MPSF co-Player of the Week for the second time this season on March 15.
DUNPHY - Marv Dunphy, now in his 27th season as head coach of the Waves, has time and again proven himself to be one of the top teachers in the sport. He has directed Pepperdine to four NCAA championships, each in a different decade (1978, 1985, 1992, 2005). He was the 2005 National Coach of the Year and is a three-time MPSF Coach of the Year. He entered the 2010 season with a career record of 491-189 (.722). Dunphy has long been involved with USA Volleyball, having been part of the coaching staff at five Olympics, including head coach of the 1988 team and consultant coach for the 2008 squad, both of which won gold. He has been inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame (1994) and AVCA Hall of Fame (2009).
ASSISTANTS - Former Pepperdine All-American J.J. Riley is in his second stint with the Waves. He was a student athlete from 1995-99 and was an assistant coach in the 2000 season ... After two seasons as a video coordinator and volunteer assistant, David Hunt was elevated to full-time assistant coach this season. He was honored in early February as part of the AVCA's Thirty Under 30, which recognizes up-and-coming coaches under the age of 30.
ROSTER - The Waves return 11 of 14 letterwinners and four starters plus the libero from the 2009 squad (plus a starter from the 2008 squad that was injured last season). Pepperdine returns two other players from last year's team, plus adds a transfer, two true freshmen and two new walk-ons to the roster for a total of 19 players. There are seven seniors, five juniors, four sophomores, one redshirt freshman and two true freshmen.
MPSF POLL - In a preseason vote of the MPSF coaches, Pepperdine was chosen to finish fifth in 2010. The teams were ranked as follows: USC, UC Irvine, Stanford, BYU, Pepperdine, UCLA, Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, Hawaii, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego and Pacific.
LAST YEAR - Pepperdine had another typically outstanding season, but fell just a point short of making the NCAA Championships. The Waves went 22-5 overall and placed second in the MPSF regular season with an 18-4 record. They also finished second in the MPSF Tournament, falling to USC in the final in five games (the fifth set was decided by a score of 21-19). Unfortunately, top-ranked UC Irvine was selected for the lone at-large bid to the NCAAs. The Waves were #3 in the final AVCA poll. Paul Carroll ended his tremendous career by being named the National Player of the Year. He led the nation in kills for the second straight season and was named an All-American first teamer for the third time. Kasey Crider was named an All-American second teamer by Volleyball Magazine. Crider and Sean Grubbs were All-MPSF honorable mention.
VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - Pepperdine has won five NCAA men's volleyball championships, second only to UCLA. The Waves have won the MPSF Tournament four times and have won or shared nine regular-season conference titles. Pepperdine has won either an MPSF regular-season or tournament title in seven of the last 12 seasons. The Waves have finished in the top six in the final AVCA poll in each of the last 13 seasons. Pepperdine student-athletes have won national player of the year honors eight times and All-American accolades 73 times. A Pepperdine alum has competed for the U.S. at the Olympics every time since 1984 (Sean Rooney won gold in 2008).
ABOUT PEPPERDINE - Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men's sports - one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine's teams are ranked nationally year after year and several compete for conference and national titles.
