Men's Volleyball Announces 2015 Schedule
10/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
2015 Printable Schedule 
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MALIBU, Calif. - The 2015 Pepperdine men's volleyball schedule has been released and features five nonconference matches to go along with a full lineup of contests against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponents.
The Waves, who finished #4 in the rankings after going 19-7 in 2014, begin the 2015 campaign against first-year program North Greenville. Pepperdine and the Crusaders will face off in the Upward Sports Center on Saturday, Jan. 3, before playing on campus in Tigerville, S.C. on Monday, Jan. 5.
"North Greenville is starting a program and we just felt this was the perfect time to maybe help men's volleyball in that area," said head coach Marv Dunphy, entering his 32nd year at the helm. "We're glad to be a part of something that gets their team going. Everyone has to start somewhere. I remember we played BYU in their first NCAA match. That was pretty fun to go there and be the first team that they played. People still reference that today. You have to start somewhere."
Pepperdine competes in Firestone Fieldhouse for the first time the following weekend, with a two-match series versus George Mason on Friday, Jan. 9 and Sunday, Jan. 11.
The Waves will play 22 contests against MPSF opposition, two less than last year with the departure of Pacific.
Pepperdine begins league action at Cal Baptist (Jan. 14) and USC (Jan. 16). Addition home matches in January include ones against Cal State Northridge (Jan. 21) and Long Beach State (Jan. 24).
The Waves are scheduled to host two home matches during the month of February, starting with Stanford on Feb. 6, followed by UC San Diego on Feb. 20. Pepperdine will complete the season-series against the Cardinal and Tritons with road matches on Feb. 27 and Feb. 13, respectively.
After opening March with a trip to Hawaii, the Waves gear up for the first of two four-match home stands. Pepperdine welcomes in MPSF rivals UC Irvine (March 17) and 2014 MPSF regular-season co-champion BYU (March 20, 21), and hosts its final nonconference match with a March 17 home contest versus Harvard.
A final four-match sprint the finish concludes the regular season in April. The Waves will host USC (April 2), Cal Baptist (April 4) and UCLA (April 7) before celebrating Senior Day on April 15 against UC Santa Barbara.
The top-eight teams in the league standings will continue on with the MPSF Tournament on April 25, April 29 and May 1. The NCAA Tournament, held this year at Stanford, concludes the season on May 5-9.
The Waves, who finished 2014 tied for first along with BYU in the MPSF standings, return 14 student-athletes from the 2014 squad, including five starters plus libero. Pepperdine's experienced lineup of returning starters include senior setter Matt West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS), senior outside hitter Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School), redshirt senior opposite Parker Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS), senior middle blocker Nikola Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson HS), senior middle blocker Matt Tarantino (Van Nuys, Calif./Bishop Alemany HS) and senior libero Brennan Anderson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS/Ohio State).
All 14 home contests will be broadcast live and for free via WaveCasts.
