Waves Celebrate Senior Day on Wednesday vs. UCSB
4/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. - The #3 Pepperdine men's volleyball team concludes the 2015 regular-season on Wednesday when the team hosts #9 UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. Senior Day will be celebrated for Brennan Anderson, Nikola Antonijevic, Parker Kalmbach, Scott Rhein, Josh Taylor and Matt West.
MATCH 27 - #3 Pepperdine (22-4, 17-4 MPSF) vs. #9 UC Santa Barbara (15-9, 11-9 MPSF) | Wednesday, April 15 | 7 p.m. | Malibu, Calif.
LOOKING AHEAD - The Waves are a lock for the No. 3 seed in the MPSF Tournament and will host the No. 6 seed for a quarterfinal match-up on Saturday, April 25 ... Hawaii is currently in first place, but will need to win twice at BYU this week to hold off UC Irvine, who concludes the regular season at home vs. UC San Diego ... The No. 4-8 seeds are still very much up in the air ... The Waves will face either USC, BYU, UC Santa Barbara or Long Beach State next week to open postseason play.
WAVECASTS - Can't make it out to the match? No problem! PepperdineSports.com offers a wide variety of FREE options to follow along with all your favorite teams ... WaveCasts broadcasts all home matches for free on your computer or mobile device ... Veteran play-by-play announcer Al Epstein will once again serve as the voice of Pepperdine volleyball in 2015 ... Links to any available live stats, video and audio can always be found by clicking on a particular event on the men's volleyball schedule page at PepperdineSports.com ... Watch WaveCasts from your phone by downloading the Pepperdine mobile app, available for iPhone, Android and iPad users.
TICKETS - Admission to home matches is $8 for adults and $5 for alumni, children, seniors and students. Admission to regular-season home events is free for Pepperdine students, faculty and staff with a valid Pepperdine ID. Call the Ticket Office at (866) WAVE-TIX for more information.
LOOKING BACK - Pepperdine swept UCLA 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 last week Tuesday at home ... Josh Taylor led the charge with his second kills-digs double-double of the season ... The senior outside hitter put down 10 kills, hitting .500, while picking up 12 digs ... Parker Kalmbach matched Taylor's 10 kill, while adding three blocks and five digs ... Matt West guided the offense with 30 assists, and the Waves hit .307 as a team ... The win was the Waves' 20th in a row at home, and ninth overall this season.
STREAKING - The Waves are 13-0 at home this season ... With the 3-0 win over UCLA (4/7) , Pepperdine has now won a program-record 20 contests in a row inside Firestone Fieldhouse, dating back to March 8 of last season ... Wins in the span include ones over UCLA (3-0), USC (3-0, 3-2), BYU (3-2, 3-1), Harvard (3-1), UC Irvine (3-2), UC San Diego (3-0), Stanford (3-1), Pacific (3-0), Long Beach State (3-0, 3-1, 3-1), Cal State Northridge (3-0, 3-0), Cal Baptist (3-0), Hawaii (3-0, 3-1) and George Mason (3-0, 3-1) ... The previous record was set at 19 in a row, from April 24, 2004-Feb. 9, 2006, including 14-0 at home in 2015 ... The Waves' last home loss was against Stanford on March 7, 2014.
LOOKING FURTHER BACK - Pepperdine first shut out #8 USC in an hour and 18 minutes on April 2, before an hour and 12 minute, 3-0 win against Cal Baptist on April 4 at home ... The pair of wins brought the Waves' home win streak to 19 ... Three players, Scott Rhein, Josh Taylor and Parker Kalmbach, all contributed 12 kills against USC ... The Waves hit a then-season best .469 vs. the Trojans before bettering that mark to .486 against CBU ... Kalmbach put down 15 kills vs. the Lancers, while Matt West and Mitchell Penning both charted five aces apiece ... On the week, Kalmbach averaged a team-high 4.50 kills per set, hitting .478, and a team-best 2.33 digs per set.
OPPONENT NOTES - UC Santa Barbara is 15-9 overall this year, and a sixth-place 11-9 in the MPSF ... The Gauchos are just 4-5 on the road, with wins at Long Beach State, UCLA, UC San Diego and Cal Baptist ... Kevin Donohue paces the UCSB offense with 3.68 kills per set ... Two wins this week, vs. Pepperdine and Stanford, coupled with at least one BYU loss would move UCSB up into fourth place in the conference and give the Gauchos home court advantage in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals ... UCSB owns tiebreakers over USC and BYU.
NOTING THE WAVES - This weekend Pepperdine will play in its 1,100th match in program history ... The Waves are officially 684-348 all time ... In conference play the Waves are officially 482-269 and 277-152 in MPSF action ... Marv Dunphy boasts an official career record of 520-251 (unofficially 586-252) ... The Waves are officially 367-115 when playing inside Firestone Fieldhouse ... Pepperdine 67-31 all-time vs. UC Santa Barbara, including a 28-20 mark inside Firestone Fieldhouse.
CHECK THE RECORD - Senior Josh Taylor enters this week with 1,366 kills, ranking in at #10 in Pepperdine program history ... Taylor surpassed Randy Bergstedt (1,352, 1986-89) on April 4 vs. Cal Baptist ... Taylor began the 2015 season in 17th place ... Geoff Hart (1988-90) ranks ninth in front of Taylor with 1,391 kills ... Senior Matt West charted his 4,000th career assist vs. UC San Diego (2/20) and now has 4,595 helpers to his credit ... He is just the second player in program history to meet the 4,000 assists milestone, joining all-time assists leader Jonathan Winder (2005-08) ... Winder holds the No. 1 spot with 5,118 ... West began the season ranked sixth on the all-time charts ... West has also moved up considerably on the all-time digs list ... He opens this week with 666 digs, good enough for fifth all-time ... Matt Rigg (1984-87) and J.D. Schleppenbach (2006-10) are in a tie for third with 692 digs ... West began his senior season with 513 digs, well outside the top-10 in the program records.
KALMBACH - Senior opposite Parker Kalmbach spent most of his offseason away from the gym, resting, rehabbing a lingering back issue and working at his internship ... He leads the MPSF in kills (4.13) and points (4.63) ... He returned to the gym in December, and while his early season numbers were average as he got back in form, Kalmbach began to hit his stride against Long Beach State (1/24) ... The opposite put down a career-high 24 kills while hitting .564 and was named the MPSF Player of the Week (1/26) as a result ... Kalmbach averaged 2.61 kills, hitting .246 in the first seven matches of the season, prior to the LBSU contest, and has charted 4.51 kills while hitting .363 (20 matches) since ... Kalmbach was an All-MPSF performer as a middle blocker in 2013 after playing intermittently on the outside as a freshman ... He was an All-MPSF selection in 2014 as an opposite behind 3.47 kills and 1.43 digs ... Kalmbach earned his first double-double of the year vs. UC San Diego (2/20) with 14 kills and 10 digs and has a team-high five on the year ... The senior has earned three consecutive double-doubles in matches vs. BYU and Long Beach State ... He has surpassed the 20 kill mark in seven matches in 2015.
TAYLOR - Senior Josh Taylor is in his fourth year starting on the outside pin ... He has surpassed the 20 kills mark in four of the last nine matches ... He ranked second on the squad in kills (both years behind opposite Maurice Torres) as a freshman and sophomore with averages of 3.52 and 3.08, respectively ... He paced the Waves, ranked fourth in the MPSF and seventh nationally in kills in 2014 with a 4.01 average, and was an AVCA All-American second team pick ... His digs average climbed from 0.98 as a freshman to 1.31 as a junior ... His ace average has steadily climbed all four years, and is currently 0.22 ... He's currently averaging 3.63 kills and 4.12 points as a senior ... Taylor posted his sixth career double-double vs. UCLA (4/7) with 10 kills and 12 digs ... He transitioned from an opposite in high school, to a primary passer and outside hitter while at Pepperdine ... Taylor was honored as the MPSF Player of the Week (3/16) for the first time in his career after helping the Waves rally back from an 0-2 deficit to beat UC Irvine (3/14) in five. Taylor eclipsed the 20-kill mark for the first time in 2015 with 22 kills, earned at a solid .390 clip. He also picked up a tied-for-team-high eight digs.
WEST - Senior setter Matt West is in his fourth year managing the Waves' offense ... West took over second place on the all-time charts vs. UC San Diego (2/20) with his second assist of the match ... He also met the 4,000 career assists milestone, becoming just the second Wave ever to achieve the feat ... He currently ranks fifth in program history for his career digs total ... West is a two-time AVCA All-American (first team in 2013, second team in 2014) ... West ranked second in the NCAA and the MPSF as a freshman with an assists average of 11.38 ... Led the nation as a sophomore with 11.25 assists/set ... Ranked third in the league and eighth in the NCAA with a 2014 average of 11.00 ... Averaged 1.40 and 1.41 digs, respectively, in 2012 and 2013, before collecting 2.12 digs in 2014 as a junior ... Four-time MPSF Player of the Week and earned his first AVCA National Player of the Week nod on March 24, 2015 ... Two-time All-MPSF first team performer, honorable mention as a freshman ... As a senior, he is averaging an MPSF-best 11.28 assists (3rd in NCAA), 0.40 aces (4th in MPSF), 0.69 blocks and 1.63 digs ... West was voted MPSF and AVCA Player of the Week (3/23 & 24) after the Waves averaged a .388 hitting percentage in wins over Harvard and BYU twice. He averaged 13.77 assists per set in the three matches.
OFFENSIVE SUPPORT - Although Pepperdine's one-two punch of Parker Kalmbach and Josh Taylor account for about 50-percent of the scoring, the Waves boast a several other players who know how to put the ball away ... Scott Rhein had a breakout performance vs. BYU, charting career highs in both kills (15) and digs (16) for his collegiate-first double-double ... Rhein ranks third in kills and points with averages 2.26 and 2.64, respectively ... Matt Tarantino scores points in several ways and ranks fourth on the team with 2.43 points/set ... Tarantino leads Pepperdine in aces (0.43, 33), ranks second in blocks (0.80) and fourth in kills (1.57) ... Tarantino was an All-MPSF second team pick last season ... He spent the entire month of February on the disabled list, but returned to the lineup vs. Hawaii ... The lone sophomore in the starting lineup, Mitchell Penning, is averaging 1.39 kills and an overall team-high of 1.17 blocks ... Senior Nikola Antonijevic -- who was a regular in the starting lineup in 2012, 2013 and 2014 -- started in the seven matches between Feb. 6-March 8 and charted 1.22 kills/set while hitting .481 to go along with a team-high 1.30 blocks/set.
D-D-D-DEFENSE - The Waves have out-dug opponents all season long, led by senior libero Brennan Anderson with 2.33 digs/set ... With the exception if its middle blockers, all Pepperdine starters average more than a dig per set ... Parker Kalmbach accounts for 1.96 digs per set, while Matt West collects 1.63 ... Josh Taylor picks up 1.52 per set, and Scott Rhein has averaged 1.37 digs in 2015 ... At the net, Pepperdine is out-blocking opponents 2.51-1.74 ... Mitchell Penning ranks No. 8 in the MPSF with a blocks average of 1.17 ... Nikola Antonijevic has averaged 1.28 blocks in the nine matches he has played extensively as a middle ... His season average is only 0.79 due to several serving-only appearances ... Matt Tarantino accounts for 0.80 blocks/set.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Parker Kalmbach was the Waves' first MPSF Player of the Week in 2015, taking the honor on Jan. 26 after wins at home against CSUN and Long Beach State ... Kalmbach averaged nearly 5.0 points/set behind 4.43 kills/set ... He sent down a career-high 24 kills versus the 49ers while hitting .564 ... It was Kalmbach's first MPSF Player of the Week award after garnering an AVCA Player of the Week nod once in 2014 ... Brennan Anderson earned MPSF honors (2/2) a week after Kalmbach, and doubled down with the AVCA Player of the Week the following day (2/3) ... Anderson is the first libero to earn weekly recognition by either the MPSF or the AVCA since 2012 ... He is the Waves' 27th national player of the week, but the only libero on the list ... Anderson averaged 4.14 digs/set in road wins at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara ... He charted 19 digs in the 3-1 win over the Gauchos, matching the rally-scoring era record James Ka set against USC in 2005 ... Josh Taylor was honored as the MPSF Player of the Week (3/16) after helping the Waves rally back from an 0-2 deficit to beat UC Irvine (3/14) in five ... Taylor eclipsed the 20-kill mark for the first time in 2015 with 22 kills, earned at a solid .390 clip ... He also picked up a tied-for-team-high eight digs ... Matt West took MPSF (3/23) and AVCA (3/24) Player of the Week honors after averaging a staggering 13.77 assists per set in three matches, including an even 14.00 in two matches vs. BYU ... In match No. 1 vs. the Cougars, five Waves reached double figures in kills for a team total of 78, the most since 2010 ... West handed out a career-high 68 assists in the match, while putting down a season-best six kills ... Pepperdine knocked home 74 kills while hitting .407 in match No. 2 vs. BYU ... West dished 58 helpers in the contest, while picking up 10 digs for his second double-double of the season. The Waves hit .388 on the week and over .400 vs. the Cougars ... Pepperdine boasts the most AVCA National Player of the Week selections at 28.
STARTING SEVEN - After plugging in a few different players in the starting lineup against North Greenville to open the season, Pepperdine has settled into a rotation consisting of setter Matt West, outside hitters Josh Taylor and Scott Rhein, middle blockers Matt Tarantino and Mitchell Penning, opposite Parker Kalmbach and libero Brennan Anderson ... Nikola Antonijevic started in seven matches in February and the beginning of March ... Setter Soren Dion-Kindem has also earned a starting bid ... With the exception of Penning, the entire Pepperdine starting lineup consists of seniors.
VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - Pepperdine has won five NCAA men's volleyball championships, second only to UCLA. The Waves have won the MPSF Tournament three times and have won or shared 10 regular-season conference titles. Pepperdine has won either an MPSF regular-season or tournament title (or both) in six of the last 15 seasons. The Waves have finished in the top six in the final AVCA poll in 16 of the last 18 seasons. Pepperdine student-athletes have won national player of the year honors nine times and All-American accolades 81 times. A Pepperdine alum has competed for the U.S. at the Olympics every time since 1984 (Sean Rooney won gold in 2008).
Marv Dunphy - Now in his 32nd season as head coach of the Waves, Marv Dunphy 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 2015 season with a career record of 565-248* (.695). Dunphy has long been involved with USA Volleyball, having been part of the coaching staff at six Olympics, including head coach of the 1988 team and consultant coach for the 2008 squad, both of which won gold. Dunphy, along with David Hunt and Joe Trinsey, were on staff when the U.S. Women's National Team won their first-ever gold medal at a major event (including the Olympics), after winning the 2014 FIVB World Championships. He has been inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame (1994), AVCA Hall of Fame (2009) and the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame (2010).
ABOUT PEPPERDINE - Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports -- one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat -- and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
