March 29, 2008
Box Score
Malibu, Calif- The Pacific men's volleyball team almost pulled off their the biggest upset the season on Saturday Mar. 29th. At Firestone Fieldhouse, the visting Tigers dropped a five-game thriller to the No. 5 Pepperdine Waves. The loss drops the Tigers to 4-20 overall and 1-17 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Pepperdine advanced to 12-8 overall and 11-8 in the MPSF. Scores of the match were 22-30, 30-26, 26-30, 30-26, 9-15.
Pacific walked into Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday night knowing that they were in for a challenge as they took on the No. 5 Pepperdine Waves. The Tigers accepted the challenge and found themselves locked into a shootout with the Waves for the whole match.
Game one saw the two teams start off in a heated battle to take the lead. Kill after kill was answered by both sides until finally the teams arrived at 8-7, Pepperdine lead. Here the Waves went on small scoring run, earning five of the next seven points to take a 14-9 lead, behind errors from the Tigers. Pacific roared back however, using consecutive kills from junior Jeff Hendershot (Claremont, Calif.) and sophomore Jason Borchin (Roseville, Calif.) to bring the score closer, 17-14.
Pepperdine called timeout, and focused themselves enough to keep the Tigers at bay the rest of the game. The Waves scored four of the next five points to give themselves a six point advantage, 21-15. This was all the cushion that Pepperdine needed as they continued to stifle the Tigers offense. Several errors by Pacific proved costly, as the Pepperdine took game one 30-22. Pacific was led by senior Pekka Seppanen (Kuopio, Finland) who had six kills on ten swings in the game.
The second game found the Tigers surging out of the gate early. Determined to make a statement, Pacific flew out to an early 7-4 lead behind kills from Seppanen and Borchin. The Tigers held onto a small lead for most of the game, exchanging blows with the Waves. With Pacific leading 14-13, the Tigers scored six of the next nine points, behind several kills from senior Simon Chen-Byerley (Northfield, Ill.). Pacific now led 20-16 and never looked back.
The Tigers fought off a small rally from Pepperdine to cling on to their lead at 27-26. Finally, a kill on the outside by Seppanen, a serving ace from freshman Kris Staks (Park Ridge, Ill.), and an error on the Waves, put the game away for the Tigers, 30-26. Once again Pacific was led by Seppanen who again had six kills in the game.
With the Tigers' confidence rising, and Pepperdine's frustration growing, game three had the makings of battle written all over it, and a battle it was indeed. The game started with a power struggle for the lead. Both teams' offenses came to life as kills were delivered from all corners of the court, until finally the score settled on 7-7. Here, Borchin tallied two consecutive kills to make it 9-7, and give Pacific a momentum boost.
Pepperdine answered back however with a scoring run of their own to take a 17-14 lead midway through the game. The teams went back and forth for a while at this point until a kill from Pepperdine's Paul Carroll made it 23-19, Waves' lead. The Tigers' did everything they could to slow down the surging Pepperdine offense, but it was to no avail as a kill on the outside from Cory Riecks ended the game for the Waves 30-26.
Game four found the Tigers' offense come to life throughout the whole game. After an early battle for the lead, Pacific led 10-8 behind a kill in the middle from Chen-Byerley. From this point, neither team would back down at all, as both offenses blossomed. Back and forth the teams went as kill after kill was delivered. With the score 20-18 in the Tigers' favor, the Waves once again answered the Tigers attack by scoring five of the next eight points to tie the score at 23-23. Not to be outdone, Pacific turned around and scored five of the next seven to take a commanding 28-25 lead behind a kill from redshirt senior Blake Gentry (Ladera Ranch, Calif.). Another kill from Gentry made it 29-25, then Riecks struck again for Pepperdine to make the score 29-26. Pacific closed out the game on a kill from Seppanen, to take the game 30-26, and force a deciding game five.
Game five proved to be a struggle for the Tigers as they fell into an early hole behind untimely offensive errors, 7-2. Pacific did not back down however, as they played hard to bring the score within four, trailing 11-7. Alas, the offensive firepower of the Waves proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle, as Pepperdine took the game on a dump from setter Jonathan Winder, 15-9.
Pacific was led by Seppanen who totaled 18 kills on 44 swings for the Tigers. Gentry tallied a career high 13 kills on 20 swings for a .600 hitting percentage.
Pepperdine was led by Paul Carroll who had 33 kills on 57 swings for the Waves.
The Tigers are next in action Friday April 4th, as they start their final home stand against No. 3 Long Beach State. First serve is scheduled for 7:00pm.
