MSN_012419

26 | January 24, 2019 | Malibu surfside news sports
malibusurfsidenews.com
men’s volleyball
Pepperdine suffers first loss of the season
Michal Dwojak
Assistant Editor
CHICAGO — Pepperdine
men’s volleyball
coach David Hunt knew
he’d learn a lot about his
team during the starting
stretch of the season.
The No. 5 Waves played
three of the nation’s Top
10 teams four times in six
games to start the season,
and when a team does that,
sometimes there are tough
nights.
Hunt’s team suffered
its first loss of the season
when it fell to No. 7 Loyola
University Chicago 3-2 on
Friday, Jan. 18, in a battle
between the best teams in
the nation.
While the Waves didn’t
come out with the win,
Hunt wanted to look at
the positives he could take
from the battle rather than
the small mistakes Pepperdine
made.
“We knew coming
down the strip that playing
Loyola and then Lewis was
going to be difficult for us,
but that’s why we schedule
those matches,” Hunt said.
“We wanted to get tested
throughout the year in our
league and we’re hoping at
the end of the year, we’re
playing good volleyball to
make a run at it.”
Pepperdine (4-1) forced a
fifth set after falling down
2-1 after three sets. The
Waves looked strong for
much of the fourth and held
off a late Ramblers (4-1)
push to win the fourth set
25-22.
That momentum didn’t
transfer into the fifth set.
The Waves came out slow,
falling into a 3-0 hole,
forcing Hunt to call an
early timeout. Pepperdine
couldn’t catch any
breaks as Loyola powered
through, forcing errors and
a 15-9 decisive set loss.
Pepperdine looked like
it would run away with the
match after a strong first set
win, 25-17. Loyola came
out strong in the second
set and ran out to a 24-21
win, but the Waves fought
off set point three times to
time the set at 24 before the
Ramblers won two critical
points to avoid falling into
a 2-0 hole.
While the Waves couldn’t
figure out a way of winning
the match, Hunt was proud
of the way his players responded
when they faced
adversity.
“That’s all you ask for as
a coach,” Hunt said. “We
don’t ask them to be perfect,
but we ask them to
work hard for each other,
and I thought they did that.”
David Wieczorek led the
Waves in kills with 21 and
added six blocks with one
ace. Kevin Vaz added seven
kills and eight blocks to
a dominant performance at
the net.
For many points of the
night, the Waves continued
to fight through adversity,
something the players have
gone through this season.
Pepperdine came back
from a 2-0 deficit to No.
10 UC Santa Barbara and
showed its players could
figure it out.
These are the lessons Hunt
and the players are looking
for during the early part of
the season. The Waves know
every match will be difficult
given their conference,
so, according to players and
coaches, they can’t focus on
losing, but the positives from
a tough loss.
“You learn that you can
good volleyball at times, I
mean there’s room for improvement,
but we’ve got
the right signs we can take
from this match,” Wieczorek
said.
Pepperdine will continue
to jump up and down
the rankings as the season
goes on, but the players
and coaches don’t care
about what place they’re in.
In Hunt’s eyes, there’s no
prize for finishing at a certain
place in rankings.
There’s only one trophy
worth celebrating.
“It’s how good we can be
at the end of the season, and
I think our guys are pretty
good at that,” he said.
Pepperdine Athletics
Women’s basketball nets win in overtime thriller
Thanks to a huge 10
points from Rose Pflug in
overtime, the Pepperdine
women’s basketball team
defeated PCH-Cup Rival
Loyola Marymount 95-86
on Saturday, Jan. 19. The
Waves had two players
with at least 20 points: Yasmine
Robinson-Bacote and
Barbara Sitanggan.
The Lions had the edge
early, leading by as many
as 12 in the first quarter.
Pepperdine did go on a bit
of a run toward the end of
the quarter, but LMU led
25-17 after 10 minutes of
play. The second quarter
was much of the same.
Pepperdine drew to within
five points, but some timely
shooting from LMU gave
them a 35-43 lead heading
into halftime.
After the break, the Waves
came out with a purpose. An
11-2 scoring run depleted
the Lions’ lead to as little as
just a single point, and the
Waves trailed just 54-52 going
into the final 10 minutes
of regulation.
In the fourth, the Waves
took their first lead of the
game, on a Monique Andriuolo
jumper and free
throw, to take a 63-62 lead.
With just two minutes on
the clock, House made a
jumper to give the Waves
a five-point lead. After an
LMU bucket, Robinson-
Bacote drove through the
lane for a layup. The ball
went in, and was originally
ruled a basket and a foul
on LMU. After review, the
officials determined that it
was an offensive foul on
Robinson-Bacote, giving
LMU the ball with 1.1 seconds
left. On the inbound
play, the Lions had an open
look from Chelsey Gipson,
who sank the three to tie the
game 71-71.
The Waves started the
overtime period strong,
with Pflug driving for a
layup and making another
jumper to give the Waves a
four point lead after a minute
of play. After two free
throws from LMU and a
free throw from Robinson-
Bacote, Pflug pulled up
from beyond the arc and hit
her first of two threes in extra
time, giving the Waves
a six-point lead. The Waves
led by as many as 11 points
in overtime, and wound the
clock down to seal the 95-
86 victory.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Waves fall on the road
Despite 14 3-pointers
and a game-high 22 points
from Kameron Edwards,
the Pepperdine men’s basketball
team ended up on
the wrong end of a PCH
Cup rivalry battle on Saturday
Jan. 19, falling 74-70 at
Loyola Marymount.
Although this was just the
third weekend of conference
play, the Waves (9-11,
2-4) and Lions (14-5, 2-3)
are already done with their
season series. Pepperdine
won at home, 77-62, in the
conference opener on Jan. 3.
It was a close game
throughout, although LMU
went up by 10 with five
minutes left. The Waves got
the deficit down to two multiple
times and at one point
had a shot to take the lead.
The Waves held a 14-
12 lead before going more
than six minutes without a
field goal, but LMU could
only turn that into a 24-18
lead. The Waves rallied
to tie it at 27 after Kessler
Edwards scored six straight
points. LMU went into
halftime with a 31-30 lead.
The Waves regained the
lead at 37-35 on a Kameron
Edwards dunk. Back-toback
3-pointers by Smith
and Edwards gave the
Waves their largest lead of
the game at 43-39, with 15
minutes left.
Tied at 49, the Lions got
the next two baskets and
extended the run to 10-3,
putting them ahead 59-52
with eight minutes to go.
They grew the lead to 68-
58 with five minutes left.
The Waves held the Lions
without a point for the
next four minutes. Eric
Cooper Jr. scored on a driving
lay-up, and then Ross
hit a pair of 3-pointers to
make it a two-point game
at 68-66 with two minutes
left. After Edwards took
a charge, the Waves had a
chance to take the lead on
a three-point attempt, but it
was off the mark.
LMU scored to go up by
four, and the teams traded
points the rest of the way.
Information from Pepperdine
University and
www.pepperdinewaves.
com. Compiled by Assistant
Editor Michal Dwojak,
m.dwojak@22ndcentury
media.com.