This Time, Waves Dig It
For more than a decade, the Pepperdine men’s volleyball team had seen its seasons left unfulfilled for one reason or another. The disappointment intensified in recent years as the Waves made four trips to the NCAA tournament in the last six years, only to watch other teams hoist the championship trophy.
After three games Saturday night, it appeared the same scenario would occur in the national title match against the team with the most titles essentially playing a home game.
Pepperdine instead ended its run of futility by rallying to defeat UCLA, 30-23, 23-30, 24-30, 30-25, 15-10, before 6,853 at Pauley Pavilion to win its first championship since 1992.
Pepperdine (25-2) defeated the Bruins for the first time in a title match since 1978 and denied them an addition to their NCAA-record 18 championships. Senior Sean Rooney had 26 kills in helping deliver the Waves their fifth title.
“It’s unbelievable,” Rooney said. “On top of that [to win] at Pauley Pavilion. It’s perfect.”
Most recently, the Waves lost the 2002 title match to Hawaii and fell to eventual champion Lewis (Ill.) University the next year in the semifinals. The feelings worsened when those two teams would vacate their championships for using ineligible players.
“I felt pretty good about the couple of years when we played Hawaii and Lewis and those championships were vacated,” Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. “I felt really bad for the guys that at some point in time we couldn’t say, ‘Hey we’re the best at what we do.’
“It’s good for the Pepperdine university community and for these guys.”
Pepperdine forced a decisive game with a gutsy comeback in the fourth game to tie the match. It would be prove to be a good omen, after the Waves won all six of their five-game matches this season in building the nation’s best record.
The Waves built an 8-1 lead and fought off a UCLA rally to grab their elusive trophy.
“Coach reminded us of our record in fifth games,” said Rooney, named the tournament’s most valuable player. “I think it fired us up a little bit.”
The Waves had been efficient throughout the postseason and played a near flawless first game to lead from start to finish.
UCLA (26-6) regrouped and bounced back behind career performances from senior hitters Jonathan Acosta and Kris Kraushaar. Acosta had 29 kills, including 10 in the third game, and Kraushaar finished with 16 kills and only three hitting errors while tying libero Tony Ker for the team lead with 13 digs.
“Kris hasn’t been able to practice on a daily basis and he just had an amazing performance tonight,” UCLA Coach Al Scates said. “Jonathan Acosta played the best I’ve ever seen him play.”