Pepperdine Beats CSUN in Volleyball

The polls already are ranking his team No. 1 in the nation, but Pepperdine men’s volleyball Coach Rod Wilde said it will take a while for the Waves to play that way.

It did. Four games, to be exact.

Pepperdine, as expected, opened Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. play with a 15-10, 15-9, 11-15, 15-4 victory over Cal State Northridge on Tuesday in Malibu. Few, however, thought it would take more than two hours to accomplish.

“I was a little frustrated at our level of play,” Wilde said. “You have to go out and play like you’re up against the best team in the nation out there, and we didn’t do that. We played a very non-emotional match, and we are not a team that will overwhelm anybody playing like that.”

Pepperdine certainly didn’t overwhelm the Matadors. The two-time defending NCAA Division I champions struggled through their own mistakes to win the first two games, then dropped 11 of the last 15 points in losing the third game.

In the fourth game, Wilde drew a yellow card for questioning a referee’s call. Pepperdine saw red from that point on, scoring 10 of the final 11 points to close out the match.

Northridge Coach John Price wasn’t discouraged by the abrupt end to a promising evening.

“We just ran out of gas at the end,” he said. “We were close the whole time, even in the first two games we lost. The only time we were stopped was by our own mistakes, and we didn’t make too many of those on offense.”

The Matadors had 13 service errors, but compared to 15 by the Waves, that didn’t seem too bad.

“We are a real inexperienced team, and those things are going to happen,” Price said. “But we played very well tonight.”

Mike Bird had 20 kills to lead Northridge (0-1). Sophomores Jeff McClean and Ron Graening each had 17 kills.

All-American Troy Tanner had 25 kills to lead Pepperdine (3-0, 1-0 in conference). Rob Scott had 21 kills and Randy Bergstedt and Matt Rigg each added 18. Rigg, a two-time all-conference pick, is recovering from knee and shoulder injuries and did not play in the final two games.

It doesn’t get any easier for Northridge. The Matadors play fourth-ranked USC on Friday and play their first eight matches on the road.

“It’s hard to find teams outside of our own league that are competitive,” Price said. “None of the top teams will play us in the preseason until we earn a little respect.”

They may have earned some Tuesday night.