Pepperdine Wavers, Gets Past Stanford

It seemed there was no doubt, then it was completely in doubt.

In the end, Pepperdine erased doubts and demons by defeating Stanford, 15-10, 15-8, 14-16, 13-15, 15-13, in a first-round match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament Saturday night at Pepperdine.

The Waves suffered a stunning first-round loss to USC last season, but there was not another early exit.

Andre Breuer delivered a career-high 37 kills and Donny Killian also hit a career-high with 25 kills, including three in the fifth game, to bring the Waves (21-4) significantly closer to the tournament championship than they were last season.

An added bonus for the Waves: Because top-seeded Long Beach State lost in five games to Loyola Marymount, second-seeded Pepperdine will host the MPSF tournament semifinals Thursday and the championship next Saturday.

The Waves play third-seeded USC in a semifinal.

For obvious reasons, Pepperdine’s four-game loss to USC last year did not sit well.

The Waves played that match without two-time NCAA player of the year George Roumain, who sat out with a severely sprained ankle, but it didn’t make the off-season any better.

It made it long. Very long.

“As hard as we’ve trained and as much as we’ve practiced this year, I think it was in the back of everybody’s mind,” Killian said. “It’s a big relief.”

“It’s always nice to go on,” said Pepperdine Coach Jeff Stork, whose team is 5-2 in five-game matches. “There’s a lot of ups and downs in a season and this was one of those up-and-down matches, but we pulled it off.”

Stanford (10-13) brings out the worst in the Waves’ serving. In a four-game victory at Stanford in February, Pepperdine had 28 service errors and only four aces. On Saturday, Pepperdine had 34 service errors and four aces.

Pepperdine didn’t help itself in the rally-scored fifth game, either, with three service errors that became immediate, and basically free, points for Stanford.

Fortunately for the Waves, their blocking made up for it.

Pepperdine had three blocks in the fifth game, including two consecutive by freshman Brad Keenan, to give Pepperdine a 10-8 lead.

Breuer ended the match on a kill down the right side.

Keith Barnett, making his first start at outside hitter in more than a month, delivered 18 kills for Pepperdine.

Middle blocker Curt Toppel of Stanford, who led the nation with 8.78 kills per game, had 35 kills for the Cardinal, which started four freshmen, including Toppel.

“It came down to the last seconds,” Toppel said. “I’m glad we didn’t go out with a sour performance.”

Freshman Bill Strickland, a former outside hitter at Harvard-Westlake High, had 13 kills for Stanford.