Northridge Just Misses Upset

It’s so fun to be No. 1.

Pepperdine, greeted Tuesday with the not-so-good news of being the top-ranked men’s volleyball team, almost gave the honor right back on Wednesday.

Pepperdine held off Cal State Northridge, 15-10, 13-15, 15-6, 15-17, 16-14, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Northridge.

The Waves, the latest to assume the precarious position of No. 1--UCLA, Long Beach State and USC all failed to hold onto the spot--had trouble with Northridge.

“You guys are wearing me out,” Pepperdine interim Coach Jeff Stork told his team afterward.

Who could argue with him?

Northridge was ahead in the fifth game, 10-8, but Scott Wong’s kill started a four-point streak by the Waves.

Pepperdine never trailed again.

Wong delivered 29 kills and Andre Breuer added 28 for Pepperdine (9-1, 7-1 in MPSF play).

Eckhard Walter had 27 kills and six aces for No. 14 Northridge, which nearly defeated an upper-echelon team in consecutive matches.

Last Friday, Northridge (4-6, 2-5) defeated UCLA, then ranked No. 4, for only the third time in 43 matches between the teams.

“We played well enough to beat that team tonight,” said Coach Jeff Campbell of Northridge. “It would have given us a real lift. We would have been on cloud nine.”

Pepperdine nearly ended things in the fourth game, but Northridge fought off match point at 14-13 and rallied to win on the strength of three kills by Jeff Toon.

The Waves led in the fifth game, 14-12, and were tied, 14-14, but won on a hitting error by Toon and a block by Brad Keenan.

Keenan, a freshman middle blocker, finished with 11 blocks for the Waves, who could still call themselves the top team in the nation . . . barely.

“Any given night, somebody’s going to surprise someone else,” said Stork. “I’m a little disappointed with the emotion on our team. It’s another win, not a pretty one.”