Jan. 14, 2006

Box Score

Malibu, Calif. - The defending national champion Pepperdine Waves needed four sets and extra points to hold off the Pacific men's volleyball team 3-1, January 14. The Tigers fell 23-30, 20-30, 30-26 and 30-32 Saturday night. The loss drops the Tigers to 0-2 in the MPSF Conference and 1-4 overall on the season.

Junior Matt Cornell provided a huge spark off the bench, giving the Tigers 12 kills. Andreas Baboulidis led the Tigers in kills with 14 on 32 attempts and Mitchel Hazelett recorded assists on 55 kills.

The Waves scored the first point of the night on a kill by Paul Carroll and never looked back the first set, going on to win 30-23. The Tigers, down five early mounted a comeback early on as Pekka Seppanen served Pacific to five straight points. However the Tigers could manage nothing more than an 8-8 tie as Pepperdine went on runs of 5-1 and 6-2 to end the first set.

Pacific found no answers to the defending national champions in the second set, falling 30-20. The Waves jumped ahead early and steadily pulled away from the Tigers late in the game, going on an 8-3 run to end the second game. The Tigers got a combined 12 kills (six each) from Adamson and Seppanen through the second set but could not stop Carroll (13 kills).

Coach Joe Wortmann shook up the line-up for game three, starting sophomore Blake Gentry and junior Matt Cornell. The strategy proved effective as the Tigers opened up their largest lead of the set, 21-15, after a 7-2 run. Pacific proceeded to hold off the Waves and take game three 30-26 behind seven kills from Cornell.

After a valiant effort in game three the Tigers came out in game four seeking to push the match to five games. However, after trading points throughout the game the Waves went on a 5-1 run to take the set in extra points, 32-30.