Pepperdine wins against Pacific Tigers in five-set thriller – Volleyball news
The men’s volleyball team of Pepperdine University (the Waves) held off Pacific Tigers for a 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 25-16, 27-29, 15-12) victory on Saturday night.
The Waves did not a very good start in the match but proved their endeavours as the game progressed. The Tigers captured opening set but dropped the next two sets in a row. After an intense fight in fourth frame, the Pacific squad managed to create the deadlock
of 2-2.
Nonetheless, the pumped-up Waves gave their final shot in the decisive fifth set and pulled off 3-2 victory in the match.
With this particular win, the Waves improved to an overall record of 13-11 in the season. On the other hand, Pepperdine’s victory pushed the Tigers to 7-16 on the year. It was 18th Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) appearance for Waves and they worked
out good progress. Pepperdine now stands with 8-10 MPSF record.
Maurice Torres emerged as the top scorer of the match. He did an impressive job and notched up 23 kills, which played an instrumental role in Waves’ victory. Florian Gornik and Taylor Hughes served as top weapons of Pacific as they added 18 and 17 kills
in the failing effort.
The opening phase of the match portrayed a complete different picture as Pacific came strong on the rival side. They got off to a strong opening and quickly picked lead. The Waves tried to chase the score but trailed behind for better time in the opening
set. Eventually, the Tigers hit mark and closed first set at 25-20.
Following the loss of opening set, raged-up Pepperdine team paced things off with heavy strike of volleys. They tried to land the ball in rare gaps and quite successfully managed to do so. The strong offense of Waves broke the tempo of Tigers and the game
scenario changed. The pressure shifted on the Tigers, while Waves levelled the score with a second set win, 25-23.
Success in second set helped the Waves to get their form back. They started out well in third set and took full control of the operations. Tigers used many different tactics but could not avoid the loss third set.
Interesting twist came as the Pacific won fourth and created the tie of 2-2. Nevertheless, Waves bounced back in final set and posted 15-12 to down the opponent. Tigers suffered the set back and accepted 2-3 defeat.
The Tigers will try their luck in the next week when will take on Stanford this coming Tuesday. Likewise, the Waves are scheduled host UC Irvine and UC San Diego in the next week. The Pepperdine squad is enjoying a great rhythm and tone, and it will be interesting
to watch how they perform in the next matches.
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