The Matadors of Cal State down Pepperdine Waves – Volleyball news
The California State University men’s volleyball team posted 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21) victory over Pepperdine Waves on Thursday, April 12.
With a splendid win over Waves, the Matadors moved to 12-16 overall record in the season.
The sophomore outside hitter Lebrock notched up 21 kills via 38 attack attempts. He was also credited for a pair of aces, two blocks, and five digs in the match. He was joined by junior John Baker, who registered 10 kills with a hitting percentage of .240.
Furthermore, Jared Moore achieved a career-high 10 blocks and contributed to the overall success of Matadors.
On Pepperdine’s side, senior Matt Pollock put up a good effort. He added team-high 10 kills on a .529 hitting percentage and also contributed four blocks and one ace.
The Waves got off to a good start in the match. They used Pollock as front row attacker and picked up lead in the first few minutes.
In response, the Matadors returned the ball and counter attacked with their best spiker Lebrock. The two top players came into stride and score soared up with close difference. The Waves stayed ahead of Cal State until the tie of scores at 19-all. The duo
of Lebrock and John Baker brought the Matadors at same level with the Waves.
After the second technical timeout, Cal State tallied consecutive points and finished the opening set at 25-20.
Pepperdine entered the second stanza of the match in similar fashion. They hit early points, while Matadors trailed behind.
However, this time the Waves kept the lead in hand and did not allow the resilient rival to come up. Pepperdine hit the equaliser at the end of second set as they posted 25-17 onboard.
Third set imitated a heated competition as both teams tried to take lead. Cal State came up with back row attack and built pressure on Waves. They rallied from 5-1 to 11-9, while Pepperdine kept looking for retaliation. The Matadors improved to 2-1 by winning
third set at 25-19.
The Matadors carried the momentum into fourth set and stamped ‘25-21’ win over Pepperdine. Hence Cal State seized 3-1 victory in the important MPSF match.
Matador head coach Jeff Campbell shared his views after the match. He said, “What changed for us after the second set was we started serving better. They had some problems passing and I felt like we gained a little momentum at that point. One of the most
important things in volleyball is to get the other team out of system and we were pretty successful in doing that in games three and four.”
Next up, the Matadors will take on top-ranked USC on Saturday. Cal State will have the advantage of playing under the tag of hosts and it is more likely that they will win the match.
On the other hand, the Waves of Pepperdine will meet Long Beach State at the weekend. Both teams are going to play their regular season closing games and it is going to be a lot of fun. Check back for latest updates.
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