Pepperdine volleyball aims for sixth national title

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Pepperdine's Jonathan Winder was named MPSF Player of the Year.

The Waves have won 22 consecutive matches. They host the league tournament this week, with their first match taking place on Thursday.

By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor

Two years ago, the men’s volleyball championship tradition returned to Pepperdine University with the team defeating its archrival, UCLA, at Pauley Pavilion to win its first national title since 1992, and its fifth overall. Then, last season, the Waves met the Bruins again in the postseason, but this time it ended in defeat with a three-game sweep in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

But Pepperdine has come back this year as good, or even better, than it was in 2005. The Waves are 25-1 overall and 21-1 in MPSF play. The 21 league wins is the most by any MPSF team ever. And the Waves have not lost since they fell to Long Beach State on Jan. 19 in a close battle. The winning streak going into Thursday’s MPSF semifinal against UC Santa Barbara is at 22 matches.

“We don’t really talk about it [the streak],” said sophomore outside hitter J.D. Schleppenbach, a graduate of Ventura High School. “It’s said, but we just want to keep winning. We don’t even think about stuff like that. Because then you get into stuff about, ‘What if we break it.'”

Junior setter Jonathan Winder said the team does not talk about the streak much because it has a philosophy of focusing on each game, one at a time. “It’s our goal every time to win,” Winder said.

And Winder has been a big reason for all the winning Pepperdine has been doing this year. Despite missing the first five games of the season because of a leg injury, he has managed to lead his team in the quarterback position of volleyball to a perfect 21 wins. His statistics have been impressive enough to earn him MPSF Player of the Year honors. But the 6-foot, 8-inch Irvine native is modest about the recognition.

“It’s a great honor, but it doesn’t matter,” Winder said. “I think when the setter gets it, it’s a testament to the team being good. And I think our team is real good this year. So I just happen to be the setter.”

Marv Dunphy, who is in his 24th year at the helm, coaches the Waves team. The Topanga Canyon native and Pepperdine alumnus, who is a legend in the sport having been a former U.S. national team coach, said he has been impressed with the Waves this year.

“We haven’t been crushing people,” Dunphy said. “We’ve just been able to outlast them. There’s some pride in that. You have to earn the right to be confident. And they’re earning the right.”

Dunphy hesitated to call last season a disappointment, but admitted the standard at Pepperdine is fairly high. “The standard’s on the wall,” said Dunphy, as he pointed to the five national championship banners hanging in Firestone Fieldhouse. “I don’t think you say, ‘It’s all or none,’ but we want to compete at the highest level and compete for national championships.”

Although the 2007 Waves are lacking only one starter from last year’s team, that missing man is fairly significant: two-time All-American middle blocker Andy Hein. But Dunphy said he has been amazed by Greg Gaudino’s ability to fill in the spot. Gaudino is a graduate of USC, where he played as a walk-on for the basketball team. With his only collegiate volleyball experience being limited to his freshman year during the preseason at USC, Gaudino came to Pepperdine this year to play in his final season of eligibility. “I saw him play in a rec league that wasn’t a very talented rec league,” Dunphy said. “He came our way, and he’s been a real big plus for us.”

Other major contributors to this year’s team have included sophomore opposite Paul Carroll, who hails from Australia, and senior middle blocker Tom Hulse. Carroll was selected to the All-MPSF first team, while Hulse received an honorable mention.

Hulse said that he does not value any season over another, but he has enjoyed this year and the way the team has done, especially its intensity during daily practices.

“The way we practice in the gym is the exact same way we play on the court [in games], so the pressure we play in the practice gym is the same we feel on the court,” Hulse said.

The MPSF tournament takes place this year at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse. On Thursday, the Waves take on UC Santa Barbara at 5:30 p.m. The Waves have defeated the Gauchos both times they met this year, sweeping them in Santa Barbara and beating them 3-1 in Malibu. And if Pepperdine wins this time, the team will face the winner of BYU and UC Irvine. Pepperdine has already beaten both those teams twice this season as well. But the Waves are not overconfident.

“Everyone in this league has the potential to beat anyone else,” Hulse said. “We have to take every match as if it were the first one of the year.”

An MPSF championship automatically qualifies the Waves for the NCAA Final Four next month in Columbus, Ohio. But even a loss in the MPSF tournament would probably not mean Pepperdine would be missing the Final Four, as Pepperdine likely would be getting the one wild card spot.

And if the Waves make it to Ohio this year, a chance at a sixth national title is very good. But Dunphy is cautious when talking about that. “We want to compete for the national championship and we’re in the ballpark,” Dunphy said. “That’s where our energy is. That’s where our focus is. And that’s my job to compete at the highest level. If it doesn’t go our way, if we’re not good enough, for sure, it will be a tremendous disappointment all around. But that’s the nature of sports.”