The USC men’s volleyball team has looked nearly unstoppable this season, dominating opponents on its way to the top ranking in the country.
The 13th-ranked Pepperdine University’s men’s volleyball team, on the other hand, has a losing record, but the Waves (8-12, 4-12) managed to upset the Trojans 3-2 on Feb. 11, USC’s (16-1, 15-1) only loss of the season.
Friday night, in the rematch between the two universities at USC, the Trojans were motivated to avenge their earlier loss to the Waves, defeating Pepperdine 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 28-26).
The loss ended Pepperdine’s three-match winning streak against USC.
“We are not as good as we have been the last couple of years, but we can still play well,” Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said. “We need to play consistently, and make more good volleyball plays.”
After finishing tied for fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation last season, Pepperdine started the season slowly in conference competition. The Waves lost their first five conference matches, with the first three defeats all concluding in five games.
The win against USC was in the middle of a three-match winning streak, but the Waves only won one of their next seven matches.
“We have dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole, but luckily we have the capability to dig ourselves out of it,” sophomore opposite Maurice Torres said. “If we play like we did in the third game [against USC], we can beat anybody.”
Torres has significantly contributed to the team in his second season at Pepperdine. After earning the starting opposite position and being named to the MPSF All-Freshman team last year, Torres leads the Waves with 244 kills, averaging 3.81 kills per set. Torres also paces Pepperdine with 286 points.
“Maurice is a good young player,” Dunphy said. “He has a bright future in this game.”
Outside Cory Riecks has provided veteran leadership for the Waves. The senior became the 16th member of Pepperdine’s 1,000 kills club earlier in the season. He ranks second on the team with 152 kills.
Pepperdine next travels to Pacific on April 1 and Stanford on April 2 before concluding the regular season with four home matches beginning on April 8 against BYU.
“Having these home games gives us a little bit of an advantage because we get to play in front of our home fans, who help get us pumped up,” Torres said.