Tidal Wave

Richard Dunn

January jollies have sagged to a February Funk.

Once atop the NCAA Division I men’s volleyball world, UC Irvine

continued its struggles Saturday night as No. 3 Pepperdine swept the

host and No. 2 Anteaters, 30-27, 30-24, 30-23, in a Mountain Pacific

Sports Federation match before a standing-room only crowd announced

at 700.

“We haven’t played well for 2 1/2 weeks. The guys have had

midterms and it was an emotional January,” UCI Coach John Speraw

said. “I think there has been a little letdown.”

Since the ‘Eaters defeated Hawaii at Crawford Hall Feb. 1 to

remain No. 1 in the country, they have battled the midseason blues,

losing to Cal State Northridge in a Feb. 7 stunner and playing

“poorly” but winning against USC, Speraw said.

Then came the Waves (11-1, 9-0 in the MPSF), who dispatched UC

Irvine in 80 minutes.

“When you play average against a team like Pepperdine, you’re

going to lose,” said Speraw, whose team (13-3, 6-3) was “frustrated”

in the third game as the Waves pulled in front, 25-15 -- a blowout in

this sport.

At least Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy was impressed.

“For men’s volleyball to have this in Orange County in just

awesome for me, and I’ve been in this league since 1972,” said

Dunphy, 55, referring to the packed house at Crawford Hall, which

only at times got loud but nevertheless rocked to a degree never

before seen by the veteran Pepperdine coach.

Dunphy said there were times “the parents didn’t even come” to the

matches. But now the UCI program has elevated to a national power and

the old gym is filled from end to end.

“It’s the highlight of the year for us,” added Dunphy, whose team

suffered its only loss of the season to the Anteaters in the Waves’

tournament -- the Millie & Severson Tournament at Firestone

Fieldhouse -- in early January.

But that was eons ago. Pepperdine, the only unbeaten team in the

12-school MPSF, has won 10 straight matches.

UC Irvine lost to a team (Northridge) it “should have never lost

to,” Speraw said, then lost the first game against unranked USC,

before winning in four.

Pepperdine built leads in the first game of 8-3 and 23-18, the

latter coming on a block by Fred Winters and Brad Keenan, but

Pepperdine hitting errors got the Anteaters to within two.

A serve into the net by UCI’s Jerome Gemise-Fareau gave Pepperdine

a 25-22 lead, then a hitting error by UCI’s Jimmy Pelzel upped the

visitors’ advantage to four. Still, UCI pulled to within 27-26,

before a kill by Winters and Pelzel hitting error provided Pepperdine

with a game-point situation. Pepperdine’s Mike Gledhill finished it

with a kill.

“Jimmy Pelzel had an off night, and he hasn’t had an off night all

season,” Speraw said. “We’ve got to make sure we back him up and we

didn’t do that.”

UCI, which has no player taller than 6-foot-7, faced a bigger

opponent in Pepperdine’s 6-10 Andy Hein, 6-9 Sean Rooney and 6-8

Keenan. Rooney’s 14 kills earned him match-high honors.

In the second game, UCI rallied from 9-6 and 13-10 deficits,

taking a 15-14 lead on Spencer Bemus’ solo block on Keenan.

But Pepperdine, led by Keenan’s seven blocks in the match, came

back on kills by Winters and Rooney, two net violation son UCI and an

ace by Keenan for a 19-15 lead. UCI could get no closer than two the

rest of the way. The ‘Eaters were within 24-22 when 6-7 Kyle Weichert

blew an easy chance at the net for UCI.

Pepperdine scored the game’s last three points on a block by

Rooney and hitting errors by Nic Vislay and setter David Kniffin,

whose dump attempt went straight into the floss.

“We had so many scoring opportunities in the first and second

games, but then in the third game we were frustrated and we played

frustrated,” said Speraw, whose team during one span in the third

game had four service errors by four straight players.

Pelzel and Weichert each totaled 10 kills for Irvine, while Pelzel

added five digs. Monte Tucker and Vislay each recorded nine kills for

the Anteaters, while Spencer Bemus had eight kills for UCI.

It was the second-worst hitting performance for UC Irvine this

season at .213. Pepperdine hit .398 and out-blocked the ‘Eaters,

13.5-8.5.