Waves Will Play for Title

Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said watching Ball State take the opening game of the NCAA men’s volleyball semifinals stirred up something in his team.

The Waves responded by dominating the next two games and rallying in the fourth to win, 30-32, 30-19, 30-20, 33-31 Thursday night at Penn State’s Recreation Hall.

Pepperdine (29-4) won its 17th consecutive match and will play Hawaii for the national title Saturday. It’s the ninth time the Waves have reached the title match.

Hawaii advanced with a 30-26, 27-30, 35-33, 30-27 victory over Penn State.

Ball State (23-8), the champion of the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., was a worthy opponent early on. The Cardinals rallied from a five-point deficit, ending the first game with consecutive kills by Jary Delgado to snap a 30-30 tie.

“I don’t think we needed a wake-up call as much as Ball State played really well,” Dunphy said. “We knew their middle blockers were pretty good and they were going to them a lot. They were big and they were athletic.”

Brad Keenan and Sean Rooney had 19 kills each to lead the Waves. Rooney, a freshman, had five kills in the second game and Keenan, a junior, tied the match at one game each with three consecutive kills to finish the game.

Keenan was named national player of the year Wednesday by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

“We ran what we call a backslide play and he was doing a fine job on that play,” Dunphy said of his 6-foot-8 middle blocker. “I thought Rooney did a nice job.”

The Waves took control of the match midway through the third game after some Ball State errors. Consecutive errors by Tom Tegethoff and a bad set by Jary Delgado gave Pepperdine a 15-9 lead. The Waves went on to score four of the next five points as Keenan had two kills and a block during that stretch.

Beau Daniels finished off the decisive third game with a service ace. The senior setter had 55 assists, directing an offense that hit .348 (65 kills, 18 hitting errors) for the match.

Pepperdine then fought back from three game points in the fourth. Matthew Denmark gave Ball State a 31-30 lead with a kill but he followed with a service error on game point.

Josh Zuidema gave the Waves an opening with a hitting error. They took advantage as Chris Van Reusen and Fred Winters teamed to block Kyle Weindel, ending the match.

Lance Walker had 15 kills for Pepperdine.