Catching the Next Wave
1/25/2017 9:22:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. — California Baptist University had to battle some adversity with a limited arsenal Wednesday night, but rose to the occasion at No. 9-ranked Pepperdine. The Lancers couldn't overcome the Waves, dropping a 3-1 match (25-20, 23-25, 25-16, 25-14).
CBU drops to 2-6 overall, 1-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Pepperdine improves to 3-2, 1-1 in conference.
The Lancers jumped out in front to a 4-0 lead in the first set after Pepperdine handed the ball over with a service error on the first serve. Luis Palos (10 kills, two blocks) and Enrique de Diego Garcia (eight kills, four blocks) used that momentum to block a Wave attempt at the net, before Garcia teamed up with Jacob Tarabetz (five kills, 17 assists) with another stuff in the next play.
Garcia kept the run going with a kill, before the Waves managed to get on the board to stop the scoring briefly. Pepperdine committed back-to-back errors, however, including one at the line, to give the Lancers a 6-1 cushion.
The Waves battled back, however, and took the first set 25-20.
Pepperdine flipped the tables in the second set and opened on a 4-0 run, but the Lancers fought back with their own 4-0 spurt to even the set. It was back-and-forth action from there as the set was tied pretty much at every point until 13-13.
Tarabetz gave the Lancers back-to-back points from there with a kill and an ace, forcing a Pepperdine timeout.
It stayed close for the remainder of the set, but CBU would reach set point first, 24-23, off another Tarabetz kill from Cody Jackson (22 assists). He sealed the deal by serving up a perfect pass for Palos to slam home and even the match at 1-1.
With both teams trying to put the pendulum swinging in their direction, it was another close battle in the third set.
Neither team could grab a multi-point lead until Pepperdine took a 10-7 upper hand. CBU called a timeout, but the Waves kept pushing and grabbed the 25-16 victory. Pepperdine wasn't stopping from there and won the fourth 25-14 to seal the match win.
The Lancers get no time to rest, heading to No. 8 Stanford on Friday for another 7 p.m. start time.
