It appeared to be a mismatch on paper, and mostly played like
one on the court.
The top-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team disposed
of fourth-seeded Ohio State, 3-0 (30-16, 31-29, 30-26), Thursday
night in an NCAA semifinal match before 5,125 at Pauley Pavilion to
advance to Saturday’s championship match.
The Waves (24-2) will face third-seeded UCLA (26-5) in the
all-West Coast final and rematch of the 1998 NCAA final, which the
Bruins won, 3-0.
“After the semifinals, you can’t help but think
what’s next,” Pepperdine outside hitter Sean Rooney
said. “We’ve been here before, and we’re prepared
for a good opponent, and the Bruins are just that. They got a
couple of injuries and it doesn’t even hurt them.”
“I know UCLA is going to bring it in its own gym,”
Waves setter Jonathan Winder added.
While the Bruins and Waves split their regular-season matches,
with each team winning on its home court, Pepperdine is not
intimidated at the prospect of having to win a national title on
enemy ground.
“The more people, the better, for us or against us,”
Rooney said.
After the Waves watched the Bruins easily displace Penn State in
Thursday night’s first semifinal, it didn’t take long
for Pepperdine, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Champion, to
establish its supremacy over Ohio State.
The Waves smothered the Buckeyes, 30-16, in Game 1, out-hitting
them .409 to .028 and out-blocking them 7.5 to 2.
And even when the Waves were playing sloppily and Ohio State was
firing on all cylinders in Game 2, all Pepperdine had to do was
turn to Rooney, Player of the Year, to stem the tide.
Each and every time the Buckeyes mounted a rally, Rooney was
there to halt Ohio State’s momentum, racking up seven of his
19 kills in Game 2 and scoring three of the Waves’ final four
points in Game 3 to seal the victory.
Pepperdine’s appearance in Saturday’s final will be
its first since 2002, when it lost to Hawai’i 3-1 in the
championship match.
The Waves last claimed a national title in 1992.