University Southern California Trojans
USC
Pepperdine
No. 3 Pepperdine Men's Volleyball Beats USC
February 09, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 9, 2007
Paul Carroll had 26 kills, 11 digs and 6 blocks to lead the No. 3-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team to a 26-30, 30-24, 30-26, 30-25 victory over No. 14 USC in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (Feb. 9) in USC's Galen Center.
Pepperdine improved to 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the MPSF, while the Trojans dropped to 3-8 and 2-6.
The Waves prevailed despite a career-high 30 kills by USC's Juan Figueroa, who hit .480. Trojan teammate C.J. Schellenberg added 13 kills, Matt Anderson had 10 kills, Luke Morris had 16 digs (equalling a career best) and Andrew Vernon had 5 blocks.
For Pepperdine, J.D. Schleppenbach added 16 kills and 13 digs, while Tom Hulse had 12 kills (hitting .800 with no hitting errors in 15 attempts) and 6 blocks.
Both teams hit at a high rate (Pepperdine was at .354 and USC at .345), but the Waves outblocked Troy (12.5 to 7.0) and served 5 aces to USC's 2.
The first game was tied at 22-22 before the Trojans scored the next 3 points and held that edge while hitting at a .571 clip. Game two was knotted at 20-20 when Pepperdine went on a 5-0 run to open a lead it never relinquished. The Waves led the third game 21-20 before scoring 5 unanswered points and, although USC closed to 26-24, the Trojans could never catch up. USC fell behind 5-1 in the final game and Pepperdine was never threatened the rest of the way.
USC next goes on the road for a pair of matches at No. 9 Hawaii on Wednesday (Feb. 14) and Friday (Feb. 16).
