No. 1 Waves Get Hawaii Next

Pepperdine hasn’t lost a men’s volleyball match since February. The Waves have won 15 in a row and have been taken to five games only twice in that stretch.

Which is not to say the Waves seem unbeatable. Even after Brigham Young lost to Pepperdine in four games Thursday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal, Cougar All-American outside hitter Mike Wall wasn’t completely sold.

“They’re a good team,” Wall said. “But they can be beat.”

Hawaii is next up to try against Pepperdine, the nation’s top-ranked team, in the MPSF championship match tonight at 7 in Firestone Fieldhouse at Pepperdine. The winner earns the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Final Four next week.

The Waves (27-4) have followed the lead of their coach, Marv Dunphy, in terms of concentrating on the next match and blocking out the winning streak. Seniors such as setter Beau Daniels, middle blocker Chris Van Reusen and outside hitter Lance Walker will have to focus even more with graduation ceremonies also scheduled for today.

“I couldn’t tell you what our record is,” Dunphy said. “I never think of that because I don’t look backward. When a match is done, I immediately turn my attention toward the next match.”

The Warriors (23-7), paced by 21 kills from Costas Theocharidis, advanced with a four-game victory over UC Santa Barbara.

Dunphy said the team’s focus can’t be solely on Theocharidis, last year’s national player of the year. “We’d love to limit his impact but I don’t think anybody has done that for two years now,” he said.

Pepperdine defeated Hawaii in four games on consecutive nights in March. But the Warriors will have a different look with freshman middle blocker Delano Thomas in the lineup. Thomas missed those matches to shore up his academics.