Feb. 29, 2008

Watch the Game Wrap up

Box Score

Paul Carroll had 26 kills, 8 digs and 7 blocks to lead the No. 5-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team to a 24-30, 30-24, 30-23, 30-26 win over No. 8 USC in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (Feb. 29) at USC's Galen Center.

Pepperdine improved to 8-5 overall and also 8-5 in the MPSF, while the Trojans fell to 9-9 and 6-7.

The Waves trailed 24-20 in the final game, but they scored 10 of the last 12 points, including the final 5 points on 3 consecutive kills by Carroll followed by an Eric Liebert kill and a Trojan hitting error. Pepperdine hit a blazing .486 in that game and had 12 digs.

Carroll hit .488 in the match. Teammate J.D. Schleppenbach had 13 kills and 8 digs, while Liebert added 10 kills (hitting .529) and 6 blocks.

For USC, Juan Figueroa had 20 kills, 8 digs, 4 blocks and 2 aces, while Murphy Troy added 15 kills and 9 digs, C.J. Schellenberg had 14 kills, 6 digs and 3 blocks and Andrew Vernon hit .600 with 11 kills and 4 blocks.

Pepperdine hit .424 in the match to USC's .228 and had 17.5 blocks to the Trojans' 10.0.

USC broke open a 12-12 tie in the first game by scoring the next 3 points and steadily pulled away while hitting .462. Pepperdine returned the favor in the second game, opening up a 12-9 lead with 3 straight points and the Waves never gave up that edge as they hit .429 with 10 digs and 6 blocks. In the third game, USC could never overcome an early 9-5 deficit as Pepperdine again hit .429 and posted 5 more blocks. USC fell behind 5-2 in the fourth game, but slowly caught up and pulled ahead 24-20 before the Waves went on their victorious run.

USC next hosts unranked Lewis in a non-conference match on Wednesday (March 5) at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center.