A New Wave Has Come Rolling in for Pepperdine

If the setter is the volleyball equivalent of quarterback, credit Kurt Nelson for calling the first critical audible of the college season.

Nelson’s transfer this week from UCLA to Pepperdine immediately upgrades the 1997 outlook for the Wave men’s volleyball team, which suffered a damaging blow when starting setter J.J. Riley tore a knee ligament during an exhibition tournament in November.

Nelson, unhappy with his role as a backup at UCLA, heard about Riley’s season-ending injury and set in motion a chain of events that brought him to Malibu on Monday, when he began classes and started practicing with Pepperdine.

The 6-foot-4 freshman, who redshirted last year, is expected to be in the starting lineup today when the Waves open the season in the Pepperdine tournament.

“It turned out that this was a good fit for me,” said Nelson, who also considered UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. “I don’t know if I’ll be the difference. I hope we win.”

With four returning starters, Pepperdine expects to have more success than last year’s team that finished 15-11 and lost to Hawaii in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship tournament.

The addition of Nelson, a former All-American at Laguna Beach High, could be considered the final piece of the team’s puzzle.

“He’s a good athlete,” UCLA Coach Al Skates said of Nelson. “He will help their program a lot.”

For Nelson to be eligible this season, UCLA had to waive an in-residence restriction that would have forced him to sit out a year. Skates said he was reluctant to grant the waiver but changed his mind after talking with Nelson and Bruin Athletic Director Pete Dalis.

Skates said he believes the transfer was expedited because Nelson’s father, Byron Nelson, played football for UCLA from 1963-65. Byron Nelson talked with Dalis before Kurt was granted a release, Skates said.

“I would have preferred for [Nelson] to compete for the position until the spring, then if he wanted to sign off, fine,” Skates said. “Apparently he wanted to sign off immediately, and Pepperdine desperately needed a setter. They gave him a chance to be an instant starter in a strong program and he opted for a change.”

Nelson played in fall tournaments for UCLA behind freshman Brandon Taliaferro, a prized recruit from San Clemente High.

“He felt like he couldn’t beat out Taliaferro,” Skates said. “That certainly was the motivation for him leaving.

“It doesn’t come up too often. In 35 years [at UCLA], we’ve only had three or four transfers.”

Nelson said leaving a program that has won the last two NCAA titles and three of the last four was the best thing for his career, even if it didn’t sit well with Skates.

“He wasn’t happy at all, kind of mad actually,” Nelson said. “[But] I can’t think about the coach, I have to think about myself. It’s selfish, but it’s my future.”

If it’s unusual for UCLA to lose a transfer, it’s just as rare for Pepperdine to gain one. Marv Dunphy, starting his 15th season as the Waves’ coach, said Nelson is only the second men’s volleyball player he can recall transferring to the school.

Although Nelson will start immediately, Dunphy said he doesn’t want to place undue pressure on the newest Wave.

“We’re not looking for him to be the savior today or tomorrow,” Dunphy said. “He’s just going to be one of the guys.”

Out of courtesy to a fellow coach, Dunphy said he called Skates after UCLA faxed Pepperdine a copy of the release form allowing Nelson to talk to other schools.

“All [Skates] said to me was thanks for calling and that he wasn’t sure if he was going to release [Nelson],” Dunphy said.

That was in mid-December. Last week, while Pepperdine was playing in an exhibition tournament in Canada, UCLA finalized Nelson’s release and Wave officials started the enrollment process.

An anxious Nelson said he has had trouble sleeping this week anticipating of the start of the season.

Pepperdine plays Alberta, the top college team in Canada, at 9 a.m. and San Diego State at 7 p.m. today in a round-robin tournament at Firestone Fieldhouse. In other matches, San Diego State plays Long Beach State at 11 a.m. and Long Beach meets Alberta at 5 p.m.

The tournament concludes Saturday with San Diego State facing Alberta at noon and Pepperdine meeting Long Beach at 7:30, following the Waves’ West Coast Conference basketball game against San Francisco.

Dunphy says he has a “good feeling” about this team, which has been ranked fifth in the nation by Volleyball magazine behind Stanford, UCLA, Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara. Pepperdine finished 1996 ranked 10th by the publication.

“We have good size and some good firepower,” said Dunphy, who has guided Pepperdine to three of its four national titles, including the last one in 1992. “Our outside hitters bring pretty good heat.”

Pepperdine’s potent attack features three returning starters at outside hitter--senior Kevin Barnett and sophomores Peter Kodascy and George Roumain. The 6-6 Barnett, a transfer from Pierce College, led the Waves in kills, aces and digs last season and was named a second-team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

Roumain, who at 6-6 and 230 pounds looks more like a tight end than a volleyball player, ranks as one of the college game’s most powerful hitters. Despite missing four matches after breaking a bone in his right hand and playing much of last season with a soft cast, he was named to Volleyball magazine’s all-freshman team.

The Waves also are solid at middle blocker with 6-9 junior Chris Jacobson, a two-year starter, and 6-6 senior Colin Wellman, who returns to the position he played at Palisades High after stints at outside hitter and setter. Wellman would have been the starting setter had Nelson not transferred.

The top reserves on a team with minimal depth are hitter Branden Higa, a 6-4 senior from Quartz Hill High and Pierce, and middle blocker Joshua Crozier, a 6-8 sophomore.

“We’ll be better than we were last year,” Dunphy said. “I also think the league will be better.”

The Waves finished fourth last season in the Mountain Division behind UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge.