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The opportunity for Mount Olive and Barton to open their seasons against a top-five nationally ranked team is no more.
No. 3 Pepperdine announced Friday it has canceled its upcoming four-match road trip to the ConfCarolinas schools because of coronavirus protocols.
Pepperdine was originally slated to open its season with a two-match series against the defending ConfCarolinas regular season champions Mount Olive beginning on Wednesday. The team also would have remained in North Carolina following that series for another two-match road series against Barton starting on Friday.
The amount of daily new positive coronavirus cases has steadily increased in December throughout the United States, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nation’s seven-day average for daily new positive cases as of Wednesday climbed to record high 316,277.
In midst of this pandemic, more than 10 non-conference matches have been canceled that were set for the opening week of the college men’s volleyball season.
The Waves entered 2022 after finishing last season earning one of the two at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.
The team has a nation-best four Preseason All-American selections, including middle attacker Austin Wilmot who earned first-team honors. Along with its returning starters, All-MPSF opposite Jaylen Jasper transferred from Stanford to Pepperdine in the offseason.
Both Mount Olive and Pepperdine were the predicted as the favorites to win 2022 conference titles in their conferences’ preseason coaches poll.
Preseason All-American outside attacker Tobi Azeez highlights the Mount Olive returning starters. Azeez ended last year with a nation-best 4.58 attack percentage and spent the offseason playing with Australia at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Barton, which won the ConfCarolinas championship in 2019, was predicted to finish the conference in fifth place in the ConfCarolinas preseason poll.
Pepperdine following these four canceled matches is now slated to open its season at home against Erskine on Jan. 14.
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