Pepperdine-UCLA Box Score 
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A tremendous team hitting performance lifted the #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team to a three-game sweep at #10 UCLA (30-27, 30-22, 30-23) in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play on Friday.
The Waves (1-2 overall, 1-1 MPSF) finished with a .467 team hitting percentage, collecting 53 kills with just 10 errors. The performance came after Pepperdine hit a combined .215 in the first two matches of the season.
Pepperdine defeated UCLA (1-4, 0-2) for the fourth straight time, and has now won six of the last seven meetings in Pauley Pavilion. The Waves also won the 33rd Annual Kilgour Cup, the Bruins' annual benefit match held in honor of the late Kirk Kilgour, a former UCLA student-athlete and former Pepperdine head coach.
Junior setter Kasey Crider (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) distributed 50 assists to lead the offense. Senior outside hitter Brent Schirripa (Los Angeles, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS) had a team-high 16 kills and freshman opposite Maurice Torres (Riverside, Calif./Orange Lutheran HS) added 14.
Pepperdine's middle blockers were flawless, as both senior Rodnei Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/BYU) and junior Tyler Jaynes (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS) did not have a hitting error. Santos had 11 kills and hit .733 (11-0-15) while Jaynes had seven kills and hit .583 (7-0-12).
Each of Pepperdine's five hitters had better than a .320 hitting percentage. Senior libero Sean Grubbs (Newport Beach, Calif./Irvine Valley CC) led the way defensively with 11 digs and keyed a back row that surrendered just one service ace.
Pepperdine credited its success with its excellent passing.
"We had a good attitude coming in," Schirripa said. "We came out focused and positive. Our game plan was to put pressure on them. UCLA didn't play bad and had some good swings. But our passing was awesome. It's fun to play here and it's exciting to win here."
"We passed very well," Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. "If you can't pass with the big boys, you can't play with the big boys. We were able to sideout really well. The ball bounced our way tonight."
UCLA, which hit .327 as a team, had a match-high 19 kills by Jack Polales.
The Waves made a terrific comeback to capture the first game. UCLA scored four straight points to go up by six at 21-15, and was still up by six at 22-16. But Pepperdine used three 3-0 runs as part of an overall 9-2 run to come back and take a 25-24 advantage. Tied at 26-26, the Bruins then had a service error and an attack error. With a 28-27 lead, the Waves finished the game with kills by Jaynes and Torres.
The second game stayed even until the Waves scored four straight points to go in front 16-13. Pepperdine's lead steadily grew from there, and thanks to a .692 hitting percentage (19 kills and only one error), the Waves rolled to an easy win.
Pepperdine jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third game, and went up by four at 11-7 after a service ace by Torres. The lead grew to five at 16-11 after a block by Santos and Jaynes. UCLA got no closer than three points the rest of the way, and the Waves scored four of the match's final five points.
The Waves have their 2010 home opener next Wednesday (Jan. 20) against UC San Diego at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse.
