Final Stats

Box Score: Pepperdine 3, Utah State 2

IRVINE, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's volleyball team opened the UC Irvine Tournament with a 3-2 victory over Utah State. Four Waves reached double figures in kills including Gaby Palmeri, Samantha Cash, Katie Messing and Jillian Bergeson.

After battling back and forth the first four frames, Pepperdine was the dominant team in the fifth to ultimately win by set scores of 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 15-5.

Both Messing (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands HS) and Bergeson (Friendswood, Texas/Friendswood HS) finished with kills-digs double-doubles. Messing charted 11 kills and 10 digs while Bergeson added 10 kills and 14 digs to go along with her career-high five service aces.

Palmeri (Davis, Calif./St. Francis HS) paced Pepperdine with 13 kills followed by Cash (San Diego, Calif./Canyon Crest Academy) with a season-best 12.

Becca Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson HS) dished 35 assists and added 18 digs defensively. Allie Loitz (Bonita, Calif./Bonita Vista HS), who made her debut as libero part-way through the match, picked up a career-best 14 digs.

Despite a lights-out start to the match that saw the Waves go ahead 5-0, Utah State battled back and knotted the score at 8-all. A Strehlow kill capped off a 3-0 run late in the frame, 19-16, but once again the Aggies played the role of the comeback queens. Tied at 22-22, USU produced a timely 3-0 run of its own to secure the set 25-22.

Pepperdine once again got off to a fast start in set two, scoring six of the first seven points to take a five point advantage. This time, the Waves held on tightly to their lead and back-to-back kills by Bergeson and Cash brought the score to 11-6. Although the Aggies did threaten late, the Waves remained strong down the stretch and won 25-22.

The Waves found some separation midway through set three, piecing together a 9-3 run to take an 18-12 lead. Pepperdine never trailed again and Palmeri tacked down a kill to put the finishing touches on the 25-22 triumph and take the 2-1 advantage.

Utah State made a strong campaign to extend the match to a set five, and successfully did so, winning 25-18 in the fourth.

In the deciding stanza, a kill by Messing sparked a 4-0 run that also included a Bergeson ace and another kill courtesy of Messing.

Although the Aggies attempted to stop the momentum with a timeout, Pepperdine continued to roll and scored four more unanswered points to take a 10-2 lead. Another ace by Bergeson - her third of the run - put the exclamation point on the 9-0 run. Utah State finally sided out but the damage had already been done. The Waves walked away with their first triumph of the weekend, winning set five 15-5.

Pepperdine continues action tonight with a primetime match against the tournament host, UC Irvine. First serve inside Crawford Court is set for 7:30 p.m. Live stats will be available here, while live video can be accessed here.