Final Stats

Box Score: #6 Pepperdine 3, #10 Long Beach State 1

MALIBU, Calif. - The #6 Pepperdine men's volleyball team overcame a slow start to beat #10 Long Beach State 3-1 on Saturday night inside Firestone Fieldhouse. Senior opposite Parker Kalmbach led the Waves' hot-hitting offense with a career-high 24 kills.

Pepperdine stumbled in set one, 23-25, before controlling the tempo the rest of the way to win 25-12, 25-22, 25-16.

With the win, the Waves (7-1, 3-1 MPSF) have now won their last 11-straight matches in Malibu.

Led by Kalmbach's (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS) career-high night, Pepperdine produced one its best offensive showings of the season. With 61 team kills, it was the first time the Waves have surpassed the 60-kill mark this season, and just the sixth time overall in the last two seasons.

Overall, Pepperdine out-killed Long Beach State (5-2, 2-2 MPSF) 61-39. The Waves, who lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage, limited the 49ers to just a .155 (39 kills-22 errors-110 attempts) clip, while swinging at a .378 (61-16-119) hitting percentage themselves.

For Kalmbach, it was just the second time in his career he has surpassed the 20-kills mark in a single match.

Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) and Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn./Aaron Academy) followed with 14 and 12 kills, respectively.

Quarterbacking the offense was Matt West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS), who dished a season-high 50 assists.

The serve-receive contingent of Brennan Anderson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar HS/Ohio State), Taylor and Rhein was once again on point. The trio allowed just one ace, and passed well all evening.

Mitchell Penning (Peoria, Ill./Westminster Christian Academy) posted six blocks to bump his season average up to 1.58 per set. He entered the week ranked fourth in the nation in blocks.

Service errors proved costly in the opening frame, and with seven, the Waves were never able to gather any momentum. After falling behind by as many as four points, Pepperdine cut the deficit to one at 21-22, but the 49ers sided their way out to the victory 25-23.

The home squad bounced back in a big way in set two, led by Taylor's errorless 7-for-7 stat line on the attack. Overall, the Waves hit .615 in the frame with just one hitting error. The Beach struggled to hit around the Pepperdine block and committed eight errors to bow out 25-12.

The Waves continued to control the tempo in set three, although Long Beach State never trailed by more than four points in the third. After a late 49er push brought the score back to even at 19-19, kills by Kalmbach and Rhein, with the help of a few LBSU errors, secured the stanza 25-22.

Kalmbach produced more offense in the fourth set than the entire 49er squad, with nine kills to Long Beach State's five. Overall, Pepperdine terminated 17 kills and led start-to-finish in the 25-16 route.

Both West and Anderson finished the night with seven digs apiece.

Pepperdine closes out the month of January on the road, paying visits to UCLA on Tuesday, Jan. 27 and UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Jan. 30.