Final Stats

Box Score: #5 UC Irvine 3, Pepperdine 2

Irvine, Calif. - The #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team suffered a 3-2 loss to #5 UC Irvine on Saturday night inside the Bren Center. The Waves erased three match points in the fifth, but fell just short, 15-13.

The Anteaters took a 2-1 lead before ultimately winning by set scores of 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 18-25, 15-13.

It was the Waves' first five-set match of the season, and just their second loss as they fall to 11-2. UC Irvine moves to 13-3, and 8-2 in the MPSF - one of three teams tied for first place in the league standings. Pepperdine sits a half a match back in fourth with a 7-2 conference record.

Although Pepperdine hit .318 (56 kills-18 errorss-121 attempts) on the night, UCI out-killed the Waves 66-56 while swinging .306 (66-25-134) themselves. Four Anteaters reached double figures in kills, led by Tamir Hershko and Kyle Russell with 18 apiece.

Parker Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS) paced the match with 20 kills, to go along with five blocks for 23.0 points. Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) followed with 17 kills and two aces.

Nikola Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson HS) led Pepperdine's defense with a season-high eight blocks.

Mitchell Penning (Peoria, Ill./Westminster Christian Academy) charted six kills and six blocks, while Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn./Aaron Academy) laid down seven kills.

Despite the loss, Pepperdine had a solid night defensively, charting 16.0 blocks to UC Irvine's 9.5.

The Waves snagged an early 7-4 lead in set one, and remained out in front the rest of the way. Kalmbach led the offensive charge with eight kills, hitting .500. Rhein followed with three put aways before Pepperdine put the frame away, 25-22.

Zack La Cavera handed out back-to-back aces to get the Anteaters off to a 4-1 start in set two, but the Waves cut the deficit to two, 5-7, to force a UCI timeout. The home squad held off Pepperdine, however, behind Hershko's four kills, and won 25-18.

The Anteaters once again led early in set three, and held tight the advantage the entire frame.

The Waves got back on track in set four, going ahead 7-4 following consecutive `Eater hitting errors. Pepperdine held a 4-5 point lead for most of the set before posting back-to-back blocks to win 25-18.

Pepperdine took a 3-2 lead in the deciding set following consecutive Antonijevic blocks, forcing an early Anteater timeout. UCI score three-straight points out of the break, turning the momentum in the home team's favor. Pepperdine trailed by as many as four, 4-8, before narrowing the gap to 7-8. UC Irvine sided out to go back ahead by two and took match point at 14-10. A service error for the Wave side out brought Matt West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS) to the line. His first laser-shot serve was overpassed, where Taylor was waiting to send it straight back down for the kill.

West's serve forced another bad pass, and Taylor killed off the point to make it 13-14. The comeback ended there, unfortunately, as West's third service attempt went into the net.

West finished the match with 46 assists and six blocks.

Pepperdine returns to Malibu next week to host the rematch against UC San Diego on Friday, February 20. First serve inside Firestone Fieldhouse is scheduled for 7 p.m.