Pepperdine University
Harvard
Waves March Past Harvard, 3-1
3/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Box Score: #4 Pepperdine 3, Harvard 1
MALIBU, Calif. - The #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team extended the home win streak to 15 in a row with its 3-1 triumph over Harvard. Senior opposite Parker Kalmbach put on an offensive clinic with 21 kills.
The Waves move to 15-4 on the year with the 25-17, 25-21, 25-27, 25-19 victory. The Crimson heads back the East Coast with a 9-8 record.
Harvard had no answer for the hard-hitting Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS). His match-high 21 kills were earned at a .441 (21 kills-6 errors-34 attempts) hitting percentage. Kalmbach also added a pair of aces, impressive considering he had only put down one all year prior to this evening.
Kalmbach had plenty of offensive support, with three more Waves reaching double figures in kills. Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) charted 11 kills off of 20 errorless swings (.550), while Matt Tarantino (Van Nuys, Calif./Bishop Alemany) delivered 10 off of 19 attempts, also without an error (.526). Mitchell Penning (Peoria, Ill./Westminster Christian Academy) posted a career-high 10 kills to go along with a team-best five blocks.
Matt West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS) managed the offense with 53 assists, lifting Pepperdine to a team clip of .347 (60-17-124). Brennan Anderson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar HS/Ohio State) scattered two assists and picked up 10 digs.
Harvard was led by Branden Clemens with 14 kills. Libero Casey White collected an impressive 20 digs.
The Waves set the tone early and controlled the tempo in the first two frames. Pepperdine took the 2-0 lead after Max States (Honolulu, Hawaii/Solimar Academy) sent down the game-clinching kill, 25-21.
Up 18-12 in the third, the home side appeared to be well on its way to the sweep, but the Crimson caught the Waves on their heels and made a late 6-0 run to knot the score at 18. After Harvard squeaked ahead 20-19, it was a sideout game the rest of the way. An untimely Pepperdine attack error put the set in the books, 27-25.
The Waves brought back their A-game in the fourth, and took an 18-13 lead after Tarantino put the exclamation point on a 4-0 run with a kill. Pepperdine ended the match on a 6-3 run to take the final set 25-19.
The Waves out-aced Harvard 9-1, with five players logging as least on ace. West, Tarantino, Kalmbach and Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn./Aaron Academy) all had two.
Pepperdine returns to MPSF play with a challenging two-match home series vs. #6 BYU on Friday and Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start and can be watch online via WaveCasts.
