MALIBU, Calif. - The #3 Pepperdine men's volleyball team prepares for its final regular-season road trip, playing at Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge. The Waves enter the week in third place in the MPSF standings, but just one match out of first.

MATCH 22 - #3 Pepperdine (17-4, 12-4 MPSF) at #10 Long Beach State (12-10, 8-9 MPSF) | Thursday, March 26 | 7 p.m. | Long Beach State, Calif.

MATCH 23 - #3 Pepperdine at #14 Cal State Northridge (8-13, 5-10 MPSF) | Saturday, March 28 | 7 p.m. | Northridge, Calif.

COVERAGE - Both live stats and video coverage will be available for both matches this week, courtesy of GoMatadors.com and LongBeachState.com ... Links to coverage can also be found on the men's volleyball schedule page at PepperdineSports.com.

LOOKING BACK - Pepperdine extended its home winning streak to 17 matches with three wins this past week, 3-1 over Harvard, followed by 3-2 and 3-1 over BYU in conference action ... Matt Tarantino had an errorless series through all nine sets against the Cougars, hitting .640 (16-0-25) ... Josh Taylor recorded a series-high 44 kills with an efficient .402 attack ... MPSF kill leader Parker Kalmbach accumulated 40 kills (4.44 K/S) at .326, along with 26 digs (2.89 D/S), posting a double-double each night ... Scott Rhein tallied 15 kills (.429) and 16 digs in the 3-2 win over BYU for his career-first double-double ... In the five-set comeback win, the Waves hit .667 through the fourth and fifth frames (27-1-39) .. Pepperdine hit a collective .405 vs. the Cougars, guided by Matt West's 126 assists (14.00 A/S) ... West garnered both MPSF and AVCA Player of the Week honors.

AVCA/MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Matt West is this week's MPSF and AVCA Player of the Week ... He averaged a staggering 13.77 assists per set in three matches, including an even 14.00 vs. the Cougars ... With West managing the offense, five Waves reached double figures in kills for a team total of 78, the most since 2010 ... West handed out a career-high 68 assists in the match, while putting down a season-best six kills ... Pepperdine knocked home 74 kills while hitting .407 in match No. 2 on Saturday ... West dished 58 helpers in the contest, while picking up 10 digs for his second double-double of the season. The Waves hit .388 on the week and over .400 vs. BYU.

LOOKING FURTHER BACK - The Waves rallied back from an 0-2 deficit against UC Irvine, winning in five, 20-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 17-15 to snap UCI's nine-match win streak ... Pepperdine was ranked #5 and was in fourth place in the MPSF standings entering the contest, while UCI was #3 and stood atop the conference standings ... Josh Taylor led the match with 22 kills and eight digs ... Parker Kalmbach added 17 kills ... Kalmbach and Mitchell Penning both ended the night with five blocks, including the rejection at match point to clinch the set 17-15 ... It was Pepperdine's 14th consecutive home victory, and the Anteaters' first road loss of the year.

LOOKING AHEAD - The Waves close out the regular season with four home matches ... Pepperdine hosts USC on Thursday, April 2, followed by a Saturday, April 4 match against Cal Baptist ... The Waves then host UCLA on Tuesday, April 7 ... Senior Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, April 15 in the regular-season finale vs. UC Santa Barbara.

OPPONENT NOTES - Long Beach State is 12-10 overall and a seventh-place 8-9 in the MPSF ... Cal State Northridge is 8-13 and 5-10 in the conference, good enough for 10th place ... The Matadors are 5-3 at home, including last week's 3-1 upset over USC.

NOTING THE WAVES - This weekend Pepperdine will play in its 1,095th and 1,096th matches in program history ... The Waves are officially 679-348 all time ... In conference play the Waves are officially 477-269 and 272-152 in MPSF action ... Marv Dunphy boasts an official career record of 516-251 (unofficially 582-252) ... The Waves are officially 364-115 when playing inside Firestone Fieldhouse ... Pepperdine is 50-41 all-time vs. Long Beach State, including a 15-24 mark on the road ... The Waves boast a 57-21 record against CSUN, and are 21-11 when playing in Northridge.

CHECK THE RECORD - Senior Josh Taylor enters this week with 1,302 kills, ranking in at #11 in Pepperdine program history ... Taylor surpassed Dain Blanton (1991-94, 1,190) and Brad Keenan (2000-03, 1,198) vs. Stanford (2/27) ... Taylor began the 2015 season in 17th place ... Randy Bergstedt (1986-89) ranks 10th in front of Taylor with 1,352 kills ... Senior Matt West charted his 4,000th career assist vs. UC San Diego (2/20) and now has 4,395 helpers to his credit ... He is just the second player in program history to meet the 4,000 assists milestone, joining all-time assists leader Jonathan Winder (2005-08) ... Winder holds the No. 1 spot with 5,118 ... West began the season ranked sixth on the all-time charts.

TAYLOR - Senior Josh Taylor is in his fourth year starting on the outside pin and is coming off a season-best 24 kill match vs. BYU ... He ranked second on the squad in kills (both years behind opposite Maurice Torres) as a freshman and sophomore with averages of 3.52 and 3.08, respectively ... He paced the Waves, ranked fourth in the MPSF and seventh nationally in kills in 2014 with a 4.01 average, and was an AVCA All-American second team pick ... His digs average climbed from 0.98 as a freshman to 1.31 as a junior ... His ace average has steadily climbed all four years, and is currently 0.25 ... Taylor's season-by-season block averages have remained consistent ... He's currently averaging 3.65 kills and 4.21 points as a senior ... Taylor posted his fifth career double-double vs. Stanford (2/6) with 16 kills and 11 digs ... Taylor is coming off a season-best 24-kill night vs. BYU ... He transitioned from an opposite in high school, to a primary passer and outside hitter while at Pepperdine.

KALMBACH - Senior opposite Parker Kalmbach spent most of his offseason away from the gym, resting, rehabbing a lingering back issue and working at his internship ... He leads the MPSF in kills (4.12) and points (4.62) ... He returned to the gym in December, and while his early season numbers were average as he got back in form, Kalmbach began to hit his stride against Long Beach State (1/24) ... The opposite put down a career-high 24 kills while hitting .564 ... Kalmbach averaged 2.61 kills while hitting .246 in the first seven matches of the season, prior to the LBSU contest, and has charted 4.63 kills while hitting .379 (14 matches) since ... Kalmbach was an All-MPSF performer as a middle blocker in 2013 after playing intermittently on the outside as a freshman ... He was an All-MPSF selection in 2014 as an opposite behind 3.47 kills and 1.43 digs ... Kalmbach earned his first double-double of the year vs. UC San Diego (2/20) with 14 kills and 10 digs and has a team-high four on the year.

WEST - Senior setter Matt West is in his fourth year managing the Waves' offense ... West took over second place on the all-time charts vs. UC San Diego (2/20) with his second assist of the match ... He also met the 4,000 career assists milestone, becoming just the second Wave ever to achieve the feat ... West is a two-time AVCA All-American (first team in 2013, second team in 2014) ... West ranked second in the NCAA and the MPSF as a freshman with an assists average of 11.38 ... Led the nation as a sophomore with 11.25 assists/set ... Ranked third in the league and eighth in the NCAA with a 2014 average of 11.00 ... Averaged 1.40 and 1.41 digs, respectively, in 2012 and 2013, before collecting 2.12 digs in 2014 as a junior ... Four-time MPSF Player of the Week and earned his first AVCA National Player of the Week nod on March 24, 2015 ... Two-time All-MPSF first team performer, honorable mention as a freshman ... As a senior, he is averaging and MPSF-best 11.32 assists (2nd in NCAA), 0.34 aces (11th in MPSF), 0.68 blocks and 1.57 digs ... West was voted MPSF and AVCA Player of the Week (3/23&24) after the Waves averaged a .388 hitting percentage in wins over Harvard and BYU twice. He averaged 13.77 assists per set in the three matches.

OFFENSIVE SUPPORT - Although Pepperdine's one-two punch of Parker Kalmbach and Josh Taylor account for about 50-percent of the scoring, the Waves boast a several other players who know how to put the ball away ... Scott Rhein had a breakout performance vs. BYU, charting career highs in both kills (15) and digs (16) for his collegiate-first double-double ... Rhein ranks third in kills and points with averages 2.22 and 2.63, respectively ... Matt Tarantino scores points in several ways and ranks fourth on the team with 2.53 points/set ... Tarantino leads Pepperdine in aces (0.48, 28), ranks second in blocks (0.84) and fourth in kills (1.60) ... Tarantino was an All-MPSF second team pick last season ... He spent the entire month of February on the disabled list, but returned to the lineup vs. Hawaii ... The lone sophomore in the starting lineup, Mitchell Penning, is averaging 1.45 kills and an overall team-high of 1.18 blocks ... Senior Nikola Antonijevic -- who was a regular in the starting lineup in 2012, 2013 and 2014 -- started in the seven matches between Feb. 6-March 8 (seven matches) and charted 1.22 kills/set while hitting .481 to go along with a team-high 1.30 blocks/set.

D-D-D-DEFENSE - The Waves have out-dug opponents all season long, led by senior libero Brennan Anderson with 2.35 digs/set ... With the exception if its middle blockers, all Pepperdine starters average more than a dig per set ... Parker Kalmbach accounts for 1.93 digs per set, while Matt West collects 1.57 ... Josh Taylor picks up 1.45 per set, and Scott Rhein has averaged 1.25 digs in 2015 ... At the net, Pepperdine is out-blocking opponents 2.59-1.68 ... Mitchell Penning ranks No. 7 in the MPSF with a blocks average of 1.18 ... Nikola Antonijevic has averaged 1.28 blocks in the nine matches he has played extensively as a middle ... His season average is only 0.82 due to several serving-only appearances ... Matt Tarantino accounts for 0.84 blocks/set.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Parker Kalmbach was the Waves' first MPSF Player of the Week in 2015, taking the honor on Jan. 26 after wins at home against CSUN and Long Beach State ... Kalmbach averaged nearly 5.0 points/set behind 4.43 kills/set ... He sent down a career-high 24 kills versus the 49ers while hitting .564 ... It was Kalmbach's first MPSF Player of the Week award after garnering an AVCA Player of the Week nod once in 2014 ... Brennan Anderson earned MPSF honors (2/2) a week after Kalmbach, and doubled down with the AVCA Player of the Week the following day (2/3) ... Anderson is the first libero to earn weekly recognition by either the MPSF or the AVCA since 2012 ... He is the Waves' 27th national player of the week, but the only libero on the list ... Anderson averaged 4.14 digs/set in road wins at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara ... He charted 19 digs in the 3-1 win over the Gauchos, matching the rally-scoring era record James Ka set against USC in 2005 ... Josh Taylor was honored as the MPSF Player of the Week (3/16) after helping the Waves rally back from an 0-2 deficit to beat UC Irvine (3/14) in five ... Taylor eclipsed the 20-kill mark for the first time in 2015 with 22 kills, earned at a solid .390 clip ... He also picked up a tied-for-team-high eight digs ... Pepperdine's national player of the week count of 28 leads Div. I-II.

STREAKING - The Waves are 10-0 at home this season ... With the 3-1 win over BYU (3/21) , Pepperdine has now won the last 17 contests in a row inside Firestone Fieldhouse, dating back to March 8 of last season ... Wins in the span include ones over BYU (3-2, 3-1), Harvard (3-1), UC Irvine (3-2), UC San Diego (3-0), Stanford (3-1), Pacific (3-0), Long Beach State (3-0, 3-1, 3-1), Cal State Northridge (3-0, 3-0), USC (3-2), Hawaii (3-0, 3-1) and George Mason (3-0, 3-1) ... Pepperdine's longest home win streak went from April 24, 2004-Feb. 9, 2006 when the program pieced together 19 consecutive home victories ... The Waves' last home loss was against Stanford on March 7, 2014.

ALL ABOUT SERVE AND RECEIVE - Most collegiate coaches will preach about the importance of serving and receiving well and head coach Marv Dunphy is no exception ... Primary passers Brennan Anderson, Josh Taylor and Scott Rhein have received well all season long, allowing just 66 aces (0.84 per set) for a .950 average ... The Waves have deposited 1.39 aces per set ... Pepperdine makes 86-percent of its serves.

DID YOU KNOW? - Did you know that the 10 points the Waves gave up in the fourth set against George Mason (1/11), the first set at UCLA (1/27) and set two at UCSD (2/13) were the fewest a Pepperdine team has ever allowed in a 25-point rally scoring set? ... The previous record low for a 25-point set was 13 (achieved several times) ... The fewest points the Waves have ever allowed in the rally scoring era was eight in a 30 points set vs. UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 23, 2008 and seven in a 15 points set vs. Pacific on Jan. 14, 2005 ... Pepperdine's 16 blocks against CSUN (1/21) was the program's third-best blocking performance in a three-set match during the rally-scoring era.

STARTING SEVEN - After plugging in a few different players in the starting lineup against North Greenville to open the season, Pepperdine has settled into a rotation consisting of setter Matt West, outside hitters Josh Taylor and Scott Rhein, middle blockers Matt Tarantino and Mitchell Penning, opposite Parker Kalmbach and libero Brennan Anderson ... Nikola Antonijevic has started the last six matches in place of Tarantino, and started in Penning's place last time out vs. Hawaii ... Antonijevic sat last week vs. UC Irvine, resting his back. He's expected to be clear to play this week ... He also started once vs. NGU ... Setter Soren Dion-Kindem has also earned a starting bid ... With the exception of Penning, the entire Pepperdine starting lineup consists of seniors.

VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - Pepperdine has won five NCAA men's volleyball championships, second only to UCLA. The Waves have won the MPSF Tournament three times and have won or shared 10 regular-season conference titles. Pepperdine has won either an MPSF regular-season or tournament title (or both) in six of the last 15 seasons. The Waves have finished in the top six in the final AVCA poll in 16 of the last 18 seasons. Pepperdine student-athletes have won national player of the year honors nine times and All-American accolades 81 times. A Pepperdine alum has competed for the U.S. at the Olympics every time since 1984 (Sean Rooney won gold in 2008).

Marv Dunphy - Now in his 32nd season as head coach of the Waves, Marv Dunphy has time and again proven himself to be one of the top teachers in the sport. He has directed Pepperdine to four NCAA championships, each in a different decade (1978, 1985, 1992, 2005). He was the 2005 National Coach of the Year and is a three-time MPSF Coach of the Year. He entered the 2015 season with a career record of 565-248* (.695). Dunphy has long been involved with USA Volleyball, having been part of the coaching staff at six Olympics, including head coach of the 1988 team and consultant coach for the 2008 squad, both of which won gold. Dunphy, along with David Hunt and Joe Trinsey, were on staff when the U.S. Women's National Team won their first-ever gold medal at a major event (including the Olympics), after winning the 2014 FIVB World Championships. He has been inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame (1994), AVCA Hall of Fame (2009) and the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame (2010).

ABOUT PEPPERDINE - Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports -- one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat -- and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.