Final Stats

Box Score: #3 Pepperdine 3, #14 CSUN 2 

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- The #3 Pepperdine men's volleyball team held off an upset attempt by #14 Cal State Northridge, winning a five-set thriller inside the Matadome. Josh Taylor led all hitters with 23 kills.

The Waves (19-4, 14-4 MPSF) were forced to battle back from a 1-2 deficit before prevailing 3-2. Final set scores were 25-22, 20-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12.

Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) led the match with 23 kills while swinging at a .488 (23 kills-3 errors-41 attempts) clip. Parker Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS) followed with an even 20 put aways.

As a team, Pepperdine out-dug the Matadors 53-40. Matt West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS) and Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn./Aaron Academy) both picked up 14, while Brennan Anderson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar HS/Ohio State) was credited with 10.

Both sides hit .260 as a team, and CSUN even held a 62-57 advantage in kills, but the Waves won the battle at the service line. The visitors charted two aces, and committed just 13 service errors across the five sets, while the Matadors relinquished 20 points to missed serves.

Pepperdine also out-blocked the home squad, 16.5-12.5. Kalmbach was credited with seven rejections, followed by West and Matt Tarantino (Van Nuys, Calif./Bishop Alemany) with six apiece. Every Wave to play in the front row had at least two blocks.

Although the Waves took the first frame, CSUN battled back to take a 2-1 lead. The Waves forced a fifth set after edging the Matadors in the fourth, 25-23 and marched to an early 7-5 advantage in set five with the momentum on their side.

Set five was exclusively the Taylor and Kalmbach show, who took all 22 attack attempts of the frame and combined for 11 kills.

West finished the evening with 48 assists.

Next week the Waves host USC on Thursday, April 2, followed by Cal Baptist on Saturday, April 4.