Pepperdine University
Cal Baptist
Waves Win 19th Straight Inside Firestone Fieldhouse
4/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Box Score: #3 Pepperdine 3, CBU 0 
MALIBU, Calif. -- The #3-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team won a program record-tying 19th-straight match inside Firestone Fieldhouse, beating Cal Baptist in three sets. Mitchell Penning and Matt West combined for 10 service aces in the victory.
The Waves improve to 21-4 overall and 16-4 in MPSF play with the 25-13, 25-22, 25-16 triumph. Pepperdine is 12-0 inside Firestone Fieldhouse this season, and has won the last 19 straight dating back to last year. The Waves last won 19 in a row at home across the 2004 and 2006 seasons, which included an unblemished 14-0 record in 2005.
Pepperdine hit .486 (43 kills-8 errors-72 attempts) on the night, including a blistering .588 (12-2-17) effort in the third frame. CBU swung at a .333 (32-9-69) clip in the loss.
Parker Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS) led the match with 15 kills, hitting .522 (15-3-23). Penning (St. Louis, Mo./Westminster Christian Academy) also scored in double figures behind a career-high five aces, five kills and three blocks.
West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS) not only guided the offense with 37 assists, the two-time All-American also laid down a career-high five aces.
Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) turned in nine kills on 10 swings, followed by Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn./Aaron Academy) with eight put aways.
Overall, the Waves out-aced the Lancers 12-0. The serve receive contingent of Taylor, Rhein and Brennan Anderson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar HS/Ohio State) did not allow a solitary ace.
The first set was a run away, with Pepperdine hitting .517 (16-1-29) to CBU's .148 (9-5-27). Kalmbach paced the Waves with six kills and five digs.
CBU fired at .500 (15-1-28) in set two, but the Waves kept the Lancers on their heels from the service line to maintain the control. West threaded through a pair of aces, and Taylor went 5-for-5 on the attack to put the frame away 25-22.
The Lancers kept pace with Pepperdine in the first half of the third, but Penning stepped up with three-straight aces to lift his team to a 13-9 advantage. The Waves rolled from there, going up 22-13 before Max States (Honolulu, Hawaii/Solimar Academy) subbed in for an ace. James Gehrels (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic HS) found the hard wood for a kill to bring match point, and CBU netted a serve to put things away 25-16.
Pepperdine goes for home win No. 20 in a row on Tuesday, April 7, welcoming in UCLA. The Waves and Bruins square off at 7 p.m. inside Firestone Fieldhouse.
