Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Pepperdine-UC Irvine Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. - The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball championship match was about as close as it could get, but top-seeded UC Irvine prevailed over third-seeded Pepperdine in four sets on Friday night.

Set scores were 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23.

Second-ranked UC Irvine (28-4) claimed the MPSF's automatic bid to next week's NCAA Championships. The fifth-ranked Waves (24-6) will be hoping to hear their name called as one of the two at-large recipients tomorrow when the NCAA Selection show occurs (Saturday, 10 a.m. PT, NCAA.com).

Senior outside hitter Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) had another big night, following up his 22-kill performance in Thursday's semifinals vs. Hawaii with 23 kills and a .636 hitting percentage (23-2-33) against the Anteaters. He was named to the All-Tournament team along with senior libero Brennan Anderson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS/Ohio State).

On either side of their set two win, the Waves had a pair of two-point leads near the end of both set one and set three. But UC Irvine rallied both times down the stretch, and that was the difference.

"You give it your best shot, and either you're good enough or you're not," Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. "We weren't good enough tonight. We let game three kind of slip away. But give credit to UC Irvine."

On Pepperdine's NCAA at-large hopes, Dunphy said: "I can't help but feel that if the committee were to say, `Let's select the top teams,' that we would be one of them, without question. But we're not 100 percent in control of that."

UC Irvine's close edge in the scoreline was mirrored by a slim advantage in the final statistics. The Anteaters outhit the Waves .347 to .330 and were ahead 6-4 in blocks and 37-34 in digs. Both teams had four service aces.

Senior opposite Parker Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS) had 12 kills and senior outside hitter Scott Rhein (Pleasant View, Tenn./Aaron Academy) added 10. Senior setter Matt West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS) compiled 45 assists and nine digs.

UCI had a 16-11 lead in the first set, but the Waves got right back into it with a 6-1 run that tied the set at 17-17. Later on, a 4-1 run that included two kills by Taylor and a service ace by senior middle blocker Matt Tarantino (Van Nuys, Calif./Alemany HS) made it 22-20 in the Waves' favor. But the Anteaters scored five of the next six points to take the first set.

The Waves had a dominant offensive showing in set two, hitting .632 (13-1-19). UCI got out to a 3-0 lead but the Waves took the lead for good at 13-11 after an ace by Taylor. Three straight points made it 22-17 and Pepperdine's four-point victory in the set was the largest in any of the four sets.

The Waves' hitting came back to earth in set three, but they still had a chance to take a 2-1 lead. They got off to a good start, going ahead 10-5 behind solo blocks by senior middle blocker Nikola Antonijevic (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson HS) and Kalmbach and a service ace by Rhein. But the Waves wouldn't score off their serve for the rest of the set, as seven service errors didn't help. UCI clawed its way back and with Pepperdine up 21-19, the Anteaters ended the set on a 6-2 run.

UCI scored the first three points of the fourth set and never trailed, though it was tied as late as 10-10. The Anteaters went up by as many as four points at 17-13 and 19-15. The Waves staved off a couple of championship points to get to 23 before UC Irvine ended the match.

Tournament MVP and MPSF Player of the Year Zack La Cavera had a match-high 26 kills for the Anteaters.

At the upcoming NCAA Championships, two play-in matches are Tuesday (May 5), two semifinals are Thursday (May 7) and the final is a week from Saturday (May 9).