MPSF RELEASE
AVCA COACHES POLL

MALIBU, Calif.: - Redshirt-senior opposite Matt Tarantino became the first individual in the conference this season to earn back-to-back Mountain Pacific Sports Federation/Molten Player of the Week honors after garnering the accolade this Monday afternoon. He picks up his second award of the season after leading the then eighth-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball squad to a big four-set upset over then top-ranked BYU in Provo last week.

After the win, the Waves have moved up two spots to No. 6 on the AVCA Coaches Poll. This marks Tarantino's (Van Nuys, Calif./Bishop Alemany HS) third career player of the week honor and second of the 2016 campaign. All three of his awards were received in the month of March (3/17/14; 3/14/16; 3/21/16).

To earn the accolade, the 6-foot-8 senior helped the Waves split the effort against top-ranked BYU in Provo this weekend after amassing 6.0 points/set, 5.29 kills/set, 1.43 digs/set, 0.57 blocks/set and 0.43 aces/set after seven sets of work. He posted a .315 hitting percentage throughout the two matches while tabbing 37 kills with only 14 errors in 73 swings. He also picked up three aces, 10 digs and four blocks throughout the weekend to end with 42.0 points.

First, in the three-set match on Friday, the senior tabbed 17 kills with only seven errors on 30 swings for a .333 attack output. He also added three blocks, four digs and a perfect 1.000 serving percentage after 11 total service attempts, finishing with 18.5 points. Then in the four-set victory over the cougars, Tarantino posted one shy of his career-best with 20 kills on 43 attempts for a .302 success rate. He also commanded the service line with three aces on 20 total serves and added six digs and one block for 23.5 points for the Waves.

This week, the Waves will host unranked USC in Firestone Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. on Saturday (March 26). Live stats, live stream and game notes can all be found by following this link: http://gowav.es/mvb2014.