SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball excited fans on Wednesday night with a reverse sweep over #10 UC Santa Barbara at Rob Gym. Despite falling behind with 25-18, 25-19 first and second set losses, the Waves rallied back to take the third and fourth sets with 26-24 and 25-18 victories. With the momentum in their side of the court, Pepperdine continued en route to a 15-13 win and the five-set victory.
In the fifth and final set, each side came out swinging and although Pepperdine took the first lead, the Gauchos rallied to reach the eight-point mark first. The Waves came back to amass a three-point advantage over the Gauchos at 12-9 with a block collaboration from
Clay Carr and
David Wieczorek. After the Waves pulled ahead 14-11, UCSB started to close the gap and came within one at the 14-13 mark. After a Pepperdine timeout, the Waves came out and
Michael Wexter sealed the deal with his 16
th kill of the match to secure the 15-13 set win and a reverse sweep for his team.
Robert Mullahey came in off the bench to amass a double-double with 43 assists and 12 digs, while Wexter, Wieczorek and
Kaleb Denmark led the squad with 16, 14 and 14 kills respectively.
The Waves (3-0) will play the Gauchos (3-1) again on Friday night in Firestone Fieldhouse with a 7 p.m. matchup at home.
BIG WAVES
Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Linoln-Way West HS): 16 kills, .333 hitting %, 5 digs, 3 blocks (1 solo)
Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy): 14 kills, 2 aces, 6 digs, 2 blocks
David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy): 14 kills, 1 ace, 6 digs, 2 blocks
Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS): 43 assists, 12 digs, 2 blocks (1 solo)
Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley HS): 8 digs, 4 assists
Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS): 2 blocks, 2 aces, 4 kills
Clay Carr (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 4 blocks (1 solo), 2 kills, 3 digs
Kévin Vaz (Paris, France/Palmetto HS (Fla.)/Cal Baptist): 5 kills, .400%, 1 block
WAVES VS. GAUCHOS
It was a tight matchup from start to finish in Santa Barbara. The Waves led with 56 kills to 54, but the Gauchos held a higher hitting percentage with .279 to .248. The opposition led with 10.0 blocks to the Waves' 9.5, but Pepperdine was solid with 40 digs to the home team's 30, six aces to four and 52 assists to 47 to earn the overall victory.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 7 8 22 -.045
2 9 4 25 .200
3 17 5 32 .375
4 16 6 27 .370
5 7 3 15 .267
TTL 56 26 121 .248
UC SANTA BARBARA ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 13 2 24 .458
2 15 4 27 .407
3 12 3 25 .360
4 8 7 26 .038
5 7 4 21 .143
TTL 54 20 122 .279
NOTABLES
- Pepperdine is hitting .333 on the season thus far, with 12.00 kills/set.
- Tonight's match was the first to reach five sets in the 2019 campaign. It is also the first time the Waves have lost the first set in any match this season and the first time Pepperdine came back to win in reverse sweep fashion.
- Robert Mullahey's double-double is his first of the campaign.
- Michael Wexter leads the team with 40 kills on the season, including a team-best 16 kills against the Gauchos tonight. It was his 12th career match with double-figure kills and third of the 2019 season.
- David Wieczorek leads the Waves with 51 double-figure kill matches in his career, including his second of the season tonight with 14 kills.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
After an even start, UC Santa Barbara used a big block to start pulling ahead on Pepperdine, amassing an 11-6 advantage early in the set. At one point, the Gauchos led the set 15-8, but a late comeback attempt from the Waves put Pepperdine four points away at the 19-15 mark. The home team still had the advantage, however, and used it to close the set with a 25-18 win to pull ahead early.
Using the momentum from the first set win, the Gauchos continued with a big attack effort in the second set. Pepperdine and UCSB went point-for-point en route to a 4-4 tie, but the Gauchos once again started to edge out the Waves and eventually worked towards a 22-13 lead late in the action. After the Waves started to close the gap to a 23-18 deficit, the opposition went back on the offensive. UCSB took the second set 25-19 to pull ahead 2-0 heading into the third.
With the game on the line, the Waves came out strong in the third set, amassing a 7-4 advantage with kills from
Kaleb Denmark and
David Wieczorek. Each team continued with the point-for-point action, with Pepperdine keeping the lead until the Gauchos countered to tie at 21's. The teams were still tied at the 24-24 mark, but the Waves had the grit and a kill from Denmark, followed by an ace from
Spencer Wickens and Pepperdine took the third set 26-24.
Fueled by the end of the third set, Pepperdine came out even stronger in the fourth and immediately killed their way to a 6-2 advantage to force an early timeout. Wieczorek, Denmark and
Michael Wexter continued to pound down on the offensive, each reaching double-figure kills and leading the Waves to a 17-10 lead late in the action. Pepperdine led 21-13 before the opposition started to rally back and close the gap. The lead would prove too much, though, and the Waves continued with a 25-18 victory with a final smash in the set delivered by Wieczorek.
After gathering the momentum with the third and fourth set wins, Pepperdine came out strong in the fifth and got the job done with a 15-13 set win to complete the reverse sweep.
NEXT UP
Next, Pepperdine will take on UC Santa Barbara again on January 11 at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @PeppMVB. Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on
www.PepperdineWaves.com.
