IRVINE, Calif. — After falling in the first set to Concordia-Irvine, the #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team rallied back to win the following three sets in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation four set victory on Friday night at the CU Arena.  The Waves lost the first set 23-25, but took the following sets with 25-16, 29-27 and 25-22 wins to secure the win.
 
Pepperdine (11-2, 4-0 MPSF) led the match with a .369 hitting percentage compared to CUI's (5-12, 1-4 MPSF) .281 output.  Three Waves hit for double figures, while two amassed double-doubles and three total also added double digit digs. 
 
Michael Wexter highlighted with 24 kills on a .452 hitting %, as well as 10 digs.  Kaleb Denmark also put in a double-double with 13 kills and 12 digs and David Wieczorek was good for 22 kills.  Robert Mullahey was the primary playmaker for the Waves with 55 assists and eight digs and Noah Dyer added 11 digs.
 
BIG WAVES
Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Linoln-Way West HS): 24 kills, .452 hitting %, 10 digs, 3 blocks
David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy): 22 kills, .400 hitting %, 2 aces, 3 digs, 5 blocks
Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy): 13 kills, .417 hitting %, 12 digs, 1 ace, 3 blocks
Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS): 55 assists, 8 digs, 2 blocks
Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley HS): 11 digs, 4 assists
Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS): 3 kills, 5 blocks, 3 digs, 1 ace
Kévin Vaz (Paris, France/Palmetto HS (Fla.)/Cal Baptist): 6 blocks, 2 kills
 
WAVES VS. EAGLES
Pepperidne led the attack with 64 kills on a .369 success rate, while the home team collected 57 kills on a .281 clip.  The Waves led with four aces, 47 digs, 12.5 blocks and 63 assists as well, as Concordia picked up one ace, 40 digs, 10.5 blocks and 57 assists in the effort.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        4          27        .444
2          17        3          28        .500
3          16        3          42        .310
4          15        6          33        .273
TTL      64        16        130      .369
 
CONCORIDA IRVINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          19        2          33        .515
2          7          5          23        .087
3          18        7          50        .220
4          13        5          29        .276
TTL      57        19        135      .281
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Each side came out strong in the opening set, with tied scored reaching 5-5 and 15-15 throughout.  Despite the effort late in the action, the Eagles picked up a 25-23 set win to pull ahead early.
 
In the second set, Pepperdine came out ready to make a statement, and did just that as the Waves amassed a 16-9 advantage featuring an ace from David Wieczorek and multiple kills from Wieczorek and Michael Wexter.  Pepperdine continued onto a 21-12 lead with more kills from Wexter and Kaleb Denmark.  Wexter would continue to help the cause late in the set and Denmark would close the set on a big smash from the outside for a 25-16 set win.
 
With the score now tied heading into the third, each side needed to make a pivotal move to take advantage in the match.  The lead continued into the third set as blocks from Kévin Vaz and Denmark propelled the Waves to a 6-3 lead early on.  Despite an 18-13 lead late in the set, the opposition battled back to tie things up at 23's.  Each side had set-point opportunities, but after 27-tied scores a pair of blocks helped the cause.  Denmark and Vaz paired up for the first one, while Vaz went up with Wexter for the final 29-27 set winning block of the set.
 
With the 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth, the Waves were ready to come out and get things done.  In the early moments, CUI had taken a 7-5 lead courtesy of the team's sole ace of the match.  The Waves countered with kills from Max Chamberlain and Wieczorek to tie the match at 8-apiece, but the Waves and Eagles continued to go back-and-forth towards an 18-18 score.  After a 20-20 tie, the Waves picked up a pair of kills from Wexter and a block from Wexter and Chamberlain to pull ahead by three.  The opposition collected a few final points, but a 24^th and final smash from Wexter closed the set with a 25-22 Waves' win and the 3-1 match victory.
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine has gone 7-2 against ranked opponents this season and 5-2 against top-10 ranked opponents.
• David Wieczoek has now amassed 1,087 career kills and 117 career aces.  His ace mark is currently ranked 9^th in the Pepperdine men's volleyball record books.
• Wieczorek leads the squad with 205 kills and 3.95 kills/set, along with 26 aces and 0.50 aces/set.  He has posted double-figure kills 12 times this season and 61 times in his career.
• Michael Wexter reached the double-figure kill mark for the 11^th time this season and the 20^th time in his career.  He is second on the team with 3.36 kills/set.
• Kevin Vaz leads the Waves with 1.01 blocks/set this season, with 45 total blocks including five solo rejections.  Wexter, Wieczorek and Max Chamberlain are next in terms of blocking efforts, as each has marked 26, 29 and 28 blocks respectively.
• Robert Mullahey leads the Waves in assists this season with 9.65, ranking 16^th nationally and 4^th in the MPSF.
• Noah Dyer leads the Waves in the back row with 107 total digs to average 2.05 digs/set.

NEXT UP
Next, the Waves make the short trip to UCLA on February 27 for a Pac-12 Network matchup at 7 p.m.  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.