MALIBU, Calif. — The #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball team swept #7 BYU in Firestone Fieldhouse on Wednesday night, dominating the court en route to 25-17, 25-19 and 25-18 set wins for the first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match and victory of the 2019 campaign. 
 
With the win, the Waves advance the season's record to 7-2 overall.  David Wieczorek and Michael Wexter led the squad in the match with five aces apiece for new season-high efforts, while marking 12 and 10 kills respectively.
 
BIG WAVES
David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy): 12 kills, .435 hitting %, 5 aces, 4 digs, 3 blocks
Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Linoln-Way West HS): 10 kills, .368 hitting %, 5 aces, 1 block
Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy): 8 kills, 7 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace
Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS): 6 kills, .625 hitting %, 2 aces, 3 digs, 3 blocks
Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS): 32 assists, 4 digs, 2 kills, 1 block
Kévin Vaz (Paris, France/Palmetto HS (Fla.)/Cal Baptist): 5 kills, .500 hitting %, 2 blocks
Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley HS): 3 digs

 

WAVES VS. COUGARS
Pepperdine outperformed BYU in many categories, leading the court with 43 smashes on a .400 success rate, while allowing the opposition 31 kills on a .318 output.  The Waves also led with a staggering 13 aces to the opponent's three, and amassed 38 assists and 22 digs to the Cougars 29 assists and 21 digs.  BYU did lead the match with 8.5 blocks compared to the Waves' 5.0 blocks.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        5          23        .391
2          14        3          25        .440
3          15        3          32        .375
TTL      43        11        80        .400
 
BYU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          4          21        .238
2          12        5          24        .292
3          10        1          21        .429
TTL      31        10        66        .318
 


NOTABLES

• The Waves 13 aces ties for 4^th all-time in the single-match Pepperdine men's volleyball record books during the rally scoring era.
• Pepperdine has gone 5-2 against ranked opponents this season.
• David Wieczoek has now amassed 1,022 career kills and 109 career aces.  His ace mark is currently ranked 9^th in the Pepperdine men's volleyball record books.
• Wieczorek leads the squad with 139 kills and 3.86 kills/set, along with 18 aces and 0.50 aces/set.  He has posted double-figure kills eight times this season and 57 times in his career.
• Michael Wexter reached the double-figure kill mark for the 7^th time this season and the 16^th time in his career.  He is second on the team with 3.25 kills/set.
• Wieczorek and Wexter each posted a new season high with five aces against BYU, while Wexter tied his career best mark as well.  Wieczorek's career high ace effort is six.
• Kevin Vaz leads the Waves with 1.03 blocks/set this season, with 31 total blocks including two solo rejections.  Wexter, Wieczorek and Max Chamberlain are next in terms of blocking efforts, as Wexter has posted 21 blocks with two solo jobs and Wieczorek and Chamberlain have each posted 20 total blocks.
• Robert Mullahey leads the Waves in assists this season with 9.29, ranking 20^th nationally and 4^th in the MPSF.
• Noah Dyer leads the Waves in the back row with 76 total digs to average 2.11 digs/set.
• Prior to this match, the Waves ranked 3^rd nationally and 1^st in the MPSF with 28.88 attacks/set, 5^th with 9.79 digs/set and kills/set, 6^th in winning percentage, and 7^th with 12.48 assists/set and a 0.320 hitting percentage.
• Individually, prior to the match tonight, Wieczorek ranked 15^th nationally in points/set, 16^th in kills/set and 17^th in attacks/set.  Dyer and Wexter ranked 16^th in digs/set and Kévin Vaz ranked 22^nd in blocks/set. 

 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves came out swinging in the first set, amassing a 6-1 lead with multiple kills from Max Chamberlain and David Wieczorek.  The Malibu Roofing Company came to play early on as well, as blocks from Chamberlain either with Wieczorek or Michael Wexter advanced the Waves lad to 9-3.  After more kills, Pepperdine continued on to a 14-7 advantage and the Waves kept rolling towards a 20-14 lead.  BYU made a slight comeback attempt to close the gap to four points at the 20-16 mark, but Pepperdine was able to shut things down with an ace from Kaleb Denmark and back-to-back smashes from Kévin Vaz and Wieczorek for the 25-17 set win.
 
It was a similar story in the second set as Pepperdine quickly worked ahead to an 8-4 lead courtesy of an ace from Chamberlain and kills from Wieczorek.  Wexter jumped on the ace wagon early in the match and continued in the second with his fourth ace of the match to help the Waves to a 16-13 lead late in the action.  After the Cougars hung around shortly after that mark, the Waves buckled down and kills from Robert Mullahey and Wexter helped the effort.  Big service and attack errors late in the set by the opposition were costly to them as the Waves reached a set point opportunity.  A block from Vaz and Mullahey ended the set with a 25-19 Waves' win and sent Pepperdine into the third ready to close.
 
The Waves were fueled by momentum to open the third and final set, busting out to a 7-2 lead after a block from Wieczorek and Chamberlain and another ace from Wieczorek.  Kills by Vaz in the middle and Wexter on the right side helped the cause en route to a 14-8 lead and a BYU timeout.  Out of the break, Wieczorek stepped up to the line and was feeling unstoppable, plastering four aces in five plays to propel the Waves to a 19-8 lead late in the action.  The Cougars were able to string some points together late in the set, but the Waves were able to shut things down on a final smash from Wieczorek for the 25-18 set win and the straight sweep on the night.
 
NEXT UP
Next, the Waves will remain in Malibu, hosting #9 Stanford at 6 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse on Friday night.  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.