LOS ANGELES, California – Michael Wexter had 15 kills and David Wieczorek added 14 but the #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team suffered a four-set loss (25-19, 25-27, 28-26, 25-20) at #13 USC on Saturday evening in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action.
 
The Waves (11-4, 4-2) dropped their second MPSF road contest of the week while the Trojans improved to 9-7, 3-3.
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior opposite Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS) led the team with 15 kills on .268 hitting. He also had four digs and three blocks.
• Senior outside hitter David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) had 14 kills on .270 hitting with seven digs and three aces.
• Sophomore setter Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) handed out 41 assists and had four digs.
• Junior libero Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) collected 15 digs.
• Freshman Ben Weinberg (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley HS) saw the most playing time of his young career and had career highs of nine kills and seven digs.

MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .256 overall (.120 set one, .323 set two, .282 set three, .267 set four)
• USC hitting: .317 overall (.286 set one, .207 set two, .286 set three, .519 set four)
• Service Aces: PEPP 6, USC 3
• Digs: PEPP 42, USC 52
• Blocks: PEPP 6.5, USC 6.0
• USC was led by Jack Wyett's 21 kills.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
In the first set, USC jumped out to a 10-6 lead and the Waves were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. They closed within two points multiple times, last at 19-17, but the Trojans pulled away for the 25-19 win.
 
Pepperdine made a huge rally in set two to even up the match. USC went ahead 11-5 early. Later it was 18-14 in the Trojans' favor. At 21-18, the Waves went on a 4-1 run to tie the set at 22. At 25-25, the Waves won the set on a Wieczorek kill and a Trojan attack error.
 
Set three was close throughout and the Waves served for the set at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25, but each time the Trojans evened things up. And the last time, they got the last three points on a pair of Wave attack errors and a Jack Wyett kill to claim the third set 28-26.
 
At 16-16 in the fourth set, the Trojans went on a 6-1 run to make it 22-17, and the Waves didn't have another comeback in them as USC finished the match with a 25-20 score.
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine heads to Hawai'i for the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Invitational next Thursday though Saturday (March 7-9), where the Waves will face Ball State, King and the host Rainbow Warriors.