MALIBU, California – The #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team put together its most dominant effort of the season, routing Grand Canyon in three sets (25-16, 25-10, 25-17) on Friday night to remain in first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
 
Pepperdine (18-6, 7-3) had season highs for hitting (.529) and blocks (15.5) while holding Grand Canyon (12-13, 2-7) to an opponent season-low .042 hitting percentage.
 
The Waves improved their record in Firestone Fieldhouse to 10-0 this season.
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior outside hitter David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) hit .619 with 13 kills on 21 errorless swings. He also had three digs and three blocks.
• Senior outside hitter Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy) hit .500 with 10 kills, and he had seven digs and a season-high five blocks.
• Senior opposite Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS) posted eight kills while hitting .467, and he was in on four blocks.
• Sophomore setter Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) directed the attack and handed out 32 assists while accumulating four digs and four blocks.
• Graduate transfer middle blocker Kevin Vaz (Paris, France/Cal Baptist) matched his season high with eight blocks and he also had six kills on nine attacks.
• Senior middle blocker Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS) had a season-high seven blocks and added three service aces.

MATCH STATS

• PEPP hitting: .529 overall (.471 set one, .560 set two, .538 set three)
• GCU hitting: .042 overall (.000 set one, -.120 set two, .231 set three)
• Service Aces: PEPP 7, GCU 4
• Digs: PEPP 20, GCU 23
• Blocks: PEPP 15.5, GCU 2.0
• Grand Canyon got a team-high eight kills from Christian Janke.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves had the momentum in the first set the moment Chamberlain stepped on the service line and laced a pair of aces down on the floor. Those aces plus big blocks from Denmark and Vaz put the Waves up 7-3 early. Although Grand Canyon remained close and narrowed the gap to two points at 12-10, another ace and a strong service effort from Chamberlain, paired with another Denmark/Vaz block propelled the Waves to a 5-0 run to pull ahead 17-10. Late in the set, a Mullahey service ace helped the cause and a final Chamberlain and Wexter block closed the set down 25-16.  Vaz would tally four blocks in the first set alone.
 
The energy was clearly in Pepperdine's side of the court to start the second set as well, as the Waves amassed an 8-0 uncontested lead to start the set courtesy of a strong service output from Mullahey and three blocks from Chamberlain, with Wexter twice and Wieczorek once. It was a lead the Lopes would be unable to overcome as the home squad went on a 9-4 run with another Malibu Roofing Company effort from Vaz and Mullahey. Late in the set, the opposition hit the double-digit mark, but a kill from Vaz gave the Waves a 25-10 set win. GCU had five kills and eight attack errors in the set.
 
There were no big changes in the final set as the Waves busted out to an 8-5 lead with kills from Wieczorek and more blocks from Chamberlain and Denmark, and Wexter, Denmark and Vaz.  Pepperdine refused to let up and continued on to a 17-11 lead after kills from Denmark and Wexter. In the final moments, a sneaky kill from Mullahey, a pair of smashes from Vaz and one final block from Chamberlain and Wieczorek sealed the deal and the sweep for the Waves on a 25-17 third set.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Waves close out the regular season next week at home with matches against USC (Thursday, April 4, 7 p.m.) and Concordia-Irvine (Saturday, April 6, 5 p.m.).