MALIBU, California – After winning twice last week to put the Pepperdine men's volleyball team into a tie for first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the Waves were rewarded with
Kaleb Denmark and
Kevin Vaz earning MPSF/Molten Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week awards, respectively.
It's the second MPSF weekly award this season for both. Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy) earned the defensive award on February 25. Vaz (Paris, France/Cal Baptist) also picked up the defensive award on January 7.
The duo helped the Waves defeat both fifth-ranked UCLA and Grand Canyon at home last week, moving the Waves atop the MPSF standings, tied with the Bruins, heading into the final week of the regular season.
Denmark, a senior outside hitter, had career highs of 18 kills and 20.5 points while hitting .593 against UCLA. He followed that up with 10 kills on .500 hitting against the Lopes. Over the seven sets, he averaged team bests of 4.0 kills and 4.9 points per set with a .558 hitting percentage (28-4-43). He also had 10 digs, eight blocks and one service ace.
Vaz, a graduate transfer middle blocker, posted a total of 15 blocks (2.14 per set) with seven against UCLA and a season-high-tying eight against Grand Canyon. He helped the Waves record a season-best 15.5 blocks against the Lopes while holding them to an opponent-season-low .042 hitting. Vaz was also excellent offensively, hitting .722 (13-0-18) and recording three service aces. He also received Off the Block's Middle Attacker of the Week award.
Denmark is the second Wave to earn the Offensive Player of the Week award this season, following senior outside hitter
David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) on February 11. This is the fourth time Pepperdine has earned the Defensive Player of the Week award, with junior libero
Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) collecting the other one.
The #4 Waves (18-6, 7-3) close out the regular season with two home matches this week, as they face #6 USC on Thursday (April 4) at 7 p.m. and #14 Concordia on Saturday (April 6) at 5 p.m. Pepperdine is unbeaten at home this season (10-0) and two more wins would ensure that Pepperdine wins at least a share of the regular-season title and hosts the MPSF semifinals and final on April 18 and 20.
