LONG BEACH, California – The seniors on the Pepperdine men's volleyball team were not ready to see their careers come to an end, as the #3 Waves outlasted #13 Princeton in five sets (25-23, 19-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-8) in an NCAA Championships opening-round match on Tuesday night at the Walter Pyramid.
 
The Malibu Roofing Company made a triumphant return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than a decade, putting down 14 blocks and helping the Waves (23-6) to their eighth consecutive victory. Pepperdine hit .318 and held the Tigers (18-13) to .209 hitting.
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior outside hitter David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) had a team-high 18 kills along with eight digs, five blocks and an ace.
• Senior middle blocker Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS) had a career-high 10 kills while hitting .562 (10-1-16), and he also had a season-high nine blocks.
• Senior outside hitter Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy) contributed 13 kills, six digs, three aces and three blocks.
• Senior opposite Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS) had eight kills, eight digs and three blocks.
• Graduate transfer middle blocker Kevin Vaz (Paris, France/Cal Baptist) had nine kills while hitting .571 (9-1-14) along with five blocks and five digs.
• Sophomore setter Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) had 52 assists, seven digs and three blocks.
• Junior libero Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) had six digs.

MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .318 overall (.176 set one, .333 set two, 320 set three, .324 set four, .667 set five)
• Princeton hitting: .209 overall (.121 set one, .560 set two, -.067 set three, .314 set four, .125 set five)
• Service Aces: PEPP 4, Princeton 4
• Digs: PEPP 44, Princeton 49
• Blocks: PEPP 14.0, Princeton 6.5
• Princeton got a match-high 24 kills from Kendall Ratter.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
Princeton scored the first three points of the match, though Pepperdine finally came back to tie it at 10 after a pair of Wieczorek/Chamberlain blocks, followed by a Wieczorek kill. The Waves took their first lead of the match at 14-13 after a Princeton attack error. At 15-15, the Waves final got some separation by scoring the next four points: a Mullahey/Vaz block, a Vaz kill, a Denmark ace and a Denmark kill. Princeton closed the gap to 24-23 and had a swing to tie the set, but sent it out of bounds, giving the first set to the Waves at 25-23.
 
The Waves again fell behind early in set two, as the Tigers went up 10-6. Pepperdine wouldn't ever be able to put a dent in Princeton's lead, as the Tigers hit .560 in the set to win 25-19. Pepperdine's streak of 18 consecutive sets won came to an end.
 
Princeton got out to leads of 4-2 and 6-3 early in set three, but a 6-1 run that included two kills and two block assists by Vaz helped Pepperdine to a 9-7 advantage. The Waves hit the media timeout with a 15-12 lead, and then it went to 17-12 after an attack error and a block by Vaz and Denmark. The lead kept growing before it ended 25-16 in the Waves' favor. Pepperdine forced nine Princeton attack errors and held the Tigers to negative-.067 hitting for the set.
 
Neither side could get any separation in the fourth set until a 4-1 Tiger run put Princeton ahead 16-13. The Waves took a timeout at 19-15, then scored three straight points to get it to 19-18. But the Tigers didn't let Pepperdine score off its serve again, and went on to a 25-22 win to tie the match at two sets apiece.
 
After Princeton scored the opening point of the fifth set, the Waves ran off the next four, three on kills by Wieczorek, and it was never close after that. After a Tiger point, Pepperdine put together another 4-0 run, this time with a kill and two blocks by Chamberlain, making it 8-2. Wieczorek's fifth kill of the set ended the match at 15-8.
 
UP NEXT
 
The NCAA semifinals are Thursday night (May 2). The Waves will take on host and second-ranked Long Beach State at 7:30 p.m. The match will be live-streamed on NCAA.com.