MALIBU, California – The #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team clinched the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season title and the top seed for the upcoming MPSF Tournament with a three-set home sweep over #14 Concordia (25-11, 25-20, 25-17) on Saturday evening.
 
Thanks to USC's victory over UCLA later Saturday night, the Waves won the MPSF title outright. It's Pepperdine's first regular-season title since 2014 and it's the first time the MPSF semifinals and final will be hosted in Firestone Fieldhouse since 2007.
 
The Waves (20-6, 9-3) hit .467 and had their fourth consecutive match with single-digit hitting errors (eight, compared to 43 kills). Concordia fell to 14-18, 3-9, after being held to .076 hitting.
 
The Waves celebrated Senior Night tonight and as usual, Pepperdine's soon-to-be graduating players were the key contributors, collecting 42 of the team's 43 kills.
 
Pepperdine has now won 20 matches for the first time since 2015, and for just the second time in the last 10 seasons.
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior outside hitter David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) pounded down a match-high 18 kills – no one else on either side had more than seven – and posted a career-high hitting percentage of .739 (18-1-23). He also had a match-high seven digs.
• Senior outside hitter Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy) had seven kills, five digs and three service aces.
• Senior opposite Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS) had seven kills, six digs and two service aces.
• Sophomore setter Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) handed out 33 assists and had four block assists and three digs.
• Graduate transfer middle blocker Kevin Vaz (Paris, France/Cal Baptist) had five kills and four blocks.
• Senior middle blocker Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS) had five kills.
• Sophomore libero Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) had five digs.

MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .467 overall (.611 set one, .364 set two, .500 set three)
• CUI hitting: .076 overall (-.273 set one, .129 set two, .308 set three)
• Service Aces: PEPP 5, CUI 5
• Digs: PEPP 31, CUI 20
• Blocks: PEPP 5.0, CUI 3.0
• No one on Concordia had more than four kills.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
Although the Eagles started with a 5-3 lead in the first set, the Waves quickly answered with a 10-1 run to take a 13-6 lead over the opposition. A perfect 5-0-5 line from Wieczorek in the first set helped the cause and kills from Chamberlain and Vaz put the Waves up 21-10 late in the action. Three Concordia attack errors in the final moments of the first set, courtesy of a strong service output from Michael Wexter, resulted in a 25-11 first set final mark. The Waves harassed the Eagles into 10 hitting errors against just four kills in the first set.
 
The second set proved to be much closer throughout, as each side worked toward an 18-18 tie with a nearly point-for-point output. Back-to-back kills from Denmark and Wieczorek gave the home team an edge and forced a CUI timeout. An attack error from across the net and a block from Vaz and Mullahey gave the Waves a 22-18 lead and forced yet another Eagles' timeout. Denmark came out of the second timeout to plant an ace on the floor and Wieczorek followed up with a kill to extend the run to six straight points. After a sideout, a service error from the opposition gave Pepperdine a 25-20 set win.
 
At 5-5 in the third set, the Waves ran off five straight points with contributions from Wieczorek (a kill), Denmark (an ace), Mullahey (a kill), Vaz and Mullahey (a block) and finally an Eagle attack error, making it 10-5. Concordia later closed within two points, last at 15-13, but two Wexter service aces as part of a 4-0 run pushed the lead back up to 19-13. At 21-16, the Waves closed out the match by scoring four of the final five points.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Waves get a first-round bye as the MPSF Tournament starts next Saturday (April 13) with the quarterfinals. The semifinals will be April 18 and the final will be April 20 in Firestone Fieldhouse.