LONG BEACH, California – A tremendously successful 2019 season came to an end on Thursday night in the NCAA Championships semifinals, as the #3 Pepperdine men's volleyball team fell in four sets – 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 25-15 – to host and #2 Long Beach State.
 
Pepperdine (23-7) won both the MPSF regular-season and tournament titles, and then advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than a decade.
 
After beating Princeton in Tuesday's opening round, the Waves ran into a buzzsaw in the 49ers (27-2), who haven't lost in the Walter Pyramid since 2016 (now 42 straight home wins). Long Beach State outhit Pepperdine .461 to .168 and had 10 service aces, a season high by an opponent.
 
Pepperdine will say goodbye to a fantastic senior class, which includes five starters who had all 39 of the team's kills tonight.
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior opposite Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS) had team highs of 12 kills, eight digs and three service aces.
• Senior outside hitter David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) recorded eight kills and four digs. The three-time All-American and two-time MPSF Player of the Year will finish his career 12th all-time in kills at Pepperdine and sixth in aces.
• Senior outside hitter Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy) had eight kills, four digs and two service aces.
• Senior middle blocker Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS) had four kills and three aces.
• Graduate transfer middle blocker Kevin Vaz (Paris, France/Cal Baptist) had seven kills.
• Sophomore setter Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) had 36 assists.
• Junior libero Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) had seven digs.

MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .168 overall (.048 set one, .407 set two, .167 set three, .000 set four)
• LBSU hitting: .461 overall (.357 set one, .474 set two, .455 set three, .600 set four)
• Service Aces: PEPP 9, LBSU 10
• Digs: PEPP 29, LBSU 33
• Blocks: PEPP 2.0, LBSU 14.0
• National Player of the Year TJ DeFalco led Long Beach State with 17 kills.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves got off to nice start, going up 3-1 after a Vaz ace, though LBSU would pull ahead 7-4 and 14-11. But then the Waves ran off four straight points, the last two by Wieczorek and Chamberlain, to go ahead 15-14. At 16-15, however, the 49ers scored six straight points to go ahead 21-16, and then went on to a 25-21 victory.
 
Pepperdine led early again in set two, going up 3-1 and 7-4, both after Vaz kills. Long Beach State tied it at seven, but the Waves rebuilt the lead to 13-10 after kills by Vaz and Denmark, and it grew to 17-13 after a Chamberlain kill. The 49ers then responded with five straight points to make it 18-17. But at 20-19, Wexter dealt two service aces as part of a 4-0 run, putting Pepperdine back in front at 23-20. The Waves closed out the set with a Wexter kill and Denmark ace at 25-21 to even the match at one set apiece. Vaz had six kills on six swings in the second set.
 
The 49ers came out hot in the third set, scoring the first four points to force an early Pepperdine timeout. The Waves eventually pulled within a point at 7-6 after a pair of kills by Denmark and a kill by Wieczorek. Later, the Waves got four straight points – kills by Wexter and Denmark, an LBSU hitting error and another kill by Denmark – to tie the set at 13. But Long Beach State took a timeout, then scored 12 of the next 15 points to win the third set 25-16.
 
Set four stayed close for a while, and the Waves trailed just 11-10 partway through the set. That's when the 49ers went on an 8-1 run to go ahead 19-11, however, and closed out the match on a 7-2 run, winning the fourth set 25-15.