AMHERST, New York – The #8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team remained undefeated on the 2020 season with a four-set neutral-site victory over Harvard, 25-18, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, on Wednesday evening.
 
The Waves defeated Daemen College on Tuesday night and the Wildcats hosted this contest between Pepperdine (3-0) and Harvard (2-2).
 
BIG WAVES

• Redshirt freshman opposite Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) had a team-best 15 kills on .560 hitting (15-1-25). He also had six digs, two aces and two blocks.
• Sophomore outside hitter Ben Weinberg (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley HS) had 11 kills, three aces and three digs.
• Senior outside hitter Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) had 10 kills, four aces, three digs and two blocks.
• Junior middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had eight kills on .538 hitting (8-1-13) and four blocks.
• Redshirt freshman libero Diego Perez (Irvine, Calif./Corona del Mar HS/Orange Coast CC) had a match-high 14 digs.
• Senior setter Rob Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) handed out 45 assists and had six digs and four blocks.

MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .343 overall (.409 set one, .161 set two, .312 set three, .600 set four)
• HARV hitting: .259 overall (.069 set one, .500 set two, .167 set three, .381 set four)
• Service Aces: PEPP 9, HARV 3
• Digs: PEPP 39, HARV 40
• Blocks: PEPP 7.5, HARV 3.0
• Harvard was led by Campbell Schoenfeld's 15 kills.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves scored the first five points of the match and never trailed in the first set. It was still relatively close late when Harvard pulled within two at 17-15, but Wilmot had two consecutive kills to start a 3-0 run, and another 3-0 run made it 23-16.
 
Pepperdine fell behind early in set two and couldn't catch up for the first set that the Waves have dropped in 2020. The Crimson went ahead 7-3, prompting a timeout. Tied at 10, a 4-0 run put Harvard ahead 14-10 and the Waves had to use their second timeout. But Pepperdine wouldn't get any closer than three points the rest of the set.
 
Harvard got off to another good start in set three, going up 6-3, but after a timeout, Pepperdine quickly reasserted itself. Back-to-back Weinberg aces made it 8-7 Pepperdine as part of a 6-0 run that made the lead 11-7. The Crimson had another run in them that tied the set at 11, but two kills by Steele and one by Dyer put Pepperdine back ahead to stay. A 4-1 run helped the Waves out to a 23-18 lead before they finished off the set.
 
The Waves hit .600 in set four with 13 kills and just one error. They quickly went up 6-2 after a couple of Dyer service aces. The lead grew to five points at 14-9, and the teams mostly traded points the rest of the set before Pepperdine ended the match on a Steele service ace.
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine's three-match East Coast road trip concludes on Friday (Jan. 17) at #13 George Mason at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.