Men's Volleyball Beaten in Three by #3 UCSB

Wednesday, February 26

Malibu, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

6-6

UC Santa Barbara

11-2

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Santa Barbara	25	25	25	3
Pepperdine	20	16	17	0

Scott Solan

Photo by: Martin A. Folb

2/26/2020 9:16:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, California – The #9 Pepperdine men's volleyball team had its hands full with #3 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday night, as the Gauchos earned a 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 non-conference victory on Wednesday night.

The Waves (6-6) fell at home for the first time this season. All six losses have come to nationally ranked opponents. UCSB (11-2) beat Pepperdine for the second time in less than a week.

BIG WAVES

Freshman opposite Scott Solan (Las Vegas, Nev./West Career & Technical Academy) came off the bench to post a team-high seven kills on .545 hitting (7-1-11) along with five digs.
Senior outside hitter Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) had six kills.
Junior middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had a match-high six blocks, two of them solos, along with five kills.
Freshman setter Joe Karlous (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) and senior setter Rob Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) both recorded 13 assists.
Redshirt freshman libero Diego Perez (Irvine, Calif./Corona del Mar HS/Orange Coast CC) had a team-high six digs.

MATCH STATS

PEPP hitting: .143 overall (.212 set one, .097 set two, .111 set three)
GCU hitting: .253 overall (.242 set one, .290 set two, .222 set three)
Service Aces: PEPP 0, UCSB 5
Digs: PEPP 27, UCSB 44
Blocks: PEPP 9.5, UCSB 8.0
UC Santa Barbara was led by Roy McFarland's 12 kills.

PLAY BY PLAY

After scoring the first three points of the match, the Waves led for much of the early going. But at 9-7, UCSB went on a 9-2 run to go up 16-11. At 22-16 the Waves tried to close the gap and scored three straight points on kills by Wilmot and Dyer and a block by that same duo, but the comeback ran short and UCSB ended the first set at 25-20 on an ace.

Set two was tied at nine until the Gauchos began to pull away. It was just a two-point game at 16-14, but an 8-1 run got UCSB to set point at 24-15, and they finished it two points later.

Set three was largely spent with the teams trading points but the biggest difference was a 7-1 Gaucho run early on that made the score 11-6 in UCSB's favor. The Waves got no closer than three the rest of the way.

UP NEXT

Pepperdine's next match is on Friday, March 6, against Saint Francis at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. The match will be streamed via WaveCasts with Al Epstein on the call.