MALIBU, California – The #9 Pepperdine men's volleyball team had a confident night in Firestone Fieldhouse on Friday, sweeping past non-conference opponent Saint Francis with 25-19, 25-19 and 25-20 set scores throughout the process.
 
The Waves (7-6) hit for a collective .293 hitting percentage, while only giving up a .176 success rate to the Red Flash (5-13).  Pepperdine out-blocked the opposition with a 9.0 to 3.0 team comparison, led by Scott Solan and Austin Wilmot with six and five rejections respectively
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior outside hitter Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) led the squad with 12 kills on a season-high .571 clip (12-0-21).  He added one ace and one block to the effort.
• Junior outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) was next in line on the attack front with nine smashes on .389 success rate.
• Freshman opposite Scott Solan (Las Vegas, Nev./West Career & Technical Academy) led the defensive effort with six blocks, while tallying six kills well.
• Junior middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) posted five blocks and an ace and redshirt-freshman JT Ardell (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West HS) added four blocks as well.
• Freshman setter Joe Karlous (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) marked 15 assists and four digs, while senior setter Rob Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) put in seven assists and four digs.
• Redshirt freshman libero Diego Perez (Irvine, Calif./Corona del Mar HS/Orange Coast CC) had a team-high 10 digs. 

MATCH STATS

• PEPP hitting: .293 overall (.174 set one, .393 set two, .292 set three)
• SFU hitting: .176 overall (.108 set one, .276 set two, .160 set three)
• Service Aces: PEPP 4, SFU 2
• Digs: PEPP 28, SFU 29
• Blocks: PEPP 9.0, SFU 3.0
• Saint Francis was led by Michael Fisher with 10 kills 

PLAY BY PLAY
After a slow start by the Waves that found the Red Flash ahead 11-9 in set one, Pepperdine rallied back by capitalizing on a service error and a block collaboration from Austin Wilmot and Scott Solan to tie things up.  After a three-point lead featuring another Wilmot, Alex Gettinger rejection, the opposition answered to tie the set at 15s.  Each side continued point-for-point en route to a 19-19 tied score and Spencer Wickens on the service line.  An ace, kill from Solan and a Wilmot, Solan block kept the ball in the home team's side and back-to-back attack errors from across the net closed the set in the Waves' favor 25-19.
 
The second set began closely, but the Waves buckled down with more blocks from Solan and JT Ardell, along with Gettinger and Wilmot to gain a late 14-10 lead.  Rob Mullahey put them on edge at the service line and kills from Noah Dyer and Wilmot pushed the home squad to an 18-11 lead.  Pepperdine would close the door shortly after with more smashes from Gettinger and Dyer, as well as a final smash from Wilmot to make it 25-19 in the set and give Pepperdine a chance to close in the third.
 
Saint Francis picked up the first lead in the third set, but the small advantage was shortly overtaken by the Waves on top of a Jacob Steele smash to make it 14-14.  Some more point-for-point action ensued, but Steele at the service line kept Pepperdine in the positive and an ace and multiple attack errors from the Red Flash put the home team up 22-17.  Pepperdine took the set 25-20 on a final block from Solan and Wilmot to make it a clean 3-0 sweep.
 
UP NEXT
Pepperdine's next match is on Wednesday, March 11 against Jamestown at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse.  The match will be 90's-themed in honor of Pepperdine's 50^th season.  The match will be streamed via WaveCasts with Al Epstein on the call.