LOS ANGELES, California – The #4 Pepperdine men's volleyball team twice led #8 UCLA by a set at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night, but the Bruins rallied for a five-set (23-25, 25-12, 22-25, 25-14, 15-10) Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory.
 
A win would have pulled the Waves (7-3, 7-3) into a first-place tie with the Bruins (9-3, 9-3) and BYU, but UCLA had big nights at the service line and at the net.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore opposite Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) had a team-high 14 kills along with five digs.
• Senior outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) had nine kills and a team-best seven digs.
• Freshman setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) had 35 assists and five digs.
• Senior middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had five kills and five blocks.
• Freshman middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS) had six kills and three blocks.

MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .158 overall (.571 set one, -.235 set two, .550 set three, -.080 set four, -.056 set five)
• UCLA hitting: .333 overall (.310 set one, .333 set two, .250 set three, .458 set four, .312 set five)
• Service Aces: PEPP 1, UCLA 13
• Digs: PEPP 27, UCLA 29
• Blocks: PEPP 9.0, UCLA 16.0
• UCLA got 14 kills apiece from Cole Ketrzynski and Merrick McHenry, and six service aces from Austin Matautia.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves rallied from a 20-17 deficit in the first set. Wilmot had a pair of kills and Steele had one in a 5-1 run that put Pepperdine in front 22-21. Tied at 22, the Waves got kills from Wickens and Steele to get to set point. At 24-23, Fuller ended the set with a kill.
 
UCLA jumped out to leads of 6-0, 12-3 and 14-4 in the second set and the Waves, who had three kills and seven hitting errors in the set, couldn't ever catch up.
 
The Waves hit .571 in winning the first set and got back into form in the third set by hitting .550. At 6-6, a kill by Steele and a solo block by Dvorak put Pepperdine ahead to stay. At 15-14, the Waves went on a 6-2 run, which included two blocks and a kill by Wilmot, making it 21-16. UCLA closed to within two at 23-21 but a Dvorak kill got the Waves to set point, and it later ended on a UCLA service error.
 
Pepperdine's hitting regressed in set four as the Waves hit negatively again. The Bruins scored the first three points and also led 10-4 and 15-7 and the Waves couldn't close the gap.
 
The Waves got off to a good start in the fifth set, getting out to a 3-1 lead after a couple of kills by senior outside hitter Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS). UCLA went ahead 6-4, but Pepperdine went back up 8-7 after a block by Wickens and Fuller. UCLA went ahead 10-8, and then after a Wickens kill, the Bruins closed out the match on a 5-1 run.
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine's second match against UCLA this week is on Saturday (March 13) at 5 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. The match will be streamed online via WaveCasts. Due to COVID-19 protocols, fans will not be permitted.