MALIBU, California – The #3 Pepperdine men's volleyball team got the 2022 season off to a successful start, sweeping Erskine 25-9, 25-19, 25-15, on Thursday.
 
The Waves (1-0) overpowered the Fleet (0-2) in all aspects, including hitting (.549-.118), blocking (11 to zero) and serving (10 aces to two).
 
The .549 hitting was the program's third-best mark in the rally-scoring era, and the best since hitting a record .561 in 2007 against Rutgers-Newark.
 
BIG WAVES

• Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) and redshirt freshman opposite Scott Solan (Las Vegas, Nev./West Career & Technical Academy) tied for the team lead with six kills apiece. Wilmot hit .667 on nine errorless swings. Solan hit .500. The two also led the Waves in blocks with five and four, respectively.
• Graduate outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) had five kills and a match-high six digs.
• Sophomore opposite Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) had a career-high five service aces.
• Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) had 24 assists.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
At 8-6 in the first set, Steele had a remarkable run at the service line as the Waves went on an 8-0 run. He had two straight service aces, and then after two more Pepperdine points, he had another set of back-to-back aces. The Waves went up 20-7 after a Fleet attack error, and eventually ended the set on an ace by graduate outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS).
 
Erskine kept things close for a while in the second set. At 11-0, the Waves went on a 6-1 run that was fueled by Wilmot. He had two kills and two block assists and finished off the run with a service ace. Erskine got no closer than four points the rest of the way.
 
Just like in the first two sets, the Waves never trailed in the third one either. A Dvorak kill made it 6-3, and an ace by sophomore middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS) made it 10-5. The Waves grew the lead to 17-11 on a Fleet attack error, and 21-13 after a kill by senior outside hitter Ben Weinberg (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley HS). The match ended on another Weinberg kill.
 
MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .549 overall (.667 set one, .400 set two, .625 set three)
• ERS hitting: .118 overall (-.188 set one, .207 set two, .217 set three)
• Service Aces: PEPP 10, ERS 2
• Digs: PEPP 16, ERS 17
• Blocks: PEPP 11.0, ERS 1.0
• Erskine was led by Kacper Rybarczyk's 11 kills.

NOTABLE 

• Five Waves made their Pepperdine debuts: graduate transfer Jaylen Jasper (three kills on four swings) in the starting lineup and Eli Crane, Cole Rasic, Mike Scott and Ryan Wheeler off the bench.
• This was the first-ever meeting between Pepperdine and Erskine.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine and Erskine will play for a second time on Friday (Jan. 13) at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed online via WaveCasts. Ticket information and COVID-19 entry policies for Firestone Fieldhouse can be found here.