MALIBU, California – Bryce Dvorak had career highs for assists, blocks and service aces to help lead the #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team to a hard-fought five-set victory, 23-25, 25-17, 28-26, 24-26, 15-13, over #5 USC on Wednesday night in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action.
 
Four of the five sets were decided by two points and over the course of the match there were 45 ties and 23 lead changes. Pepperdine improved to 7-4, 2-1, while USC dropped to 10-3, 0-1.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) had 54 assists, eight blocks and six service aces to set new highs, and he also had six digs.
• Sophomore opposite Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) had 16 kills on .353 hitting (16-4-34) along with four digs and two aces.
• Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) had 16 kills, eight digs and four blocks.
• Graduate outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) had 15 kills and seven digs.
• Sophomore libero Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS) had a team-high 11 digs, his third time this season in double-figures.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Trojans took an early 8-5 lead in the first set, but a 3-0 run that included a Dvorak ace and a kill by Steele put Pepperdine ahead 14-13. But, USC came back with four straight points to regain the lead. Tied at 18, the Trojans put together two straight points, and then the teams went sideout the rest of the set.
 
Pepperdine scored the first two points of the second set and never trailed before going on to win the only set that wasn't close. Pepperdine led 7-4 after a Jasper kill. At 11-10, Steele and graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had kills as part of a 3-0 run to make it 14-10. The lead grew to 21-16 after a kill by Wickens, and the Waves ended it on a 3-0 run that included two aces by Dvorak.
 
An overtime third set featured 20 ties and 10 lead changes. There was only one three-point lead in the entire set, and it came at 9-6 in Pepperdine's favor. The Waves had a set point at 24-23, then fought off two set points at 25-24 and 26-25. The Waves scored the final three points of the set on a kill by Jasper, a USC attack error and a kill by Steele.
 
The Waves led by two early in the fourth set, but couldn't make it last, as USC went up 17-13. The Trojans had three set points at 24-21 but the Waves were able to knot it up at 24 after a kill by Wickens, a block by Wilmot and an ace by Steele. The Trojans took the next two points, however, to send it to a fifth set.
 
Things looked good for the Waves when they scored the first three points, but the Trojans scored the next four. USC went up 9-7, but the Waves scored four straight points, two on kills by Wickens and the final one on a Dvorak ace, to go ahead 11-9. USC tied it at 12, and again at 13. The Waves scored the match's final two points on a USC attack error, and then a block by Dvorak and sophomore middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS).
 
MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .288 overall (.333 set one, .481 set two, .194 set three, .258 set four, .176 set five)
• USC hitting: .287 overall (.424 set one, .321 set two, .128 set three, .414 set four, .143 set five)
• Service Aces: PEPP 10, USC 3
• Digs: PEPP 41, USC 47
• Blocks: PEPP 14.0, USC 11.0
• USC was led by Sam Kobrine's 20 kills.

UP NEXT
 
The Waves and Trojans square off again on Friday (Feb. 25) in the Galen Center at 7 p.m.