MALIBU, California – The #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team made short work of George Mason on Friday evening, defeating the Patriots in straight sets, 25-18, 25-14, 25-17, in Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
The Waves (9-6) committed only four attack errors on the night, while forcing the Patriots (7-9) into 27 of them (nine in each set). Pepperdine hit .483 to George Mason's .035, a season low by an opponent.
 
BIG WAVES

• Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) notched 10 kills on .692 hitting (10-1-13). He also had six block assists and four digs.
• Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) contributed seven kills and a match-high seven blocks, along with a career-high-tying five digs.
• Sophomore opposite Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) had six kills, four blocks and four digs.
• Senior outside hitter Ben Weinberg (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley HS) made his first start of the season and had six kills on 10 errorless swings, plus three digs and two block assists.
• Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) handed out 27 assists and had five digs.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
There were three lead changes early in the first set, but the Patriots wouldn't ever lead again after that. With Pepperdine ahead 14-13, the Waves then went on a 9-3 run to go ahead 23-16. The Waves had four blocks during the run, and Wilmot was involved in all of them. The stretch also featured an ace by sophomore middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS). Pepperdine had 12 kills and zero hitting errors in the first set.
 
Pepperdine went on a similar set-changing run in the second set. Leading 12-11, the Waves scored seven of the next eight points. There was an ace by Dvorak, and back-to-back blocks involving Wilmot and Steele, with Jasper in on one of them. Pepperdine's lead grew to 10 at 23-13 on a Jasper kill, and junior outside hitter Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS) came in to finish off the set with a service ace. George Mason had eight kills and nine hitting errors in the second set, while Pepperdine had just one hitting error total after the first two sets.
 
The Waves scored the first two points of the third set on blocks by Fuller and Jasper and never trailed. At 8-8, Jasper got a kill followed by a GMU attack error and Pepperdine led comfortably the rest of the way. A service ace by graduate outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) made it 12-9. Another GMU hitting error made it 15-11. Kills by senior middle blocker JT Martin (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons HS) and Weinberg pushed the lead to 22-16. The match ended after a kill by Weinberg and a solo block by Wilmot.
 
MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .483 overall (.667 set one, .429 set two, .381 set three)
• GMU hitting: .035 overall (.067 set one, -.036 set two, .071 set three)
• Service Aces: PEPP 4, GMU 5
• Digs: PEPP 23, GMU 18
• Blocks: PEPP 12.0, GMU 2.0
• George Mason got a match-high 12 kills from Richie Hoff.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine has its final week of non-conference play coming up, as the Waves host CSUN on Wednesday (March 16) at 7 p.m., followed by a road match at the Matadors on Friday (March 18) at 7 p.m. Ticket information and COVID-19 entry policies for Firestone Fieldhouse can be found here.