LEBANON, Illinois – Despite a career-high 33 kills from Jaylen Jasper, the #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team couldn't pull off the reverse sweep or the series sweep and lost in five sets, 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 15-11, to McKendree in non-conference play on Saturday night.
 
The Waves (8-6) beat the Bearcats (8-6) in three sets on Friday night, but this marks the fourth straight week where Pepperdine has won the first meeting and then lost the second in a two-match series.
 
Jasper's 33 kills were the most by any Wave since current associate head coach Paul Carroll in 2009. It was the most by any Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player since 2017.
 
BIG WAVES

• Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) hit a season-best .612 (33-3-49). His previous best was 29 kills set in 2019 when he was at Stanford. Jasper picked up his first double-double of the season with 10 digs. He also had three block assists.
• Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had nine kills and four blocks.
• Sophomore opposite Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS) recorded nine kills.
• Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) handed out 51 assists and had 10 digs for his second career double-double.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves led for most of the first set, with the biggest margin being four points at 8-4 and 14-10. But McKendree tied it at 19. Pepperdine went back in front at 20-19, but the Bearcats ran off four straight points to go up 23-20, and ended the set on a 6-1 run. McKendree collected seven blocks in the first set.
 
Pepperdine's final lead of the second set came at 8-7 as McKendree then scored the next seven points. The Bearcat lead grew to seven at 17-11 and eight at 20-12. At 24-16, Pepperdine fought off set four points before going down 2-0.
 
Things turned around for the Waves in set three as they hit .556 and never trailed. Pepperdine built early leads of 8-5 and 11-7. An ace by Jasper followed by a block by Dvorak and sophomore middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS) made it 15-9. McKendree fought back and got within one point at 21-20, but Jasper had kills on the next two points to make it a three-point lead, and later ended it with his 11th kill of the set.
 
The Waves never trailed in set four either, but the set was close throughout. Pepperdine's biggest lead was three points, including at 9-6 and 18-15. But McKendree scored four of the next five points to tie it at 19. The Waves immediately responded with three straight points, which included a kill by Jasper and a block by Wilmot. Jasper had two more kills down the stretch to tie the match at two sets apiece.
 
There were four lead changes early in the fifth set. Pepperdine's final lead came at 6-5 after a kill by Wickens. But McKendree ran off four straight points to go up 9-6. The lead grew to five at 12-7. At 14-9 the Waves avoided the first two match points on kills by Steele, but McKendree finally ended it after that.
 
MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .297 overall (.071 set one, .172 set two, .556 set three, .387 set four, .308 set five)
• MCK hitting: .336 overall (.440 set one, .294 set two, .286 set three, .303 set four, .429 set five)
• Service Aces: PEPP 3, MCK 6
• Digs: PEPP 40, MCK 36
• Blocks: PEPP 7.0, MCK 12.0
• McKendree was led by Ethan Carroll's 23 kills.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine has a single non-conference match next week, as the Waves host George Mason on Friday (March 11) at 5 p.m. Ticket information and COVID-19 entry policies for Firestone Fieldhouse can be found here.