MALIBU, California – The #8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team's graduating players combined for 49 kills on their Senior Night as the Waves edged #12 Stanford in five sets, 25-21, 25-21, 13-25, 23-25, 15-11, in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season finale on Saturday evening.
 
The Waves (16-9, 7-5) clinched third place in the MPSF, overcoming the Cardinal (12-13, 4-8) despite the visitors' significant hitting edge at .369 to .289.
 
BIG WAVES

• Graduate outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) had a team-high 19 kills on .412 hitting (19-5-34) along with eight digs.
• Graduate outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) contributed 14 kills and seven digs.
• Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) posted 10 kills and four digs.
• Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) had 51 assists, nine digs and three block assists.
• Sophomore libero Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS) had a match-high 13 digs.
• Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) posted nine kills on .571 hitting (9-1-14) along with four blocks.
• Senior middle blocker JT Martin (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons HS) notched seven kills.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
Wickens, Gettinger, Wilmot and Martin were honored pregame along with fellow seniors JT Ardell (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West HS), Mason Tyler (Queen Creek, Ariz./Perry HS) and Ben Weinberg (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley HS).
 
Pepperdine went up 10-5 in the first set after a kill by Wickens, and 12-6 after more kills by Wickens and Gettinger. It was still a six-point lead at 17-11, though Stanford began to chip away at the advantage and got it down to one point at 22-21. But the Waves scored the first set's final three points on two Wilmot kills and a Stanford attack error.
 
Set two was close for a while as Pepperdine took the first two-point lead of the set at 15-13. Stanford scored three straight to take a 16-15 lead. Trailing 17-16, Pepperdine went on a 4-0 run that included kills by Wickens and Gettinger and a Dvorak service ace. A block by Wilmot and Dvorak made it 24-20, and the set ended two points later on a Cardinal service error.
 
The Cardinal could do no wrong in the third set, taking the first two points and never relinquishing the lead. Stanford had 12 kills and zero errors for a .632 attack rate, while Pepperdine dropped to .043 with eight kills and seven errors.
 
Set four was incredibly close throughout, as the biggest lead for both schools was two points. There were 13 ties and three lead changes. Pepperdine led 18-16 after a Wickens kill, but Stanford ran off four straight points to go up 20-18. The teams traded sideouts the rest of the way and the Cardinal evened the match at two sets apiece.
 
Pepperdine jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the deciding fifth set and never trailed, though Stanford tied it at five. Pepperdine immediately took the lead back at 7-5 after a Wilmot kill and a Cardinal hitting error. At 9-8, Gettinger and Wilmot had back-to-back kills to push the lead to three at 11-8. A Wickens service ace gave Pepperdine match point at 14-10, and two points later, Wilmot wrapped up the win with a solo block.
 
MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .289 overall (.483 set one, .233 set two, .043 set three, .265 set four, .500 set five)
• STAN hitting: .369 overall (.206 set one, .241 set two, .632 set three, .481 set four, .462 set five)
• Service Aces: PEPP 4, STAN 5
• Digs: PEPP 48, STAN 34
• Blocks: PEPP 6.0, STAN 8.0
• Stanford got 21 kills from Will Rottman.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine will be the #3 seed at the upcoming MPSF Tournament, which will be hosted by UCLA. The Waves will face sixth-seeded BYU at 5 p.m. on Wednesday (April 20) in Pauley Pavilion. FloSports will stream the tournament.