LOS ANGELES, California – By the slimmest of margins, the #8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team is moving on to the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation as the Waves got past BYU in five sets, 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 16-14, on Wednesday night at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.
The third-seeded Waves (17-9) outhit the sixth-seeded Cougars (8-17) .291 to .239 and overcame BYU's 17.0-11.5 blocking edge.
The Waves and Cougars were meeting for the third consecutive MPSF Tournament, with the Waves taking the neutral-site rubber match after winning at home in the 2019 quarterfinals and falling in Provo in the 2021 final.
BIG WAVES
- Graduate outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) matched his career high with 16 kills on .433 hitting (16-3-30). He also had four digs.
- Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had a season-high 11 kills along with five block assists.
- Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) posted 12 kills and five digs.
- Sophomore middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS) posted a career-high 11 kills on .529 hitting (11-2-17). His previous best was seven kills. He also had a team-high six block assists.
- Graduate outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) contributed 10 kills and seven digs.
- Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) had 53 assists, two short of his career high, plus four digs and four block assists.
- Sophomore libero Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS) had a match-high 12 digs, one shy of his season best that was set in the regular-season finale against Stanford.
PLAY BY PLAY
BYU got out to a 9-4 lead in the first set but the Waves evened things up with five straight points. The Cougars were ahead 21-20, but Pepperdine scored four consecutive points, and then finished off the set on a Gettinger kill.
Pepperdine took control of the second set early, going on a 4-0 run with a kill by Gettinger and three BYU attack errors to take an 11-7 lead. The Cougars would close within one point at 13-12 but Pepperdine later went ahead 21-15 after two more BYU hitting errors, and won the second set comfortably to go ahead 2-0.
After recording three blocks in the first two sets, BYU had nine in the third set. The set featured 15 ties and seven lead changes. Pepperdine's final advantage came at 19-17, but BYU scored the next three points. The final tie was at 22 after a Gettinger kill, but the Cougars scored three of the next four points to stay in the match.
The Waves took a couple of two-point leads early in the fourth set. Pepperdine had a 13-12 lead that was erased by four consecutive Cougar points. The Waves got within one point multiple times the rest of the set, but at 22-21, the Cougars scored three straight points to even the match at two sets apiece.
Set number five was close throughout. BYU's only lead came at 3-2. Pepperdine took a couple of two-point leads, first at 8-6 after two straight Gettinger kills, and again at 9-7 on a Wickens kill. But those would be the only two-point leads until the final score. Pepperdine had the advantage, but BYU evened things up at nine, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. With the fifth set heading to extra time, Gettinger put Pepperdine ahead 15-14, and Jasper finally ended the match with a kill off an overpass.
MATCH STATS
- PEPP hitting: .291 overall (.257 set one, .500 set two, .118 set three, .148 set four, .579 set five)
- BYU hitting: .239 overall (.167 set one, .229 set two, .200 set three, .292 set four, .400 set five)
- Service Aces: PEPP 4, BYU 4
- Digs: PEPP 34, BYU 37
- Blocks: PEPP 11.5, BYU 17.0
- BYU was led by Davide Gardini's 22 kills.
UP NEXT
The Waves will next play second-seeded USC in the semifinals on Thursday (April 21) at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. FloSports is streaming the tournament.
