LOS ANGELES, California – The #8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team will play for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title and a spot in the NCAA Championships after a four-set victory over #5 USC, 25-23, 28-26, 20-25, 27-25, in Thursday night's semifinal at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.
Despite being outhit and outblocked, the third-seeded Waves (18-9) got past the second-seeded Trojans (22-7) by making all the plays at the end of extremely close first, second and fourth sets.
Pepperdine will meet a surprising opponent in the final, as fifth-seeded Stanford upset top-seeded UCLA in five sets in Thursday's first semifinal. The Waves beat the Cardinal twice at home in the regular season's final weekend.
The Waves will be playing in their third consecutive MPSF final (they won at home in 2019 and lost to BYU in Provo in 2021), and their 12th all-time. Pepperdine is 5-6 in MPSF championship matches. This is the first time Pepperdine and Stanford will meet in the final.
BIG WAVES
- Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) had 24 kills on .425 hitting (24-7-40) along with four digs and two service aces.
- Graduate outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) had 11 kills and five digs and ended the match with a solo block.
- Graduate outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) had 11 kills and six digs.
- Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) posted seven kills.
- Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) recorded 52 assists and four digs.
- Sophomore libero Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS) provided six digs.
PLAY BY PLAY
USC led for a significant portion of the first set, with its biggest margin coming at three points multiple times, including at 19-16. But Pepperdine scored the next three points, with a kill by Jasper and two kills by Gettinger. The teams traded points but with USC holding a 22-21 lead, the Waves ran off four of the next five points to claim the first set. At 23-23, Jasper got a kill, followed by a Trojan hitting error.
The Waves went up 2-0 but it took a massive comeback. USC jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set. The Trojans went up by six, first at 13-7. It was still a five-point lead at 23-18. The Waves then scored three straight on a kill by Wilmot, an ace by Jasper and another kill by Wilmot. A USC point gave the Trojans three set points at 24-21. The Waves fought them all off, getting a kill by Wickens, a USC attack error and a block by Wilmot and Dvorak. USC had another set point at 25-24, but the Waves scored the next two points on kills by Jasper and Dvorak to take the advantage and a set point of their own. After USC evened it at 26, Jasper recorded a kill and Dvorak completed the comeback with a service ace to end the set.
The Waves only led once in the third set at 3-2. It was tied at 17 when USC scored four of the next five points, and the Trojans ended up concluding the set on an 8-3 run.
The fourth set was the closest of them all, with 19 ties and six lead changes. The biggest lead that either side had was two points. USC led 15-14 but Jasper had two kills in a 4-1 run that gave Pepperdine an 18-16 lead. USC tied it at 20, but the Waves went back up by two at 22-20, followed by two USC points to tie things at 22. The Waves had three match points, the final one coming after a Gettinger kill made it 26-25, and then Gettinger knocked down a solo block to end the match.
MATCH STATS
- PEPP hitting: .321 overall (.500 set one, .200 set two, .281 set three, .387 set four)
- USC hitting: .454 overall (.571 set one, .480 set two, .500 set three, .303 set four)
- Service Aces: PEPP 4, USC 0
- Digs: PEPP 25, USC 34
- Blocks: PEPP 6.5, USC 12.5
- USC got 27 kills from Sam Kobrine and 21 from Simon Gallas.
UP NEXT
The MPSF championship match is set for Saturday (April 23) at 6 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. FloSports is streaming the tournament.
