LOS ANGELES, California – The #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball team battled #3 UCLA over four close sets in Tuesday's opening-round match at the NCAA Championships, but the Bruins prevailed, 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 25-19, in Pauley Pavilion.
 
The Waves (19-10) earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the 18th time by virtue of winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. But regular-season champion UCLA (22-4) improved to 5-2 all-time against the Waves at the NCAA Tournament after a .437-.283 hitting advantage.
 
Three Waves playing in their final match – Austin Wilmot, Spencer Wickens and Alex Gettinger – each hit double-figures in kills and had 33 combined.
 
BIG WAVES

• Graduate middle blocker Austin Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./Crespi Carmelite HS/UC Irvine) had a team-high 12 kills on .556 hitting (12-2-18) along with two blocks and two aces.
• Graduate outside hitter Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS) had 11 kills on .529 hitting (11-2-17) and a team-high seven digs.
• Graduate outside hitter Alex Gettinger (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) contributed 10 kills and six digs.
• Sophomore setter Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS) handed out 43 assists and had five digs.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves fell behind 8-3 in the first set after an early 4-0 Bruin run. They faced their biggest deficit of the set at six points at 16-10. But, Pepperdine fought back. At 19-14, a 4-1 run, which included a Gettinger ace, made it 20-18. Pepperdine closed within one point at 22-21 on a Wilmot ace, then tied it at 23 on a Dvorak ace. But the Bruins then scored the final two points of the set on a block and a Pepperdine hitting error.
 
Graduate opposite Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Stanford) had two kills in an early four-point run to give the Waves a 4-2 lead in set two. Tied at five, the Waves scored three straight to take an 8-5 lead. UCLA eventually tied it at 13, and it remained tied at 14, 15, 16 and 17. Pepperdine scored three straight, but UCLA came back with the next three to tie it at 20. But, a couple of Bruin hitting errors contributed to another three-point Pepperdine scoring run, and the Waves went up 23-20. The teams sided out the rest of the way and the match was tied 1-1.
 
The third set featured 17 tie scores, and neither team went up by more than two points. The Waves led for the majority of the first half of the set, but their last lead came at 15-14. The Bruins had a 22-20 lead but the Waves tied it on kills by sophomore middle blocker Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS) and Wilmot. Wickens tied it at 24, but the Bruins took the set with kills on the next two points.
 
After scoring the first point of the fourth set, the Waves played from behind the rest of the way. UCLA got out to leads of 6-3 and 10-5. Pepperdine closed to within one point at 14-13 after back-to-back kills by Wilmot. But the Waves couldn't even it up, and at 22-19, the Bruins closed the match out with three straight points.
 
MATCH STATS 

• PEPP hitting: .283 overall (.094 set one, .391 set two, .407 set three, .292 set four)
• UCLA hitting: .437 overall (.333 set one, .222 set two, .593 set three, .636 set four)
• Service Aces: PEPP 4, UCLA 3
• Digs: PEPP 30, UCLA 26
• Blocks: PEPP 3.0, UCLA 9.0
• The Bruins were led by Kevin Kobrine's 16 kills.

QUOTABLE
Pepperdine Coach David Hunt said: "I thought we had some opportunities in sets one and three and didn't convert those, mainly in transition. Set one, number nine (UCLA middle blocker Guy Genis) put on a run early and we dug ourselves out a hole. If he doesn't go on that run, it's a different set. Set three, we have some swings at the end. If those bounce the other way, it's a different set. That happens when you play good teams. Those margins are wafer thin. Ultimately, their offense, we had a hard time slowing it down, specifically, as the match went on."