MALIBU, Calif. — A well-rounded attack force, featuring 12 separate players with at least one kill throughout, propelled the #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball team to a dominating sweep over Emmanuel in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
 
The Waves, now 3-0 on the season, collected 48 kills on a collective .539 success rate while also holding the Lions (1-2) to only 16 kills on a .030 output throughout the night.  Of the Waves' 12 attackers, seven had four or more kills with above .364 hitting percentages and five hit above .500.
 
Pepperdine was led by redshirt-freshman Brendan Read who charted eight smashes on a .375 clip, along with three aces in his debut match.  Redshirt-junior Jacob Steele and -freshman Ryan Barnett each tabbed six kills apiece, with the former coming away with an untarnished clip and the latter marking an impressive .857. 
 
BIG WAVES
Brendan Read (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 8 kills, 3 aces, 2 digs
Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS): 6 kills, 1.00 hitting %, 3 digs, 1 ace
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y./Saint Edward's School): 6 kills, .857 hitting %, 4 digs
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 6 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 27 assists, 1 ace, 1 block, 1 kill
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 5 kills, .833 hitting %, 4 digs
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 4 kills, .667 hitting %, 1 ace
Eli Crane (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente HS): 5 kills, .500 hitting %
Kevin Roberts (Ocoee, Fla. (Apopka HS): 17 assists, 1 ace
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 5 digs
 


WAVES VS. LIONS
The Waves went big with a collective offensive output from start to finish, tallying 15 or more kills in every set as a team.  Pepperdine kept Emmanuel to seven or less kills in every set as well, letting the Lions accrue only four kills in the first set and five in the third – both on flat .000 hitting outputs.  The opposition did have the edge at the net, leading 4.0 to 3.5 in blocks, though the Waves were able to overcome with a 9-1 ace differential and 32 digs to the Lions' 19.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          15        3          25        .480
2          17        2          25        .600
3          16        2          26        .538
TTL      48        7          76        .539
 
EMMANUEL ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          4          4          22        .000
2          7          5          24        .083
3          5          5          20        .000
TTL      16        14        66        .030
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Though each side exchanged points to open the set, it would not be a telling beginning.  After a 6-6 tie, kills from multiple Waves including Andersen Fuller, Jaylen Jasper, Joe Deluzio and Jacob Steele helped the squad to a 9-3 run to pull ahead 15-9.  In the following three Pepperdine services, Jasper, Steele and Akin Akinwumi would all tab aces to continue the Waves on to another big run, 7-2, for a 22-11 advantage late in the action.  More smashes from Deluzio, Jasper and Bryce Dvorak, as well as a big Malibu Roofing Company rejection from Dvorak and Andersen Fuller would end the set 25-12 in the Waves' favor.
 
With the big momentum from the previous set, the home team came out swinging and more smashes from Akinwumi, Jasper and an ace from Brendan Read helped the squad to a 10-4 lead early on.  It would be a lead the opposition would be unable to overcome, as the Waves kept pounding down with kills from Read, Fuller and Eli Crane, along with an ace from Dvorak to make it 18-9.  It was all gas in the end of the set as well, as Ryan Barnett, Fuller and Read would all tab multiple kills en route to another 25-12 set score.
 
Pepperdine showed no letup in the final set either and smashes from Read, Crane and Barnett, as well as back-to-back aces from Read set the tone early for an 8-3 lead.  Keeton Hanzlik-Green would get in on the action with his first career ace shortly after and a big block from Hanzlik-Green and Kevin Roberts pushed the home team ahead, 17-10.  The two teams then exchanged points, but a Roberts' ace and kills from Barnett and Read closed the set 25-16 and earned the Waves the team's third sweep in a row.
 
UP NEXT
The Waves have one more match in Firestone before heading out for the season's first road trip, hosting Princeton, a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, on Monday at 7 p.m.
 
FOLLOW
Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @WavesVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @peppvolley.  Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.