MALIBU, Calif. — Graduate outside Jaylen Jasper had a standout season-opening night for the #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball team, leading the Waves to a 25-18, 25-22, 25-20 sweep over Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday in Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
Jasper produced 21 kills on a staggering .486 clip, while marking a career-high five aces at the service line to help the cause.  Junior setter Bryce Dvorak led in playmaking duties with a well-rounded match, posting 35 assists, eight digs and three blocks.  Senior Akin Akinwumi also moved from the outside to the middle for the first time in his career, and the move paid off as he put in a career-best five blocks.
 
Pepperdine (1-0) came out of the starting gate ready to fire against LMU (0-1), posting a .333 hitting percentage in the first set, compared to the opposition's .133 output.  The Waves maintained that strong momentum throughout, leading in kills or hitting percentage in each of the following sets to secure the victory.
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 21 kills, .486 hitting %, 5 aces, 6 digs, 2 blocks
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 35 assists, 8 digs, 3 blocks, 1 ace
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 11 digs
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 5 blocks, 1 ace
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 4 kills, 2 blocks (1 solo)
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 6 kills, 5 digs
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif./Servite HS): 4 kills, 6 digs, 1 block

 

WAVES VS. RAILSPLITTERS
Pepperdine led with 38 kills on a .247 success rate, as opposed to LMU's 31 kills on a .195 clip.  Along with a strong lead offensively at the net, the Waves commanded the service line against the Splitters, posting seven aces to the opposition's three.  Though Pepperdine was able to put up 7.0 blocks, Lincoln Memorial had the edge in that category, compiling 10.0 blocks throughout. 
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        4          30        .333
2          11        5          25        .240
3          13        6          38        .184
TTL      38        15        93        .247
 
LMU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          5          30        .133
2          12        5          28        .250
3          10        4          29        .207
TTL      31        14        87        .195
 


PLAY-BY-PLAY
Although the Railsplitters earned the first kill of the night, Andersen Fuller quickly set the tone in the next play with a solo block to shift the momentum early.  With Joe Deluzio at the service line, the Waves went on a 4-0 run, featuring a pair of kills from Jaylen Jasper to make it 5-2.  Each side exchanged points, with Pepperdine stringing a few small runs together throughout the set to build on a six point lead at the 17-11 mark.  Jasper put up his first pair of aces to keep the Waves ahead, 20-14, and kills from Deluzio, Jasper and Fuller would shut the set down 25-18.
 
The Waves pushed that energy into the second set and an early Jasper, Fuller block collaboration had the opposition on their heels.  Dvorak and Akin Akinwumi connected at the net later in the action to deny LMU a kill and put the home team's advantage to 6-4.  The Splitters started to regain composure, however, tying the score at 7's before each side progressed in a see-saw battle to the 11-11 mark.  Pepperdine then capitalized on a pair of errors from across the net, as well as another Malibu Roofing Company effort from Dvorak and Akinwumi to start pushing forward, 14-11.  After maintaining the lead for a few points, LMU once again tied things up with a few choice kills, even taking the lead, 19-18.  The Waves were not quick to roll over, however, coming back to take the lead with another Jasper ace – which was originally called out and overturned courtesy of a challenge from Head Coach Jonathan Winder – and Dvorak, Akinwumi block.  Three kills – two from Jasper and one from Akinwumi – would end the set 25-22 in the home squad's favor.
 
In the final set, a pair of kills from Andersen Fuller gave the Waves early momentum and another ace from Jasper would build the Waves' lead to 8-4.  Multiple attack errors from across the net helped the cause, along with a pair of aces from Akinwumi and Dvorak extended the lead to 14-9.  The opposition posted a few blocks to keep it interesting, but kills from Jasper kept the Waves looking forward with a 23-19 lead.  Dvorak would take the final kill to end it 25-20.
 
NEXT UP
The Waves are done for this week, but will continue on with the season with a three-match homestand next week, welcoming Edward Waters (Jan. 13), Emmanuel (Ga.) (Jan. 14) and Princeton (Jan. 16) to Malibu.

FOLLOW
Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @peppmvb.  Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.