Box Score MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's volleyball team gave fans a taste of what's to come in the upcoming 2024 season with an exhibition sweep over Canadian program British Columbia, defeating the #10-ranked team in Canada in Firestone Fieldhouse tonight.
 
After a relatively dominant opening 25-20 set win for the Waves, the opposition pulled ahead marginally in the second, reaching set point first.  Pepperdine fought off five set-point opportunities to extend the set lead to 2-0 with a long 30-28 win. 
 
The squad trailed 12-5 early in the third set and eventually looked at a nine-point deficit at the 18-11 mark, though the home team's grit showed out and the squad was able to sport a 12-5 run of their own and fend off two set-point opportunities from across the net to keep things going.  Pepperdine eventually won 28-26 to end the match with the sweep.
 
Akin Akinwumi led the attack with 13 kills, while Trey Cole led the back row with 11 digs. 
 
BIG WAVES
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.): 13 kills, 4 digs, 1 block (solo), 1 ace
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 11 digs
Kevin Roberts (Ocoee, Fla.): 8 kills, 6 digs, 1 block
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y.): 7 kills, 2 aces, 5 digs, 1 block
Martin De Chavarria (Palma de Mallorca, Spain): 5 kills, .556 hitting %, 3 blocks (1 solo)
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 34 assists, 5 digs, 1 kill
Alex Mrkalj (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada): 2 aces, 3 kills, 1 block
 
WAVES VS. THUNDERBIRDS
Each side of the net posted 42 kills, though British Columbia led with a .243 success rate to Pepperdine's .209.  The Waves, however, led at the net with a 6.0 to 3.0 block ratio, while also posting six aces to the opposition's two.  Pepperdine and UBC also marked 40 digs apiece.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          17         6          32        .344
2          12        7          33        .152
3          13        6          45        .156
TTL      42        19        110      .209
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          10         3          29        .241
2          14        6          30        .267
3          18        8          44        .227
TTL      42        17        103      .243
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves came out swinging in the first set as a pair of kills from Ryan Barnett got things started en route to a 4-2 lead.  The two teams exchanged points throughout the majority of the set and after an 8-8 tied score, Akin Akinwumi and Kevin Roberts followed by a block from Barnett and Andersen Fuller, helped the squad to a four-point lead, 14-10.  The opposition countered to tie the score at 15's, but more smashes from Roberts, Barnett and Martin De Chavarria pushed the squad to a 20-17 advantage.  More kills from Akinwumi and Roberts, along with errors from across the net would end things, 25-20.
 
The second would prove to be a brawl from start-to-finish.  Barnett, Akinwumi and De Chavarria all added kills for a 5-2 open, but the Thunderbirds counted to tie the score at 5-apiece.  The opposition pulled ahead by two-points at the 14-12 mark and used it to work ahead by three, 24-21.  Kills from Roberts and Ryan Graves brought Pepperdine within one and fought off the opposition, and a block from Roberts and De Chavarria would tie the set 24-24.  The Waves fought off five-set point opportunities from across the net and eventually had one of the team's own at the 27-26 mark with another smash from Roberts.  UBC battled through two set-point options from the Waves, but a service error from across the net, followed by a second ace of the net from Barnett shut the set down 30-28 and gave Pepperdine a chance to close the match.
 
The third would prove to be another interesting one with the Thunderbirds pulling ahead 12-5 to open things up.  After facing an 20-13 deficit, kills from Cole Rasic helped the cause along with capitalizing on attack errors from across the net, 20-17.  After more back-and-forth, two-consecutive service aces from Alex Mrkalj, a solo block from James Eadie and kills from Joe Deluzio and Mrkalj helped the Waves to a 12-5 run of their own to eventually tie the set at 23's.  The opposition reached set-point first and Pepperdine fought off two opportunities to flip the script and lead 26-25.  UBC battled through one match-point courtesy of a few too many players on the Waves' side of the court, but a solid block from Mrkalj and De Chavarria would do the trick in the second match-point option and Pepperdine would win 28-26 for the sweep.
 
UP NEXT
Pepperdine will host one more exhibition with another Canadian program, Alberta, heading to Firestone on January 2.  The Waves will then open the regular season with Fort Valley State and Morehouse College on January 3 and 5.
 
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.