MALIBU, Calif. — The #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball team felt right at home after two weeks on the road on Wednesday night, returning to Firestone Fieldhouse to sweep #15 UC Santa Barbara with 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21 set scores.
 
The Waves (8-1) had seven attackers record at least one kill throughout the match against the Gauchos (1-7), led by graduate student Jaylen Jasper with 17 kills – his eighth match this season in the double-figure kill club.  Akin Akinwumi also had a night, tying his season-high nine kill effort.  The two Waves also led the floor with four blocks apiece.
 
On Friday, the Waves will make the short trip up the coast to take on the Gauchos once again.  First serve is slated for 7 p.m. and the match will air live on ESPN+. 
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 17 kills, .306 hitting %, 4 blocks, 6 digs
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 35 assists, 7 digs, 2 blocks
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 9 kills, .438 hitting %, 4 blocks
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 5 kills, .417 hitting %, 2 blocks
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 8 kills, .316 hitting %, 3 digs
Brendan Read (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 5 kills, .625 hitting %
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 5 digs
 
WAVES VS. GAUCHOS
Pepperdine led the offensive with 46 kills on a .364 clip, while giving up 40 kills on a. .294 to the Gauchos.  Though the opposition led 33 to 26 in digs, Pepperdine out-blocked UCSB with 8.0 blocks to 5.0. 
 


PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          18        3          38        .395
2          16        4          27        .444
3          12        3          34        .265
TTL      46        10        99        .364
 
UCSB ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        5          25        .360
2          13        4          24        .375
3          13        6          36        .194
TTL      40        15        85        .294
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
After opening the match tied through 14-14, the Waves allowed a few kills from the opposition to trail by three.  That lead for the Gauchos would be short-lived, however, as smashes from Jaylen Jasper and Joe Deluzio helped the home team tie the set.  Another Deluzio kill and block from Deluzio with Akin Akinwumi pushed the Waves to a two-point, 20-18, advantage late in the action.  Kills from Akinwumi kept the momentum in Pepperdine's court and a pair of smashes from Jasper would close things down 25-23 in the Waves' favor.
 
It was a see-saw battle to open the second set as well, though the Waves hung tough and multiple kills from Jasper and Deluzio, along with a solid Jasper, Akinwumi block gave Pepperdine the 15-14 lead at the media timeout.  After that Malibu Roofing Company statement was made, the Waves were fueled and ready to shut things down.  Kills from Brendan Read, Andersen Fuller and Jasper would do just that, as Pepperdine finished the set off 25-21.
 
In the third and final set, Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara once again fought point-for-point en route to an even 13-13 on the board.  Read then plastered a kill down on the Gauchos' side of the court, before kills from Deluzio, Akinwumi and Jasper pushed the Waves to a three-point lead at the 18-15 mark.  The Waves took the chance to capitalize on UCSB attacking errors shortly after, before Read and Fuller went back-to-back to make it 23-19 in the final moments of the set.  After allowing two points to the opposition, Jasper smashed one down to put the Waves in a position to close, and Read would do the honors with an ace to make it 25-21 in the set and a sweep to close the day.
 
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.