PALO ALTO, Calif. — Career efforts for Jaylen Jasper on the attack front and Ryan Barnett at the service line, along with a stellar hitting output by the #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team, propelled the Waves to a straight-set sweep over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent #9 Stanford at the Burnham Pavilion and Ford Center on Friday night.
 
The Waves (9-4, 1-0 MPSF) posted a .571 hitting percentage collectively, marking the second-best hitting percentage in the Pepperdine men's volleyball record books during the rally scoring era.  The team produced 48 kills with only eight errors on 70 swings against the Cardinal (7-5, 0-1 MPSF).  The top spot in the record books is currently held by the 2022 squad last season when the Waves posted 40 kills with six errors on 58 swings for a .586 clip against CSUN.  It's also the highest team hitting output in an MPSF contest since March 27, 2014, when Long Beach State hit .582 at UC San Diego.
 
Graduate student Jasper posted a career-high .783 hitting percentage on the ninth 20-kill effort of his career, while redshirt-freshman Barnett impressed with a career-best five aces.  Barnett also tallied 10 kills, marking the second match of his career with double digit smashes.
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 20 kills, .783 hitting %, 1 ace, 4 digs, 1 block
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y./Saint Edward's School): 10 kills, .438 hitting %, 5 aces, 4 digs, 1 block
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 8 kills, .800 hitting %, 3 aces, 3 blocks
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 40 assists, 4 kills, 1 block
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 4 kills, 5 digs
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 5 digs, 2 assists
 
WAVES VS. CARDINAL
In addition to the impressive hitting output, the Waves also led with 20 digs to the Cardinal's 11.  At the service line, Pepperdine posted nine aces, while the opposition was good for three.  Stanford did have the slight edge at the net, marking seven blocks to Pepperdine's three.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        3          21        .619
2          16        1          23        .652
3          16        4          26        .462
TTL      48        8          70        .571
 
STANFORD ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          8          3          21        .238
2          8          4          20        .200
3          12        1          22        .500
TTL      28        8          63        .317
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves and Cardinal came out firing to open the first set, with each team working towards an 9-9 tied score.  A kill from Akin Akinwumi and the first ace of the night from Ryan Barnett gave Pepperdine the first edge of the match, however, and the squad used it to go on a 6-2 run to force a Stanford timeout.  The home team started to close the gap, coming within one at the 16-15 mark, but more smashes from Barnett and Bryce Dvorak extended the Waves' advantage to four, 21-17.  Jaylen Jasper and Barnett then each collected aces and Akinwumi closed up the set with a pair of kills, 25-19.
 
Pepperdine went point-for-point with Stanford to open the second set, but after 11-11 on the board, a block from Jasper and Akinwumi started the Waves' trajectory upward once again.  A pair of back-to-back kills from Jasper, followed by another Dvorak, Akinwumi rejection and the squad had a five-point lead, 17-12.  Barnett blasted his third and fourth ace of the match down shortly after during a 7-1 Pepperdine run, and Akinwumi would follow suit with an ace of his own to end the set 25-16. 
 
The Cardinal opened the set with a 5-3 advantage, but kills from Jasper and another ace from Akinwumi quickly tied the score.  After exchanging points, smashes from Jasper, Barnett and Dvorak pushed the Waves to a 14-10 lead and forced another Stanford timeout.  The opposition was able to tie the score, even taking the lead at one point, 20-19, but a service error from the Cardinal got the Waves back on track.  Capitalizing on another error from across the net to regain the lead, Barnett followed up with a kill to make it 22-20.  The two teams traded points shortly after, but a kill from Akinwumi put the Waves in a position to close and Barnett closed up shop with his fifth ace to make it 25-22.
 
UP NEXT
Tomorrow, the Waves and Cardinal go head-to-head once again in Palo Alto.  First serve is slated for 5 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.
 
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.