PALO ALTO, Calif. — Three Waves hit for double figures, led by graduate student Jaylen Jasper with 27 kills, though the #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team was downed in five by #9 Stanford at Maples Pavilion on Saturday night. 
 
The Waves (9-5, 1-1 MPSF) split the first two sets 25-20 with the Cardinal (8-5, 1-1 MPSF), but Stanford pulled ahead with a 25-17 third set win.  Pepperdine answered 25-23 in the fourth, but the home court advantage played a role as the opposition came away with the 15-12 fifth set victory.
 
Jasper had over 20-kills for the sixth match this season, doing so on a .396 success rate, while senior Akin Akinwumi and junior Andersen Fuller had 12 and 10 kills respectively.  Akinwumi tied his season-high kill effort and did so on a .526 clip, while also tying for the team lead with four blocks and Fuller marked a season-high 10 kills on a career-best .750 hitting percentage. 
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 27 kills, .396 hitting %, 7 digs
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 57 assists, 7 digs, 2 aces, 4 kills, 1 block
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 12 kills, .526 hitting %, 4 blocks
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 10 kills, .750 hitting %
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y./Saint Edward's School): 7 kills, 4 blocks, 3 digs
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 6 digs, 4 assists
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 3 digs, 3 kills
 
WAVES VS. CARDINAL
Pepperdine led the attack again tonight, posting 67 kills on a .387 clip, though Stanford posted a .389 hitting percentage with 55 kills.  The Waves also led in the back row, posting a 31 to 29 differential in digs, though the Cardinal had a 10 to five edge in blocks and an eight to four lead at the service line.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        4          27        .444
2          17        4          30        .433
3          8          3          16        .312
­4          17        6          34        .324
5          9          2          17        .412
TTL      67        19        124      .387
 
STANFORD ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          8          6          20        .100
2          12        1          26        .423
3          13        2          21        .524
­4          14        4          29        .345
5          8          0          12        .667
TTL      55        13        108      .389
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves and Cardinal traded points to open the match, but kills from Andersen Fuller and an ace from Bryce Dvorak pushed Pepperdine ahead 10-7.  More smashes from Fuller and Akin Akinwumi helped the cause, and a solo rejection from Dvorak gave the Waves a 15-11 lead at the media timeout.  Pepperdine continued to hold on to a solid advantage throughout the set, fueled by kills from Jaylen Jasper and Ryan Barnett, 20-15.  It would be a lead Stanford would be unable to overcome as the Waves took a 25-20 set win with kills from Dvorak and Fuller.
 
Kills from Jasper and Joe Deluzio opened the second set in the Waves' favor and an Akinwumi and Barnett rejection made it a three-point lead 8-5.  The opposition closed the gap with a 4-1 run shortly after and used the momentum to build a three-point advantage of their own 18-15.  Though kills from Akinwumi and Deluzio were featured throughout the rest of the set, the Cardinal was able to win 25-20 to tie the overall score.
 
After winning the second set, Stanford used the energy to take a 12-4 lead to open the third.  It would be a lead the Waves would be unable to catch, despite an ace from Akinwumi and multiple Dvorak dumps to attempt it.  Eventually, the home team came away with a 25-17 set win to take the team's first set lead of the series.
 
The fourth set was more of a see-saw battle from start to finish, though after a 10-10 tie, kills from Akinwumi and Jasper and a block from Barnett and Akinwumi pushed Pepperdine to a three-point lead.  The Cardinal tied the set again at 14's, taking a two-point advantage with a kill and an ace shortly after, though a Fuller smash and ace from Dvorak tied things up once again.  After exchanging points, a pair of kills from Jasper and Kevin Roberts put the Waves ahead by three, 22-19.  The two teams once again traded leads, with Stanford fighting off the first set point opportunity only for a kill from Barnett to help the Waves take the set 25-23 and force a fifth.
 
In the fifth set, the Waves and Cardinal went point-for-point en route to a 4-4 tied score before a pair of Pepperdine errors gave the opposition the first edge of the set.  A kill from across the net made it a three-point differential, and though smashes from Akinwumi and Jasper would help the cause, Stanford earned the 15-12 set win to finish up with the five-set victory.
 
UP NEXT
Next week, the Waves are back in Firestone, hosting Grand Canyon on February 22 and 24.
 
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.