Wednesday, February 22
Malibu, Calif.
6:00 p.m. PT
Pepperdine University
vs
Grand Canyon
Photo by: Morgan Davenport
#7 Men's Volleyball Set to Host #5 Grand Canyon Twice
2/21/2023 6:20:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. — The #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team is back in Firestone Fieldhouse this week, hosting #5 Grand Canyon twice to continue on with Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action.
MATCH #15 — Wednesday (February 22) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #7 Pepperdine (9-5) vs. #5 Grand Canyon (13-0) at 6 p.m.
MATCH #16 — Friday (February 24) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #7 Pepperdine (9-5) vs. #5 Grand Canyon (13-0) at 12 p.m.
COVERAGE — The matches will have live stream and live stats available, with the streams going live on WaveCasts at the WCC Network. All links can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.
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.
UP NEXT — Next week, the Waves will hit the road again for a pair of non-conference matches at #1 Hawai'i on March 1 and 3.
PROMOTIONS — Free Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwiches will be given out to the first students with a valid Pepperdine ID for Wednesdays' match. On Friday, free Pepperdine replica jerseys will be available at the promotions table.
LAST WEEK — The Waves split with #9 Stanford in Palo Alto, sweeping past the Cardinal in the opener and then falling in a five-set battle to close up the week. In the sweep, the Waves posted a .571 collective hitting percentage, marking the second-best clip in the Pepperdine men's volleyball record books during the rally scoring era. 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.
Jaylen Jasper marked a career-high .783 hitting output in the ninth 20-kill effort of his career. Ryan Barnett added a career-high five aces and 10 kills, while Akin Akinwumi posted eight kills on a .800 clip. The Waves posted 25-19, 25-16 and 25-22 set scores for the MPSF-opening victory.
In the second match against Stanford, the two teams split the opening sets 25-20, but the Cardinal won the third 25-17 to gain the edge. Pepperdine rallied with a 25-23 fourth set win to force a fifth, but the home team advantage proved too much as Stanford came away with the 15-12 final set score. Jasper led the squad with a season-high 27 kills on a .396 clip, while Akinwumi and Andersen Fuller posted 12 kills (.526) and 10 kills (.750) respectively. Bryce Dvorak marked a career-high 57 assists and added seven digs and two aces.
MPSF WEEKLY ACCLAIM — Pepperdine has amassed four offensive weekly MPSF honors so far this season, most recently by Jaylen Jasper this week for his third nod of the season. Jasper was an absolute unit on the attack front this week, averaging 6.06 points/set with 5.88 kills/set on a staggering .521 throughout two matches. In eight sets of action, he posted 47 kills with only 10 errors on 71 swings.
He posted 20 or more kills in both matches, leading the Waves' offensive with a career-high .783 hitting percentage in the opening sweep over the Cardinal, having posted 20 kills with only two errors on 23 swings. In the five-set match the following night, he once again came to show out, posting a season-high 27 kills on a .396 success rate.
Pepperdine collected MPSF offensive weekly honors for three straight weeks during weeks two through four earlier in the season. This season, Bryce Dvorak (1/16) and Jaylen Jasper (1/23, 1/30, 2/20) have tabbed offensive weekly nods.
WAVES IMPRESS IN THE STAT RANKINGS — After six weeks of action, the Waves are third the nation with 13.60 kills/set and 12.79 assists/set and fifth with a .364 hitting percentage, while ranking 9th in service aces (1.83).
Bryce Dvorak also ranks atop the nation in assists/set (11.16). Jaylen Jasper is second in kills/set (4.94), third in points/set (5.45), seventh in attacks/set (8.69) and 17th in hitting percentage (.384) among others. Trey Cole ranks 14th in digs/set (2.10) and Akin Akinwumi ranks 13th in aces/set (0.49).
OPPONENTS — Grand Canyon has gone 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the league so far this season, though the Antelopes have only faced three ranked opponents five times, besting #14 Ohio State in five, #7 UC Irvine twice - once in four and once in five - and MPSF opponent #12 USC in four sets twice. All-time, Pepperdine has gone 8-3 against Grand Canyon, winning the first-ever matchup in three sets during the 2010 campaign. The Waves had a three-match streak from 2018-2019 and a four-match streak from 2021-2022, though the Lopes took the last match against in the 2022 campaign with a four-set win in Arizona.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine remained in the #7 spot this week in the AVCA national rankings. The Waves opened the 2023 season on January 3 at #5 in the AVCA national rankings as well.
Pepperdine, along with Long Beach State and UCLA, are the only three schools to have been ranked in the top-15 of every single national poll since the polls began in 1986. Hawai'i is the next closest, having been ranked 554 total times. Pepperdine is second on the list for school ranked most in the top-five with 358 top-five rankings, while UCLA tops the list with 394 top-five rankings.
MATCH #15 — Wednesday (February 22) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #7 Pepperdine (9-5) vs. #5 Grand Canyon (13-0) at 6 p.m.
MATCH #16 — Friday (February 24) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #7 Pepperdine (9-5) vs. #5 Grand Canyon (13-0) at 12 p.m.
COVERAGE — The matches will have live stream and live stats available, with the streams going live on WaveCasts at the WCC Network. All links can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.
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.
UP NEXT — Next week, the Waves will hit the road again for a pair of non-conference matches at #1 Hawai'i on March 1 and 3.
PROMOTIONS — Free Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwiches will be given out to the first students with a valid Pepperdine ID for Wednesdays' match. On Friday, free Pepperdine replica jerseys will be available at the promotions table.
LAST WEEK — The Waves split with #9 Stanford in Palo Alto, sweeping past the Cardinal in the opener and then falling in a five-set battle to close up the week. In the sweep, the Waves posted a .571 collective hitting percentage, marking the second-best clip in the Pepperdine men's volleyball record books during the rally scoring era. 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.
Jaylen Jasper marked a career-high .783 hitting output in the ninth 20-kill effort of his career. Ryan Barnett added a career-high five aces and 10 kills, while Akin Akinwumi posted eight kills on a .800 clip. The Waves posted 25-19, 25-16 and 25-22 set scores for the MPSF-opening victory.
In the second match against Stanford, the two teams split the opening sets 25-20, but the Cardinal won the third 25-17 to gain the edge. Pepperdine rallied with a 25-23 fourth set win to force a fifth, but the home team advantage proved too much as Stanford came away with the 15-12 final set score. Jasper led the squad with a season-high 27 kills on a .396 clip, while Akinwumi and Andersen Fuller posted 12 kills (.526) and 10 kills (.750) respectively. Bryce Dvorak marked a career-high 57 assists and added seven digs and two aces.
MPSF WEEKLY ACCLAIM — Pepperdine has amassed four offensive weekly MPSF honors so far this season, most recently by Jaylen Jasper this week for his third nod of the season. Jasper was an absolute unit on the attack front this week, averaging 6.06 points/set with 5.88 kills/set on a staggering .521 throughout two matches. In eight sets of action, he posted 47 kills with only 10 errors on 71 swings.
He posted 20 or more kills in both matches, leading the Waves' offensive with a career-high .783 hitting percentage in the opening sweep over the Cardinal, having posted 20 kills with only two errors on 23 swings. In the five-set match the following night, he once again came to show out, posting a season-high 27 kills on a .396 success rate.
Pepperdine collected MPSF offensive weekly honors for three straight weeks during weeks two through four earlier in the season. This season, Bryce Dvorak (1/16) and Jaylen Jasper (1/23, 1/30, 2/20) have tabbed offensive weekly nods.
WAVES IMPRESS IN THE STAT RANKINGS — After six weeks of action, the Waves are third the nation with 13.60 kills/set and 12.79 assists/set and fifth with a .364 hitting percentage, while ranking 9th in service aces (1.83).
Bryce Dvorak also ranks atop the nation in assists/set (11.16). Jaylen Jasper is second in kills/set (4.94), third in points/set (5.45), seventh in attacks/set (8.69) and 17th in hitting percentage (.384) among others. Trey Cole ranks 14th in digs/set (2.10) and Akin Akinwumi ranks 13th in aces/set (0.49).
OPPONENTS — Grand Canyon has gone 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the league so far this season, though the Antelopes have only faced three ranked opponents five times, besting #14 Ohio State in five, #7 UC Irvine twice - once in four and once in five - and MPSF opponent #12 USC in four sets twice. All-time, Pepperdine has gone 8-3 against Grand Canyon, winning the first-ever matchup in three sets during the 2010 campaign. The Waves had a three-match streak from 2018-2019 and a four-match streak from 2021-2022, though the Lopes took the last match against in the 2022 campaign with a four-set win in Arizona.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine remained in the #7 spot this week in the AVCA national rankings. The Waves opened the 2023 season on January 3 at #5 in the AVCA national rankings as well.
Pepperdine, along with Long Beach State and UCLA, are the only three schools to have been ranked in the top-15 of every single national poll since the polls began in 1986. Hawai'i is the next closest, having been ranked 554 total times. Pepperdine is second on the list for school ranked most in the top-five with 358 top-five rankings, while UCLA tops the list with 394 top-five rankings.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Volleyball
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/ Men's Volleyball
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/ Men's Volleyball
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