SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — After a tough five-set battle in Robertson Gymnasium, the #5 Pepperdine men's volleyball team dropped a heart-breaker to #15 UC Santa Barbara.
 
The Waves (8-2) won the first set 25-21 to take the first lead of the match, but the Gauchos (2-7) answered with a 25-21 set to tie things up.  After Pepperdine once again took the advantage with a sound 25-16 third set win, the opposition countered with a 25-11 win to force a fifth.  It would be the first fifth set the Waves have played this season and after a see-saw battle to open, the Gauchos were able to gain momentum and finish with a 15-12 win.
 
Graduate student Jaylen Jasper highlighted the night with his third-career double-double after blasting a season-high 26 kills and matching his career high 10 digs.  Junior libero Trey Cole also picked up double-digit digs for the fourth time this season, amassing a season-best 13 digs, while junior setter Bryce Dvorak was one-shy of his career-high in assists, tabbing a season-best 54 throughout the match.
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 26 kills, .432 hitting %, 10 digs
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 10 kills, 7 digs, 3 blocks
Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS): 11 kills, 3 digs
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 54 assists, 2 aces
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 14 digs
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 8 kills, 3 aces, 3 blocks
 
WAVES VS. GAUCHOS
Pepperdine led the match with 60 kills to UC Santa Barbara's 56 kills, but the opposition led with a .402 hitting percentage compared to .298.  The Waves had another advantage in the back row, posting 36 digs to the Gauchos' 34, but UCSB put up nine blocks and seven aces, compared to Pepperdine's four blocks and five aces.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          17        6          32        .344
2          14        5          28        .321
3          15        0          25        .600
4          7          8          24        -.042
5          7          4          15        .200
TTL      60        23        124      .298
 
UC SANTA BARBARA ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          8          5          27        .111
2          16        1          27        .556
3          12        4          29        .276
4          11        1          16        .625
5          9          0          13        .692
TTL      56        11        112      .402
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Gauchos had the first advantage of the match, building a 4-0 lead, but the Waves were right behind to counter and tie the set at 9's with multiple kills from Joe Deluzio and Jacob Steele.  Pepperdine worked ahead by three with more smashes from Steele and Akin Akinwumi, leading 15-12, before the opposition was able to counter and tie things up once again.  After going point-for-point to a 20-20 tied score, back-to-back smashes from Bryce Dvorak and Jaylen Jasper gave the Waves an edge.  The Gauchos collected one more kill in the set, but kills from Jasper and Steele and a final block from Akinwumi and Steele closed the set 25-21.
 
After another see-saw battle to open the second set, the opposition started to pull ahead after the media timeout, building a four-point 20-16 lead.  Pepperdine started to rally late in the set, but UC Santa Barbara was able to close things up 25-21 to even the overall score.
 
The Waves and Gauchos traded points en route to a 10-10 tie in the third set, but Pepperdine started to gain momentum with a pair of aces from Akinwumi to make it 14-10.  The Waves would keep the advantage throughout the set, building on a strong offensive output from Andersen Fuller, Steele and Jasper towards a 17-14 lead. The squad then went on 5-0 run with a pair of consecutive blocks from Akinwumi and Deluzio, riding the wave through to a 25-16 set win.
 
The Waves got comfortable with the 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set, but the Gauchos weren't going to lay down easy.  The opposition broke out of the starting gate, pushing forward to a 15-7 lead.  UC Santa Barbara would continue on to a 25-11 win to force a fifth set.
 
It would be Pepperdine's first fifth set of the season, and though each side of the net exchanged points to open, it seemed the Waves had slight one-point advantage early.  After an 8-8 tie, though, UCSB started to pull ahead, eventually taking a 15-12 lead to close the match.  
 
UP NEXT
Next week, the Waves split home and away with UC Irvine, first playing in Firestone on February 8 before heading down to take on the Anteaters again on February 10.
 
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.