MALIBU, Calif. — It came down to the wire in Firestone Fieldhouse on Wednesday night, as the #6 Pepperdine men's volleyball team duked it out with #7 UC Irvine, eventually falling in five sets.  After splitting sets 27-29, 25-20, 20-25, 29-27, the Anteaters would come away with a 15-9 final set win to defeat the Waves.  
 
Redshirt-sophomore Joe Deluzio blasted a career-high 19 kills to highlight the match, while three Waves hit for double-figures kills.  Redshirt-freshman Brendan Read was also good for a career-best in the back row, impressing with 14 digs.  
 
Pepperdine (8-3) and UC Irvine (8-3) will go head-to-head again on Friday, February 10, though the teams will take it down to the Bren Events Center in Irvine for a 7 p.m. first serve.
 
BIG WAVES
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 19 kills, .471 hitting %, 4 digs, 1 ace
Brendan Read (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 14 digs, 6 kills, 1 block (1 solo)
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 16 kills, 6 digs, 3 blocks (1 solo)
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 12 kills, .450 hitting %, 2 aces, 2 blocks
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 51 assists, 3 aces, 3 digs
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 7 digs, 3 assists
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 8 kills, 2 blocks
 
WAVES VS. ANTEATERS
It was a serving duel from start to finish, with both sides of the net ripping serves.  UCI amassed nine aces to the Waves' six, and Pepperdine had 28 service errors to the opposition's 24.  Pepperdine led offensively with 62 kills on a .244 success rate, compared to UC Irvine's 49 kills on a .267 clip.  The Waves blasted 19 kills down in the first set, compared to the 12 from across the net.  Though the Waves had a slight edge on the attack, the Anteaters had the advantage at the net after posting 16.0 blocks to the home team's 6.0.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          19        7          30        .400
2          14        5          30        .300
3          9          10        25        -.040
4          17        5          32        .375
5          3          3          14        .000
TTL      62        30        131      .244
 
UC IRVINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        4          25        .320
2          11        3          25        .320
3          8          5          22        .136
4          14        4          31        .323
5          4          2          13        .154
TTL      49        18        116      .267
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Though UC Irvine built an 8-3 lead to open the set, Pepperdine was close behind, ready to tie things up at 14's after multiple kills from Akin Akinwumi and Joe Deluzio and a block from Andersen Fuller and Jaylen Jasper.  Bryce Dvorak then found the floor for an ace to gain the first edge of the set.  Smashes from Deluzio and Fuller kept the Waves ahead marginally, but the Anteaters were always close behind.  After a 24-22 lead and a chance to close the set, the opposition kept countering, battling off three set-point opportunities from the Waves and eventually tying the score at 27-all.  Though Pepperdine fought off a set-point opportunity of their own, the Anteaters were able to buckle down and win the set 29-27 to gain the first real advantage of the day.
 
After trailing by three to open the second set down 10-7, kills from Jasper and Deluzio and an Akinwumi ace would tie things up.  UC Irvine then pulled ahead by another three-points, but more smashes from Fuller and Jasper would help the set reach a 15-15 tie.  The teams went point-for-point to 18-18 before errors from across the net, as well as kills from Fuller and Deluzio, helped propel the home team to a four-point lead at the 22-18 mark.  Another Dvorak ace and a kill from Jasper ended the set 25-20 in the Waves' favor to tie the overall score at one-apiece.
 
The opposition had the first lead in the third set again, working to 8-5 and 14-10 leads before the Waves started to close the gap for a 15-15 tie.  Each side again traded points to 18-18, but the Anteaters then worked ahead and eventually closed the set 25-20.
 
In a must-win fourth set, the two teams traded points and leads to 11's before Pepperdine capitalized on a few attack and service errors from across the net for an 18-15 lead.  The set was tied again by 20-20, however, and a few kills from across the net had the Anteaters ahead 24-23 with a chance to head home early.  Pepperdine had other ideas, though, and a smash from Aknwumi would fight the first match-point option away.  The opposition had another chance at 26-25, but a kill from Jasper and ace from Deluzio would flip the script to give the Waves a 27-26 advantage.  UC Irvine countered once, but a service and then attack error from the Anteaters would prove costly and the two teams would head to a fifth set after a 29-27 fourth set Waves' win.
 
In the fifth and final set, UCI came out with a 6-3 lead and it would be an advantage the Waves would be unable to surpass.  After having an 8-5 lead at the switch, the Anteaters rode out the final set for a 15-9 win.
 
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.