Box Score LOS ANGELES, Calif. — It was a tight battle to open things up at the Galen Center on Saturday night, but the #7 Pepperdine men's volleyball team buckled down to triumph over #10 USC, 3-1. 
 
After the Waves (12-8, 4-2 MPSF) battled back to win the first set 27-25, the Trojans (8-9, 1-5 MPSF) tied things up with a 25-17 second set win.  Pepperdine trailed marginally in the following two sets, but eventually won 25-23, 25-20 to secure the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory.
 
Junior Andersen Fuller tabbed a career-high 12 kills on an impressive .688 clip, marking only one error on 16 swings.  Graduate student Jaylen Jasper led the Waves with 15 kills, his 40^th career match with double-figure kills in a Waves uniform.  Trey Cole helped the cause in the back row, posting 10 digs for his 13^th career match with double-figure digs.
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 15 kills, 6 digs, 5 blocks
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 12 kills, .688 hitting %, 4 blocks
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 44 assists, 8 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 7 kills, .538 hitting %, 4 digs, 5 blocks
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 9 kills, .316 hitting %, 6 digs
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS): 10 digs, 3 assists
Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS): 6 kills
 
WAVES VS. TROJANS
­Pepperdine led the match with 51 kills on a .246 hitting percentage, while USC marked 50 kills on a .242 output throughout.  The opposition led offensively in the first and second sets with over .300 hitting percentages, but the Waves regained composure in the final two sets, keeping the Trojans to below .100 outputs.  The Waves had an edge with 39 digs to the Trojans' 33, but the opposition led four to two in aces.  Each side of the net tabbed 9.5 blocks.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        5          34        .324
2          9          6          23        .130
3          15        7          32        .250
4          11        5          25        .240
TTL      51        23        114      .246
 
USC ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          18        3          39        .385
2          12        3          24        .375
3          10        7          31        .097
4          10        8          26        .077
TTL      50        21        120      .242
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
USC opened the match up hot, posting a 5-2 run early on, though Pepperdine was able to counter with kills from Jaylen Jasper and Andersen Fuller en route to an even 8-8.  The Trojans started to pull away at the 13-11 mark, but the Waves were close on their heels to tie the score yet again at 15's.  After exchanging points, but seeing USC hold a slight lead throughout a majority of the set towards a 23-21 deficit, the Waves started to rally and kills from Fuller and Jasper tied the score 23-23 and forced a USC timeout.  The Trojans grabbed the first opportunity, though another kill from Fuller would deny them as the squad fought off two set point options.  After 25's, back-to-back smashes from Jasper and Akin Akinwumi shut the set down 27-25 in the Waves' favor.
 
The second set told a different story and after a 6-6 tied score, USC started to pull away, eventually leading 13-8.  The opposition would use that momentum to build towards a 25-17 set win to tie things up.
 
The third set began in a see-saw battle, but it would appear USC would gain the first edge yet again, working ahead to an 18-14 lead. Pepperdine began to show life, however, countering with more Fuller smashes and a Fuller, Jasper block collaboration to come within one, 22-21.  After capitalizing on Trojans' errors, Jasper and Akinwumi would send a rejection letter to bring Pepperdine to set-point and Jacob Steele would make his return with a smash to end the set 25-23.
 
USC may have opened the fourth set 7-3, but kills from Joe Deluzio and an ace from Bryce Dvorak tied the score at 9-apiece.  The Waves and Trojans traded points shortly after, but kills from Akinwumi, Jasper and Deluzio gave the squad a two-point, 18-16 advantage.  More kills from Fuller continued to help the cause, along with another Jasper, Akinwumi block and Pepperdine was in a position to close.  A final Jasper kill would finish things up 25-20 in the Waves favor and end the match in four.
 
UP NEXT
Next week, the Waves will host a pair of matches in Malibu, welcoming Harvard to Firestone on Wednesday, March 15 and Daemen on Friday, March 17.  After the brief break from MPSF action, Pepperdine will hit the road to take on BYU on March 24 and 25 in Provo.
 
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.