MALIBU, Calif. — The #9 Pepperdine men's volleyball team will play the final home match of the season on Thursday night, facing #2 UCLA in Firestone.  The Waves will then head cross-town on Saturday to challenge the Bruins once again, this time in Westwood.
 
MATCH #28 — Thursday (April 13) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #9 Pepperdine (16-11, 5-5 MPSF) vs. #2 UCLA (25-2, 10-0 MPSF) at 6 p.m. | ASICS Night
 
MATCH #29 — Saturday (April 15) at Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, Calif.: #9 Pepperdine (16-11, 5-5 MPSF) vs. #2 UCLA (25-2, 10-0 MPSF) at 7 p.m.
 
COVERAGE — The matches will have live stats and live streams available with the home match streaming live on WaveCasts on 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 — After closing out the regular season this week, the Waves will head up to Palo Alto on April 19-22 for the MPSF Tournament, hosted by Stanford.  The bracket will be decided based on regular season conference finishes at the end of the week.
 
LAST WEEK — Pepperdine split last week, sweeping past Concordia on Saturday for Senior Day after falling in four sets to the Golden Eagles down in Irvine on Thursday.  In the four-setter down South, the Waves won the first set 25-18, but fell 25-17, 25-17 and 26-24 to lose the match.  The team produced 57 kills on a .252 clip, while giving up 48 kills on a .376 output to the opposition.  The squad was out-blocked 15.5 to 6.0.  Jaylen Jasper led with 22 kills, while Jacob Steele and Akin Akinwumi picked up 12 kills. 
 
Then in the win in Malibu, the Waves picked up 27-25, 25-18 and 25-22 set wins to sweep the Golden Eagles.  Pepperdine posted 49 kills on a .482 clip, while allowing only 37 kills on a .355 clip to the opposition.  The Waves also led with 7.5 blocks, 22 digs and seven aces, compared to the Golden Eagles' 5.0 blocks, 18 digs and two aces.  Jasper led the squad with 20 kills on a .531 output, while Steel was good for 11 kills.  Akinwumi had a team-best four blocks, while he, Joe Deluzio and Bryce Dvorak added two aces apiece.  Dvorak also led the squad with 46 assists and tied the team-high five digs alongside Jasper.
 
WAVE REPORT — This season, the Waves have gone 16-11 overall and an even 5-5 among MPSF opponents.  As a team, Pepperdine produces 13.19 kills/set on a .341 clip, adding 12.40 assists, 1.56 aces, 7.61 digs and 1.69 blocks per set.  Opponents post 10.88 kills/set on a .296 output, while tabbing 10.42 assists, 1.26 aces, 6.41 digs and 2.34 blocks per set.
 
Jaylen Jasper leads the Waves with 5.10 kills/set, doing so on a .386 success rate.  He adds an all-around effort of 1.37 digs, 0.54 blocks and 0.20 aces per set as well.  Bryce Dvorak leads in playmaking duties with 10.80 assists/set and 1,091 total assists this season, leading the Waves to their impressive 13.19 kills/set and .341 team hitting percentage.  Akin Akinwumi and Dvorak also lead the Waves with 38 and 37 aces this season, averaging 0.38 and 0.37 aces/set respectively.   Trey Cole leads the back line with 2.09 digs/set after having marked 194 digs this season and Akinwumi leads with 87 blocks to average 0.86 blocks per set.
 
WAVES IMPRESS IN THE STAT RANKINGS — Nearing the end of the season, the Waves rank second the nation with 13.19 kills/set and 12.40 assists/set and fifth with a .341 hitting percentage, while ranking 16th in service aces (1.54). 
 
Bryce Dvorak also ranks second in the nation in assists/set (10.80).  Jaylen Jasper is second in kills/set (5.10) and points/set (5.62), 7th in attacks/set (9.06) and 12th in hitting percentage (.386) among others.  Trey Cole ranks 13th in digs/set (2.09) and Akin Akinwumi ranks 5th in hitting percentage (.447) and 33rd in aces/set (0.38). 
 
OPPONENTS — UCLA has gone 25-2 this season, falling only to Penn State and Hawai'i.  The Bruins are on a six-match winning streak with a pair of wins against each Stanford, Grand Canyon and USC the past three weeks.  All-time, the Bruins hold an 86-45 record against the Waves, dating back to 1972 when the Bruins won in Westwood.  In 2021, the Waves went 2-1 against, but the Bruins had the edge last season and won in all three meetings.