MALIBU, Calif. — There is another home and away series on the docket for the #8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team this week, as the Waves travel to Irvine on Thursday to face Concordia before returning to Malibu to host the Golden Eagles on Saturday. Saturday's matchup in Firestone will also serve as Senior Day and
Jaylen Jasper and
Jacob Steele will be honored prior to first serve.
MATCH #26 — Saturday (April 6) at CU Arena in Irvine, Calif.: #8 Pepperdine (15-10, 4-4 MPSF) vs. Concordia (7-15, 1-7 MPSF) at 7 p.m.
MATCH #27 — Saturday (April 8) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #8 Pepperdine (15-10, 4-4 MPSF) vs. Concordia (7-15, 1-7 MPSF) at 6 p.m. | SENIOR DAY
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 — Pepperdine will close out the regular season on April 13 and 15, first facing #2 UCLA at home on Thursday before trekking to Westwood to challenge the Bruins on the road on Saturday. Thursday's match at home will be ASICS Night featuring special promotions highlighting our partnership with ASICS. The MPSF Tournament will take place in Palo Alto this year from April 19-22.
LAST WEEK — The Waves had one sole match on the docket last week, facing off against Cal Lutheran at home and winning in straight sets.
Andersen Fuller and
Jacob Steele each hit for double-figures with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Fuller had his attack effort with a .588 clip, while leading the squad with four blocks.
Joe Deluzio had seven kills on a .500 and a team-high eight digs, while
Bryce Dvorak led with 31 assists and three aces, while adding six digs.
WAVES IMPRESS IN THE STAT RANKINGS — After 10 weeks of action, the Waves are second the nation with 13.01 kills/set and 12.21 assists/set and sixth with a .342 hitting percentage, while ranking 18th in service aces (1.54).
Bryce Dvorak also ranks second in the nation in assists/set (10.57).
Jaylen Jasper is second in kills/set (5.03) and points/set (5.55), 7th in attacks/set (8.92) and 13th in hitting percentage (.385) among others.
Trey Cole ranks 16th in digs/set (2.08) and
Akin Akinwumi ranks 6th in hitting percentage (.441) and 30th in aces/set (0.37).
OPPONENTS — Concordia has amassed a 7-15 overall record this season, including a 1-7 record in MPSF action. CUI's most notable win this season came on the road against #5 Grand Canyon when the Golden Eagles won in five sets. The team is currently on a three-match losing streak after having been swept by GCU as well as #9 Stanford twice. All-time, the Waves hold 10-0 record against the Golden Eagles, dating back to 2016 when the teams first faced, and including six sweeps.
RECORD TOPPER JASPER — On March 24 at BYU,
Jaylen Jasper tied the Pepperdine men's volleyball record for most kills in a single match during the rally scoring era after amassing an impressive 37 smashes. The feat had been accomplished thrice before, all by Pepperdine alumnus and former Waves' assistant coach Paul Carroll, who topped the record books in five sets at UCLA in 2007 and at home against USC in 2009, as well as in four sets against UC Irvine in Malibu in 2009.
AVCA NATIONAL ACCLAIM — Jaylen Jasper tabbed an AVCA National Player of the Week honors this season. For the accolade, in two matches against #5 Grand Canyon, he averaged 5.30 kills and 5.45 points per set, marking 54.5 total points. The production was fueled by a 53 kills effort and a .536 hitting percentage in 10 sets. In the opener, he posted his second career 30-kill effort and did so on a .578 success rate with only four errors on 45 swings. Then in the second matchup against the Lopes, he posted another 20+ kill mark with 23 kills on a .487 clip, leading the Waves to a five-set victory.
MPSF WEEKLY HONORS — Pepperdine has amassed six weekly MPSF honors so far this season, with five offensive nods and one defensive recognition.
The Waves collected MPSF offensive weekly honors for three straight weeks during weeks two through four earlier in the season.
Bryce Dvorak (1/16) and
Jaylen Jasper (1/23, 1/30, 2/20, 2/27) have tabbed offensive weekly nods and
Trey Cole (2/27) has earned a defensive nod this season.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine remained in the #8 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.
