IRVINE, Calif. — The #8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team fell in four to Concordia on Thursday night at CU Arena.  After winning the first set 25-18, the Waves succumbed to 25-17, 25-17 and 26-24 set losses to drop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup.
 
Three Waves hit for double-figures, led by graduate Jaylen Jasper with 22 kills and senior Akin Akinwumi and redshirt-junior Jacob Steele with 12 kills apiece. 
 
Pepperdine (15-11, 4-5 MPSF) and Concordia (8-15, 2-7 MPSF) will go head-to-head again on Saturday as the Waves host the Golden Eagles for Senior Night.  First serve is slated for 6 p.m. and Jasper and Steele will be honored prior to the match.
 
BIG WAVES
Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck Senior HS/Stanford): 22 kills, 5 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace
Bryce Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS): 52 assists, 7 digs, 2 blocks
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Peninsula HS): 12 kills, .529 hitting %, 1 block
Jacob Steele (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./El Toro HS): 12 kills, 1 block
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius HS): 5 kills, 3 blocks
Joe Deluzio (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy): 3 kills, 6 digs
Yadiel Diaz (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Timber Creek HS): 7 digs
 
WAVES VS. GOLDEN EAGLES
Pepperdine amassed 57 kills compared to Concordia's 48, but the opposition had a high success rate, posting a .376 clip to the Waves' .252.  The opposition also led at the net defensively, marking 15.5 blocks, as opposed to 6.0 blocks from Pepperdine.  The Waves led 28 to 22 in digs, while the Golden Eagles put in a 3-2 ace differential.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          17         2          25        .577
2          12        6          24        .250
3          13        10        27        .111
4          15        10        38        .132
TTL      57        28        115      .252
 
CUI ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          13        6          24        .292
2          13        1          20        .600
3          10        0          16        .625
4          12        6          33        .182
TTL      48        13        93        .376
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves and Golden Eagles came out evenly, tied through a 6-6 score before Concordia put a few kills down to take a 10-7 lead.  Pepperdine countered early with kills from Akin Akinwumi and Jacob Steele to tie things back up at 11's.  Shortly after, a pair of smashes from Andersen Fuller earned the Waves a three-point advantage.  More kills from Jaylen Jasper, followed by a Fuller, Bryce Dvorak block collaboration put Pepperdine five-ahead, 18-13.  Another Dvorak, Akinwumi rejection letter kept the Waves moving forward and a pair of final kills from Jasper and Akinwumi would close the set 25-18 to give Pepperdine the first lead of the match.
 
Concordia showed no let-up, however, and took a 7-3 lead to open the next set.  The opposition kept building on that early momentum, reaching a 21-13 advantage late in the action that would lead to a 25-17 set score to tie the overall match.
 
The third set went point-for-point to open en route to a 5-5 tied score with several kills from each Akinwumi and Jasper.  The Golden Eagles worked ahead to a three-point lead shortly after, and though the Waves countered with kills from Dvorak and Steele to come within one, another five-point run put CUI ahead 13-7.  Pepperdine attempted to rally late in the set, but Concordia was able to end things 25-17 and pull ahead 2-1 heading into the fourth set.
 
CUI had an early lead to open the next set, but smashes from Akinwumi and Steele would tie things up 6-apiece.  More big attacks from the opposition propelled them to an eight-point lead at the 22-13 mark.  Dvorak stepped up at the service line to put the Golden Eagles on their heels, though, and five-straight kills with three from Jasper and two from Steele helped the Waves start to close the gap.  Pepperdine kept pounding down with another pair of kills from Jasper and a block from Fuller and Joe Deluzio to tie the set 23-23.  The two teams traded points to 24's before the opposition marked a kill and capitalized on a Waves' attack error to close the set 26-24 and win the MPSF match.
 
UP NEXT
On Saturday, the Waves will return home to host Concordia at 6 p.m.  Seniors Jaylen Jasper and Jacob Steele will be honored prior to first serve.
 
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.