MALIBU, Calif. – The #13-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team hit for an impressive .427 collective hitting percentage en route to a 25-17, 25-14, 25-12 win over Fort Valley State in Firestone Fieldhouse on Wednesday. 
 
The Waves (1-0) opened the 2024 campaign with the sweep over the Wildcats (0-1), holding the opposition to only 18 kills on a -.036 success rate. 
 
Kevin Roberts and Akin Akinwumi led the squad with 11 and 10 kills respectively, both collecting on hitting percentages above .400.  It was Akinwumi's seventh career match hitting for double-figure kills and the first of Roberts' career.  Ryan Barnett swung for an impressive .636 with seven kills on 11 errorless swings for a career-high hitting output.
 
BIG WAVES
Kevin Roberts (Ocoee, Fla.): 11 kills, .409 hitting %, 7 digs, 2 blocks
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.): 10 kills, .444 hitting %
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y.): 7 kills, .636 hitting %
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 16 assists, 3 digs
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 11 digs
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif.): 5 kills, .444 hitting %
Alex Mrkalj (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada): 5 kills, .556 hitting #, 4 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace
 
WAVES VS. WILDCATS
Pepperdine led the offensive by a wide margin with the team's 43 kills on a .427 success rate, while giving up only 18 kills on a -.083 output.  The squad led 7.0-3.0 in blocks, 39-26 in digs and 2-0 in aces.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          13        2          22        .455
2          12        3          28        .321
3          18        2          32        .500
TTL      43        8          82        .427
 
FVSU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          7          7          24        .000
2          7          10        35        -.086
3          4          4          24        .000
TTL      18        21        83        -.036
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Waves held momentum from the first play of the game, amassing an 11-6 lead with kills from Cole Rasic, Akin Akinwumi and Kevin Roberts.  It would be an advantage the squad would hold on to throughout the set as more kills from same three Waves propelled them to a 19-14 lead late in the action.  Akinwumi laid down three-nearly consecutive kills shortly after en route to a 22-16 lead and Pepperdine would ride that energy through to a 25-17 set win.
 
The opposition took a slight 8-5 lead to open the second set, but smashes from Akinwumi and Roberts countered to tie the score at 9-apiece.  The Waves then went on a 5-2 run to pull ahead, 14-11, with more kills from Ryan Barnett.  A block collaboration from Alex Mrkalj and Andersen Fuller kept things moving in the right direction and a pair of solo rejections from Martin De Chavarria and Roberts pushed the team to a 10-point lead at the 23-13 mark.  Roberts and Mrkalj went back-to-back with a kill, ace combo to end the set.
 
Four kills in the first five plays, including a pair of consecutive smashes from Barnett and solo smashes from Mrkalj and De Chavarria, started the third set off on a high note.  After leading 8-6, Pepperdine went on a 6-0 run courtesy of successful offensive attacks from Roberts, an ace from Tyler Stewart and a block from De Chavarria, 13-6.  More solid kills from the Waves, along with a block effort from Fuller and Mrkalj, pushed the Waves to a 12-point advantage, 20-8.  Pepperdine showed no let-up through the end of the set and kills from Barnett and Mrkalj ended things 25-12.
 
UP NEXT
On Friday, Pepperdine will host Morehouse College on Friday in Malibu, Calif. at 6 p.m.
 
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.