MALIBU, Calif. – The #13-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team posted an all-time program-record .698 hitting percentage as the Waves swept past Morehouse College in Firestone Fieldhouse on Friday night. 
 
The Waves (2-0) impressed with 32 kills and only two errors on 43 swings against the Tigers (0-2) en route to a better hitting percentage than any other Pepperdine men's volleyball match throughout the rally scoring and sideout scoring eras, boasting 25-3, 25-8 and 25-9 set scores in the process.  The previous program-records were a .586 (40-6-58) against CSUN on March 18, 2022 in the rally scoring era and a .597 against UC Santa Barbara on February 6, 1985 in the sideout scoring era.  The effort is also the second-highest hitting percentage from any Mountain Pacific Sports Federation team so far this season.
 
Sophomore Jake Olson led the Waves with eight kills on nine errorless swings, marking a career-best .889 clip.  Nine from Pepperdine's roster in total tallied at least one kill and five had four or more throughout the match, all of which hit .444 or higher.
 
Pepperdine was also only one shy of tying the program record for aces with a staggering 15 throughout the match, led by graduate Cole Ketrzynski with his five aces in the first six plays of the game.  This mark now ranks second in the Pepperdine all-time serving records.  The last time the top two were reached was when Pepperdine posted 14 aces against Erskine (Jan. 14, 2022).  Before that, the top-two had not been cracked since 2002 when the Waves marked 14 against USC (Mar. 7).  The program record is 16 against BYU, which occurred on March 3, 2001 in Malibu.
 
BIG WAVES
Jake Olson (Newport Beach, Calif.): 8 kills, .889 hitting %, 1 block
Aidan Tune (Honolulu, Hawai'i): 4 kills, .800 hitting %, 2 aces, 6 digs, 3 blocks
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif.): 5 kills, .444 hitting %, 3 aces, 3 digs
Ethan Watson (Sunnyvale, Calif.): 4 kills, .667 hitting %, 3 blocks, 1 ace
Tyler Stewart (Broomfield, Colo.): 20 assists, 5 digs, 2 aces
Cole Ketrzynski (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 5 aces, 2 blocks, 3 kills
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y.): 4 blocks, 2 kills
James Eadie (Newport Beach, Calif.): 4 kills, 1 block
Brendan Read (Newport Beach, Calif.): 5 digs
Ilay Haver (Kfar Saba, Israel): 2 aces
 
WAVES VS. TIGERS
Pepperdine kept Morehouse to five or less kills in all three sets, allowing only 11 kills on a -.169 to the opposition throughout the entire match.  The Waves started with a perfect 7-0-7 (1.000) line in the first set and followed that up with 10 kills on 13 errorless swings (.769) in the second.  Pepperdine marked its only two attack errors of the match in the third set with 15 kills on 23 swings (.565).  Additionally, the Waves allowed only one ace to the opposition throughout the match, while posting 15 of their own.  The home team led defensively with 8.0-1.0 block and 24-7 dig ratios.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          7          0          7          1.000
2          10        0          13        .769
3          15        2          23        .565
TTL      32        2          43        .698
 
MOREHOUSE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          2          9          15        -.467
2          4          6          16        -.125
3          5          6          28        -.036
TTL      11        21        59        -.169
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves got out to a hot start to open the match with a kill and five-consecutive aces from Cole Ketrzynski to lead 6-0.  After the Tigers picked up a point to get on the board, the Waves countered with a block from Ryan Barnett and Andersen Fuller, along with a smash from Ilay Haver, to extend the lead to 8-1.  A kill from across the net made it a six-point game, but a kill from Fuller put the ball in Pepperdine's court once again.  After Morehouse put down one more kill, however, it was all home squad after that and the Waves went on a 16-0 run courtesy of a strong Haver serving presence featuring two aces to finish off the set 25-3.
 
The second set stayed true to the first as Pepperdine busted out to a 5-0 lead with a pair of aces from Cole Rasic and errors from across the net.  The lead advanced to 12-3 with kills from Aidan Tune and Ethan Watson, and another ace from Tune, helping the cause.  After leading 15-6, the Waves went on a 6-0 run with more aces from Tyler Stewart and kills from Rasic and Jake Olson, 21-6.  Another smash from Olson and more errors from across the net helped Pepperdine to a 25-8 set win and the 2-0 advantage.
 
Another 4-0 start opened things up for the third and eventually final set, with an ace from Rasic and more kills from Olson.  A block from Tune and James Eadie kept moving the action forward in Pepperdine's favor and an ace from Tune put the squad ahead 9-4.  Rasic and Eadie combined for some more smashes late in the set and another ace from Stewart pushed the squad to a 13-9 lead.  The Waves would keep rolling through, not allowing the Tigers another point to close the match.  Kills from Watson, Olson and Tune and blocks from the same three eventually closed out the set 25-9 for the sweep.
 
UP NEXT
Pepperdine will continue on with the home slate for four more matches, first hosting LIU and Lincoln Memorial on January 13 and 14 respectively.  Both matches are slated for 5 p.m. starts and will stream live on ESPN+.  On January 19 and 20, the Waves will also welcome McKendree to Firestone for a pair of matches.
 
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.