MALIBU, Calif. — The #11 Pepperdine men's volleyball team will face its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent of the season with UCLA twice this week, first heading to Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday before hosting the Bruins at home on Saturday.

MATCH #12 — Wednesday (February 14) at Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, Calif.: #11 Pepperdine (9-2) at #4 UCLA (9-3) at 7 p.m. | Pac-12 Network

MATCH #13 — Saturday (February 17) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #11 Pepperdine (7-2) vs. #4 UCLA (9-3) at 2 p.m. | ESPN+

COVERAGE — The road match will stream on the Pac-12 Network, while all home matches this season will stream live on ESPN+.  Live scoring will be available for all matches.  Links can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.

UP NEXT — Next week, Pepperdine will face Stanford in a pair of matches, hosting the Cardinals in Malibu on Friday (February 23) at 6 p.m. and Saturday (February 24) at 7 p.m.

TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — Tickets to all Pepperdine home men's volleyball matches in 2024 will be available via e-ticket only at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.  Pepperdine faculty, staff and students must show Pepperdine ID card for entry — no ticket purchase is required.

Due to campus construction, nearby parking is limited and guests are advised to arrive early.  Each match costs $13 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+) and $5 for children and non-Pepperdine students. 

PROMOTIONS — Saturday's match against UCLA will be ASICS Night, where fans have the opportunity to win a free signed jersey from the team.  There will be an opportunity to win additional Pepperdine gear throughout the game.  Game sponsor Pirnia Law will be handing out free shirts to the first 100 in attendance.

FOLLOW — Follow the Waves on Facebook and X, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram and TikTok, @peppmvb.  Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.

RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #11 in the AVCA national poll this week.  After three-consecutive weeks at #10, the squad had dropped to #12 last week, though a pair of wins against UCSB moved the Waves up once more.  The Waves began the season at #13 and moved up each of the first two weeks of action. 

In addition to the team ranking, the Waves have been making quite the splash on the team and individual stat rankings in this early season.  Pepperdine ranks top-15 nationally and first or second in the MPSF in five statistical categories.  The Waves lead the MPSF in digs (9.05), and second in assists (11.86), kills (12.51), and opponent hitting percentage (.156).  The squad is also top five national in hitting percentage, blocks, and service aces.

Martin de Chavarria leads the MPSF and ranks second nationally with 1.56 blocks. Trey Cole also leads the league and ranks thirteenth nationally, with 2.17 digs.  Cole Ketrzynski ranks nationally in five separate categories, including 12th with .812 blocks and 14th with 4.28 points to name a few.

LAST WEEK — Pepperdine faced #17 UCSB twice last week, picking up two wins against the Gauchos. In the first match on the road, the Waves fell in the first set, 25-13, then rallied for the next two (25-22, 25-23), but were forced into a fifth set, which secured the match, 15-9. Pepperdine out-blocked UC Santa Barbara 16.0 to 8.0 at the net, making a significant impact on the match.  The Gauchos had a slight edge with 53 kills on a .281 clip to the Waves 52 kills on a .232 output, as well as five aces to three, and each team collected 35 digs throughout the match. Four Waves hit for double-figures, including Cole Rasic (12), Akin Akinwumi (11), Cole Ketrzynski (11) and Ethan Watson (10). It was the eighth match in double-digits for Ketrzynski this season, while it was the third for Akinwumi and first for Rasic and Watson.

Pepperdine met UCSB again in Malibu and secured a 3-0 sweep, with 25-16, 25-21 and 25-23 set wins. The Waves dominated the offensive, posting 45 kills on a .481 clip, while allowing 29 kills on a .133 clip. Pepperdine also had the edge at the net with 13.5 blocks, giving up only 2.0 to the opposition. The Gauchos led at the service line, posting four aces to the Waves two, while Pepperdine marked 25 digs to the opposition's 19.  Ketrzynski posted a season-high 19 kills on a .600 clip, marking double-figure kills for the ninth time in the 10 matches he's played at Pepperdine.  Martin de Chavarria led the squad with seven blocks, while Watson added six as well.

SQUAD — The Waves have gone 9-2 to start the campaign this season and have won seven of those matches in straight sets.  As a team, Pepperdine produces 12.51 kills on a .342 clip, while adding 11.86 assists, 1.54 aces, 9.05 digs and 2.68 blocks.  The squad gives up only 9.41 kills on a .156 output on average, along with 0.92 aces, 7.57 digs and 2.68 blocks.

Cole Ketrzynski leads the attack output for the Waves with 3.56 kills/set and 114 total kills.  Ethan Waston, Martin de Chavarria, and Ketrzynski lead the squad at the net with 2.00, 1.56, 0.81 blocks/set respectively.  De Chavarria has produced 50 blocks, with seven solo rejections.  Ketrzynski also leads the team with 10 aces and 0.31 aces/set so far this season. 

Tyler Stewart has amassed eight aces, while Cole Rasic, Andersen Fuller and Ryan Barnett are next in line with seven.  Trey Cole has marked a team-best 2.17 digs/set, tallying 76 digs this season.  Tyler Stewart, Ryan Graves and Vladimir Kubr have each seen time in playmaking duties, having put up 8.93, 5.24 and 9.00 assists/set respectively.

OPPONENT — UCLA has gone 9-3 so far this season, with losses against #1 Long Beach State (1-3), #6 Ohio State (2-3) and #17 UCSB (2-3).  The Bruins have picked up wins against #1 Long Beach State (3-1) and # 9 Penn State (3-0) earlier this year. UCLA is ranked # 4 in the AVCA polls as a team.  The program ranks second nationally in assists with 12.39 and third in blocks per set with 2.74.  UCLA has produced an 88-45 all-time record against the Waves, dating back to 1972 when the Bruins took the first contest in straight sets.  In the last two years, UCLA has won all five meetings.