Box Score MALIBU, Calif. – In the first of a two-match series against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation foe and #6-ranked Stanford, the #11-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball had the energy of Firestone Fieldhouse on its side as the Waves blasted their way to a four-set win over the Cardinal on Friday night.
 
The Waves (10-4, 1-2 MPSF) picked up their first league win with the victory over the Cardinal (7-6, 0-1 MPSF).  After dropping the first set 25-15, Pepperdine rallied back to tie the score with a 25-21 second set win.  The Waves then controlled the rest of the match, handing out 25-17 and 25-18 set losses to secure the victory.
 
Cole Ketrzynski and Ryan Barnett led the squad with 12 kills apiece, hitting for double-figures for the 11^th and fourth times this season respectively.  Ketrzynski did so on a solid .478 clip, while amassing a tied team-high three aces alongside Brendan Read, who matched his career-high.  Barnett also tied his career-best hitting clip with an impressive .667 success rate, having blasted 12 kills down on 18 errorless swings.  That hitting percentage tied the single-match high (10 kills or more) of the season – which was also tabbed by Barnett – against Lincoln Memorial on January 14.
 
BIG WAVES
Cole Ketrzynski (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 12 kills, .478 hitting %, 3 aces, 5 digs, 3 blocks
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y.): 12 kills, .667 hitting %, 6 digs, 1 ace
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif.): 9 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Ethan Watson (Sunnyvale, Calif.): 7 blocks, 3 kills
Martin De Chavarria (Palma de Mallorca, Spain): 7 kills, .462 hitting %, 2 blocks
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 9 digs, 3 assists
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 30 assists, 6 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Brendan Read (Newport Beach, Calif.): 3 aces
 
WAVES VS. CARDINAL
Each side of the net put in solid attack numbers and though the Cardinal led with 53 kills to the Waves' 45, Pepperdine's .393 success rate surpassed Stanford's .306.  The Waves also dominated at the service line with 10 aces, six of which happened in the final set, to the Cardinal's four.  The Malibu Roofing Company also played a big part as Pepperdine led 9.0-2.0 at the net.  Stanford did have the slight edge with 41 digs to Pepperdine's 31.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          6          3          21        .143
2          13        2          24        .458
3          13        1          27        .444
4          13        1          25        .480
TTL      45        7          97        .392
 
STANFORD ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        3          23        .565
2          15        5          30        .333
3          12        7          30        .167
4          10        5          25        .200
TTL      53        20        108      .306
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
A 3-0 open to the first set for Stanford had Pepperdine fighting early and a kill from Ethan Watson and block from Watson and Cole Rasic would bring the squad within one, 6-5.  Though the Cardinal put a few more offensive points together to extend the lead 12-6.  Rasic found the floor for a smash to start closing the gap, but a 7-2 run by the opposition gave them a 20-10 lead late in the action.  Ryan Barnett picked up a kill in the final moments of the set, but Stanford picked up the first real advantage of the night 25-15.
 
The Waves attack force came out in the second set, however, collecting a .458 success rate with 13 kills on 24 swings.  The two teams went point-for-point to open the set with kills from Cole Ketrzynski, Rasic and Barnett pushing the score to 5-5 and 10-10 tied scores.  After being knotted at 13's, Pepperdine capitalized on a service error from across the net, a Barnett smash and ace from Ketrzynski to take a three-point lead.  The opposition countered to tie the set at 18's, but another one-two punch from Martin de Chavarria and Ketrzynski with an attack error from across the net thrown in, helped put Pepperdine back in the lead, 21-18.  After trading a few service errors, the Waves were looking at a 24-19 advantage and were in a position to close.  The Cardinal fought a few attempts off, but Barnett absolutely crushed a perfect set from Ryan Graves on the right set to end the set 25-21.
 
The Waves kept pounding down in the third set and a pair of kills from Rasic and Ketrzynski, along with an ace from the former, helped the squad to a 6-2 lead early.  Ketrzynski and de Chavarria kept the momentum going with a block collaboration to force a Stanford timeout.  The Cardinal started to close the gap, but three nearly consecutive kills from Barnett continued the home team's lead, 12-9.  Ketrzynski was heating up late in the set and another pair of smashes with a Graves' service ace to follow had the squad leading 20-13.  With the energy on their side of the court and a Barnett ace to help the cause, the Waves won the third set 25-17 to take their first real advantage of the night. 
 
Coming in with high energy from the previous two sets, Pepperdine came out strong and worked to a 9-6 lead with a block from Watson and Ketrzynski, followed by a solo rejection from the former.  Stanford countered at the 11-11 mark and the two teams traded points shortly after.  Watson put in back-to-back jobs with the Malibu Roofing Company, with one accompanied by Graves, to push the home team ahead by three once again, 15-12.  Brendan Read put in an incredible showing at the service line with three service aces in four points, forcing the opposition to take two close timeouts in that period and extending Pepperdine's lead to seven, 19-12.  The Waves would continue to show no let-up with a duo of consecutive kills from Ketrzynski and a block from he and Watson for the 22-14 advantage heading into the eventual final plays of the match.  Alex Mrkalj got in on the action with an ace of his own to keep the Waves moving forward and Pepperdine capitalized on a final Stanford service error to win the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
 
UP NEXT
Tomorrow, the Waves and Cardinal will face once again in Firestone Fieldhouse.  First serve is slated for 7 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.