MALIBU, Calif. – The #11 Pepperdine men's volleyball team split the series with Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent #6 Stanford after falling in a tight four-set battle in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday night.  The Waves had won in four themselves the previous night.
 
Pepperdine (10-5, 1-3 MPSF) won the first set 25-21 before Stanford (8-6, 1-1) answered with a 25-23 second set win.  Though the following sets were close throughout, Stanford came away with the 25-22 and 25-23 set scores to pick up the team's first league win of the season.
 
There were multiple big performances from the Waves throughout the match, though, highlighted by a career hitting night for Ryan Barnett who amassed 20 kills on a .389 clip to lead the team.  Cole Rasic picked up the first double-double of his career with 10 kills and 10 digs, while Cole Ketrzynski hit for double-figures for the 12^th time this season with 10 smashes.  In addition to Rasic's success in the back row, libero Trey Cole led the team with 13 digs, picking up double-digit digs for the fourth time this season.
 
BIG WAVES
Cole Ketrzynski (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 10 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y.): 20 kills, .389 hitting %, 6 digs, 4 blocks
Ethan Watson (Sunnyvale, Calif.): 8 blocks, 7 kills, .667 hitting %
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 13 digs, 4 assists
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif.): 10 kills, 10 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 30 assists, 3 blocks, 3 digs
Tyler Stewart (Broomfield, Colo.): 16 assists
 
WAVES VS. CARDINAL
Pepperdine posted 59 kills throughout the match, tabbing the highest kill-mark of the season against any opponent, while giving up 49 kills to the opponents.  Hitting percentages were marginally similar with the Waves tabbing a .276 success rate and the opposition putting up a .292 mark.  Each team collected at the net with 12.0 blocks apiece, but the Waves had the edge on the back line with 42 digs to the Cardinal's 33.  Stanford led 3-1 in aces.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        4          32        .312
2          16        7          35        .257
3          13        6          31        .226
4          16        7          29        .310
TTL      59        24        127      .276
 
STANFORD ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          13        7          31        .194
2          11        3          28        .286
3          14        4          28        .357
4          11        2          26        .346
TTL      49        16        114      .292
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
A pair of kills from Ryan Barnett and Cole Ketrzynski got things started for the Waves in set one, giving the home team a 7-3 lead advantage early on.  Stanford brought the score within two shortly after, but another Ketrzynski smash, followed by a Ryan Graves and Martin de Chavarria block collaboration forced Cardinal timeout with a 12-7 Pepperdine advantage.  Graves continued to spread out the offense, dishing it out to Ethan Watson and Barnett for a pair of kills while getting in on the action with one himself, 18-13.  Incredible defensive effort on both sides of the net kept the energy high in Firestone and back-to-back rejections from Watson – either by himself or with Ketrzynski – propelled the Waves to a 22-17 lead.  Graves sent another one over on two and Watson connected with Barnett to deny another attack attempt from across the net to reach the first set-point opportunity of the night.  The set ended on a bad set from Stanford, 25-21.
 
It was a see-saw battle through most of the second set, however, as the set saw 4-4 and 8-8 tied scores early.  A rejection letter sent from Barnett and Watson, followed by a Watson smash put the home team ahead by two, but the opposition squared up and added two of their own to lead 12-10.  The set would stay within three points through to the finish, with kills from Barnett and Watson bringing Pepperdine within one at the 23-22 mark, but Stanford was able to pick up the 25-23 set win to tie the overall score one-apiece.
 
The third set went back-and-forth again with smashes from de Chavarria and Ketrzynski helping the Waves to an even 7-7.  Barnett found the floor in the next play, followed by an Andersen Fuller, Rasic block connection to give Pepperdine the two-point advantage.  Stanford made it 11's shortly after, but another pair of kills from Rasic and Barnett, followed by another block from Fuller – this time with Ketrzynski – gave the home squad a three-point lead, 14-11.  The Cardinal tied the set shortly after, working ahead to their own two-point lead at the 19-17 mark and turning it into a five-point spread with an opportunity to close, 24-19.  A kill from Barnett and a pair from Rasic fended off Stanford for a few, but a kill from across the net would end the set 25-22 in favor of the opposition.
 
After a 3-3 tie in the fourth set, Stanford put a few points together to pull ahead by four, 7-3.  Three near-consecutive kills from Rasic closed the gap to one, 9-8, but the opposition worked ahead to a five-point lead, 15-10.  The Waves kept battling and kills from de Chavarria and Barnett brought the team within two, 21-19.  Barnett then put down another one to make it a one-point ballgame and force a Stanford timeout.  Kills from Akin Akinwumi and Alexander Mrkalj kept the Waves within one, 24-23, but a service error would end the set 25-23 and result in a Stanford four-set win.
 
UP NEXT
Next week, the Waves hit the road but do not go far, heading to CSUN on Wednesday and Concordia Irvine on Saturday.
 
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.