HACKENSACK, N.J. – The #10 Pepperdine men's volleyball team swept past FDU at Bagota Savings Bank Center on Saturday night, having picked up 26-24, 25-17 and 25-18 set scores. 
 
Akin Akinwumi impressed with the second double-double of his career, and first of the season, after amassing 16 kills on an impressive .438 clip with 10 digs.  Cole Ketrzynski also put in double-figure kills for the sixth time this season with 11 smashes on a .346 percentage.
 
The Waves improved to 7-2, while FDU dropped to 6-2.
 
BIG WAVES
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.): 16 kills, .438 hitting %, 10 digs, 1 ace, 3 blocks
Cole Ketrzynski (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 11 kills, .346 hitting %, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 31 assists, 5 digs
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 4 digs, 2 assists
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif.): 7 digs, 5 kills, 1 block
Ethan Watson (Sunnyvale, Calif.): 6 blocks (2 solos), 4 kills
 
WAVES VS. KNIGHTS
Each team collected on 39 kills throughout the match, but Pepperdine posted a .372 success rate compared to FDU's .198 to secure the win.  The Waves were also good for an impressive 8.0 to 1.0 block differential, along with a five to one ratio in aces.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          15        4          28        .393
2          15        1          28        .500
3          9          2          30        .233
TTL      39        7          86        .372
 
FDU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        4          31        .387
2          10        6          27        .148
3          13        10        38        .079
TTL      39        20        96        .198
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The opposition came out swinging to open the match, building a 14-8 lead early that extended to an 18-12 advantage towards the end of the set.  Kills from Akin Akinwumi, Ethan Anderson and Andersen Fuller helped the Waves start closing the gap however.  More kills from Akinwumi and an ace from Brandon Read brought the squad within one down the stretch, though the Knights were able to gain a set-point opportunity at the 24-22 mark.  The Waves would not roll over, though, and after capitalizing on a service error and a bad set from the across the net, a kill from Ryan Barnett would give Pepperdine a chance to win the first set 25-24.  The team would do just that, once again taking advantage of an error from across the net for the 26-24 win.
 
Pepperdine got things going early in the second set and a block from Ethan Watson, followed by a collaboration from Watson and Ketrzynski propelled the squad to a 7-2 lead.  Smashes rom Cole Rasic and Ketrzynski kept the squad moving forward and more kills from Akinwumi would propel Pepperdine to a 15-8 advantage.  The Waves kept pounding down with successful attakcs from Akinwumi and Watson en route to another set-point opportunity at the 24-17 mark.  Akinwumi would put down a final kill for the 25-17 set win and 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
 
Thought it was a little bit of a see-saw battle to open the third set, the Waves momentum was favorable as the squad pushed to a 9-6 lead with kills from Ketrzysnki and Watson and a block from Watson and Rasic.  A solo rejection from Akinwumi kept the team excited and more smashes from Rasic and Ketrzynski pushed the team to a 17-13 advantage.  Pepperdine kept up the momentum by capitalizing on the opposition's errors and another block from Akinwumi and Fuller helped the cause and put the score at 21-15.  The two teams traded points through the end of the match, but the Waves eventually ended up with the 25-18 win to secure the sweep.
 
UP NEXT
Next week, Pepperdine will head to UC Santa Barbara on February 8 before returning home to face the Gauchos once again on February 10. 
 
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.