MALIBU, Calif. — The #9 Pepperdine men's volleyball team returns back to Malibu this week to host two conference matchups, #11 USC and Concordia Irvine - a team receiving votes in the AVCA coaches poll.
 
MATCH #20 — Thursday (March 14) at Firestone Fieldhouse: #9 Pepperdine (14-5, 2-3 MPSF) vs #11 USC (11-9, 2-4 MPSF) at 6 p.m. PT | ESPN+
 
MATCH #21 — Saturday (March 16) at Firestone Fieldhouse.: #9 Pepperdine (14-5, 2-3 MPSF) vs Concordia Irvine (6-8, 0-3 MPSF) at 5 p.m. PT | ESPN+
 
COVERAGE — All Pepperdine home matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.  Live scoring will be available for all matches.  Links can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.
 
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 — Thursday will be Pepperdine's alumni match, welcoming all the Waves who came before with an on-court presentation in between sets two and three.  There will be free snow cones to the first 100 fans in attendance, as well as Pepperdine athletics swag and rally signs at the door.
 
UP NEXT — Next week, the Waves will host BYU twice, on Friday and for senior day on Saturday.
 
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.
 
LAST WEEK — The Waves went 2-0 on the road last week, sweeping Belmont Abbey and taking a 3-1 win over North Greenville. First, The Waves made quick work of the Crusaders, defeating the host school with 25-16, 25-17 and 25-20 set scores. Pepperdine was able to keep the opposition to a .138 success rate while allowing 25 kills, the Waves out-attacked the Crusaders, posting 42 kills on a .333 clip. Cole Ketrzynski led the attack, posting 17 kills with a .375 success rate. Ryan Barnett added 10 kills for the Waves on a .308 clip, while James Eadie tallied four blocks.
 
While taking on North Greenville, Pepperdine won a tight 27-25 first set, but the opposition was able to counter with a 25-23 set to tie the overall.  The Waves then rallied back to win the following two sets with a pair of 25-19 results. Pepperdine out-performed North Greenville both offensively and defensively, with 57 kills on a .344 success rate and 13 blocks, compared to 43 kills on a .174 output and nine blocks. Ketrzynski played a key role in the match, tallying 24 kills with a .477 hitting percentage while also posting five blocks. Martin De Chavarria added five blocks, along with James Eadie tallying four. Ryan Graves led the team with 46 assists.
 
SQUAD — The Waves have gone 14-5 to start this season and have won eight of those matches in straight sets.  As a team, Pepperdine produces 12.37 kills on a .317 clip, while adding 11.75 assists, 1.31 aces, 9.10 digs and 2.53 blocks.  The squad gives up only 10.41 kills on a .205 output on average, along with 1.13 aces, 8.01 digs and 2.03 blocks.
 
Cole Ketrzynski leads the attack output for the Waves with 3.78 kills/set and 223 total kills.  Ryan Barnett has also put in a solid presence on the attack front with 2.46 kills/set and 138 kills.  Their .331 and .317 respective hitting percentages rank third and fourth in the league and top-27 nationally.
 
Ethan Watson and Martin de Chavarria lead the squad at the net with 1.58 and 1.28 blocks/set respectively.  De Chavarria has produced 78 blocks, with eight solo rejections in 61 sets, while Watson has amassed 52 blocks with nine solo jobs in 33 sets played.  Ketrzynski also leads the team with 18 aces and 0.31 aces/set so far this season, while Cole Rasic and Barnett have reached double-figure ace territory with 10 and 11 so far this season (0.25 and .14). 
 
Trey Cole has marked a team-best 2.25 digs/set, tallying 146 digs this season.  Tyler Stewart and Ryan Graves have seen the most time in playmaking duties, having put up 8.22 and 7.24 assists/set respectively.
 
OPPONENTS — USC currently ranks #11 in the AVCA polls, after posting a 11-9 record so far this season. The Trojans came off a four-game losing streak to beat #10 Penn State 3-1, then took a loss to #8 Ohio State 3-1 last week. USC ranks fifth in the MPSF currently with a 2-4 record against league opponents.  Pepperdine holds a 71-41 all-time record against the Trojans.
 
This will be the second time the Waves face the Golden Eagles who are 6-8 this season overall and 0-3 in the MPSF. The last time Pepperdine faced Concordia, it was a close five set match that the Waves were able to take the win from. Last week, Concordia took on Saint Xavier in a four-set match that ended in a loss. The Waves are undefeated against the Golden Eagles all-time with a 10-0 record.
 
RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #9 in the AVCA national poll this week.  After three-consecutive weeks at #10, the squad had dropped to #12, though a pair of wins against UCSB and an upset dub over #6 Stanford moved the Waves up once more to #10 and remained there for the second-consecutive week.  The Waves began the season at #13.
 
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. The Waves rank first in the MPSF in opponent hitting percentage (.205) and second in team attacks (26.51), digs per set (9.10), and blocks per set (2.529), and third in kills (12.37), assists (11.75), and hitting percentage (.317). The squad is also top-13 nationally in seven categories, including fifth in blocks, 8th in assists, and ninth in hitting percentage, and opponent hitting percentage.
 
Martin de Chavarria is second in the MPSF and ranks fourth nationally with 1.27 blocks. Trey Cole also leads the league and ranks 10th nationally with 2.25 digs.  Cole Ketrzynski ranks nationally in six separate categories, including 11th with 3.78 kills, 12th with 4.44 points and 21st in hitting percentage (.331) - all categories he ranks in the top three in the league in as well.