TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The #10 Pepperdine men's volleyball team completed its two-game road series with a four-set win over North Greenville at Hayes Gymnasium on Friday night.
After the Waves (14-5) won a tight 27-25 first set, the Crusaders (7-7) were able to counter with a 25-23 set to tie the overall. Pepperdine then buckled down to take care of business, winning the following two sets with a pair of 25-19 results.
Cole Ketrzynski dominated offensively, tying his career-high kill output with a season-best 24 smashes on a .477 clip. It was the third time this season any Wave had hit the 20-kill marker, with Ketrzynski having achieved the feat once prior this year, along with
Ryan Barnett. He also led the team with three aces to mark 29.5 points in the match, surpassing the team's single-match individual point high this season.
Alex Mrkalj also hit for double-figures with a season-high 10 kills on 19 errorless swings.
On the defensive end, three Waves posted double-digit digs, led by
Trey Cole for the 12
th time this season after he amassed 14.
Ryan Graves picked up his first career double-double with 46 assists and 13 digs, while Barnett was also good for 10 digs.
BIG WAVES
Cole Ketrzynski (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 24 kills, .477 hitting %, 3 aces, 5 blocks
Alex Mrkalj (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada): 10 kills, .526 hitting %, 1 ace, 1 block
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 46 assists, 13 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y.): 9 kills, 10 digs, 3 blocks
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 14 digs
Martin De Chavarria (Palma de Mallorca, Spain): 4 kills, 5 blocks
Akin Akinwumi (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.): 6 kills, 2 blocks (1 solo)
Andersen Fuller (Manlius, N.Y.): 4 digs, 3 blocks, 2 kills
James Eadie (Newport Beach, Calif.): 4 blocks (1 solo), 2 digs
WAVES VS. CRUSADERS
Four the fourth-consecutive match, Pepperdine has led its opponent offensively, posting 57 kills on a strong collective .344 hitting percentage and giving up only 43 kills on a .174 output to the opposition. It's the 12
th time this season the Waves have posted a hitting percentage above .300. The squad also led at the service line, though by a smaller margin, have tabbed five aces to the Crusaders' four. On the defensive end, Pepperdine had the edge as well, having totaled 13.0 blocks and 47 digs to NGU's 9.0 blocks and 42 digs.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 17 4 34 .382
2 12 7 30 .167
3 14 2 34 .353
4 14 1 27 .481
TTL 57 14 125 .344
NGU ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 16 5 34 .324
2 11 7 29 .138
3 7 5 34 .059
4 9 5 24 .167
TTL 43 22 121 .174
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Crusaders used the home team advantage to get off on the right foot, amassing a 5-2 lead to start things off. After an 8-5 deficit, however, the Waves started to rally and a pair of blocks from
Martin de Chavarria with either
Cole Ketrzynski or
Akin Akinwumi closed the gap, 9-9. The two teams exchanged points en route to 17's before a kill from
Ryan Barnett and block collaboration from Barnett and
James Eadie pushed the team forward by two. NGU closed the gap shortly after though, before taking a two-point lead of their own 23-21. A trio of kills from Akinwumi, de Chavarria and Ketrzysnki then helped the cause, closing the gap and putting the Waves on top once again 24-23. The opposition fought off two set points, but a pair of kills from Ketrzynski would do the honors for Pepperdine, 27-25.
The second set would be equally as tight throughout with early smashes from Barnett and Ketrzynski keeping things knotted at 7-apiece. North Greenville was able to string a few opportunities together shortly after, amassing a four-point lead at the 13-9 mark. A block from de Chavarria and Ketrzynski, along with another two kills from the latter, found the score tied once again 16-16. The opposition was able to extend their lead to three later in the set, 22-19, but the Waves were able to capitalize on a few errors shortly after to tie the score at 22's. Though the two teams went point-for-point down the final moments of the set, NGU was able to take the win 25-23 to tie the overall score one-apiece.
It was looking to be a similar story in the third set with both teams exchanging points en route to a 15-15 tied score, but a 5-0 run for the Waves would give Pepperdine some traction led off with another pair of kills from Ketrzynski.
Andersen Fuller paired with Ketrzynski for a block and
Ryan Graves got in on the action with an ace for the 20-15 lead. The Crusaders countered with a few points, but the Waves kept pounding down with multiple kills from
Alex Mrkalj and a final smash in the set from Ketrzynski, 25-19.
The Waves stayed composed in the fourth set and a quick kill and ace from Ketrzynski had the squad leading 4-2 early on. Mrkalj laid down a few smashes to keep things going en route to a 12-10 advantage to stay on top. Though NGU was able to tie the set at 14-all, more kills from Mrkalj and Barnett pushed Pepperdine ahead to a four-point advantage, 19-15. Mrkalj connected with Fuller on a block later in the action as well, following up with another kill to put the Waves in a comfortable position 22-17. Ketrzysnki found the floor for his third ace of the night to bring the team one step closer and an attack error from across the net put the team in a position to close. Fuller and Barnett did the final honors on behalf of the Malibu Roofing Company for a 25-19 final set win to secure the four-set victory.
UP NEXT
Next week, the Waves are back at home, hosting USC on March 14 and Concordia on March 16 in Firestone Fieldhouse.
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.
