PHOENIX, Ariz. – The #9 Pepperdine men's volleyball team challenged #3 Grand Canyon for a second-consecutive night at Global Credit Union Arena, but the Waves ended the regular season with a three-set loss to the Lopes.
 
Pepperdine will enter the postseason push having gone 17-10 overall and 5-7 in the league, while Grand Canyon improved to 22-4 and 10-2 with the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win today.  The match was close throughout tonight with the Lopes winning 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20 throughout.
 
Two Waves hit for double figures as Ryan Barnett (13) and Cole Ketrzysnki (11) achieved the feat for the 21^st and ninth times this season respectively.  Cole Rasic led the squad with 12 digs, marking double digit digs for the third time this season.
 
Pepperdine will begin postseason play next week with the MPSF Championships, held at USC's Galen Center beginning with the quarterfinal on April 17.
 
BIG WAVES
Ryan Barnett (Long Island, N.Y.): 13 kills, 1 block
Cole Ketrzynski (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 11 kills, 3 blocks, 2 aces
Cole Rasic (Huntington Beach, Calif.): 8 kills, 12 digs
Martin De Chavarria (Palma de Mallorca, Spain): 6 blocks
Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y.): 7 digs, 3 assists
Ryan Graves (Irvine, Calif.): 9 assists
Tyler Stewart (Broomfield, Colo.): 22 assists, 4 digs, 2 kills
 
WAVES VS. LOPES
Though each side of the net amassed nearly the same number of kills – Waves 40 and Lopes 42 – Grand Canyon's .309 success rate surpassed Pepperdine's .232.  The Waves led the match with four aces and 27 digs, compared to the Lopes' three aces and 26 digs, while both teams produced seven blocks in total.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        7          35        .143
2          16        3          30        .433
3          12        8          30        .133
TTL      40        18        95        .232
 
GRAND CANYON ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        4          37        .270
2          15        3          27        .444
3          13        6          30        .233
TTL      42        13        94        .309
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Martin de Chavarria kicked off the opening moments of the match with a solo block for the Waves to bring the squad up 2-0 early, though the Lopes would answer shortly after to tie the set at 3's.  Back-to-back smashes by Cole Rasic helped Pepperdine go point-for-point with the opposition en route to an even 8-all.  More kills from Cole Ketrzynski and Ethan Watson continued the see-saw trend alongside Grand Canyon and the two squads were eventually still knotted at 15-apiece.  GCU pulled ahead with a 3-0 run, though an ace from Akin Akinwumi and kills from Akinwumi and Ketrzysnki tied things back up 19-19.  Despite the see-saw battle, a few choice plays from across the net aided the Lopes efforts, eventually resulting in a 25-22 set score for the home team.
 
Another solo rejection by de Chavarria, along with a pair of kills from Ryan Barnett, began the second set as well for a 4-2 Waves' lead to open.  Kills from the opposition closed the gap before the two teams traded points towards 7-7.  Grand Canyon then took a slight edge that put them three-points ahead, 13-10, though kills from Barnett and Rasic kept the Waves close.   Pepperdine started inching back with three smashes from Watson, Ketrzynski and de Chavarria in a four-point span, putting the squad one-away, 20-19.  After a few exchanges, Ketrzynski found weakness for a pair of back-to-back aces to tie the set 22's.  A kill from the same Wave made it 23'all, but the home team advantage was strong as the Lopes leading scorer of the night put down a pair of kill to win the set in the next two plays.
 
Two kills from Barnett and Ketrzynski and a block collaboration from the latter alongside de Chavarria started Pepperdine off to a solid 4-0.  GCU was able to answer once again, however, eventually tying the score and pulling ahead by two with a six-point run.  Another see-saw battle ensued and another block from Ketrzynski and de Chavarria kept things knotted at 11's.  The opposition pulled ahead marginally, but smashes from Ketrzynski and Akinwumi brought the score to 18-all down the stretch.  A late block from Watson and Akinwumi aided the efforts, but the Lopes ended the match with a 25-20 set win.
 
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.