LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The No. 8 Pepperdine men's volleyball team won the first set over No. 3 USC but was unable to complete the match win, falling 3-1 to the Trojans in a rowdy Galen Center Thursday night.
 
With a great showing of fans in navy and orange, the Waves were kept to a .290 hitting percentage, earning more kills than USC at 61 while delivering 8.5 blocks. Ryan Barnett led the attack for Pepperdine, posting 22 kills (one shy of tying his season-high), two service aces, eight digs and assisting on two blocks. James Eadie accounted for five of the Waves' rejections at the net while hitting .417%. Cole Hartke also added 15 kills on a .341 offensive clip and saved nine digs. Gabe Dyer tallied 44 assists and led the team in digs with 13.
 
BIG WAVES

• Ryan Barnett (R-Jr./Westhampton Beach, N.Y./St. Edward's): 22 kills, .341 hitting %, 2 aces, 35 serve-receptions, 8 digs, 2 blocks
• Cole Hartke (Fr./Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS): 15 kills, .220 hitting %, 2 aces, season-high 9 digs, 2 blocks
• Gabe Dyer (Gr./San Clemente, Calif./UCSD): 44 assists, season-high 13 digs, season-high 5 kills

 
WAVES VS. TROJANS
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set      K         E          TA        Pct       S/O      Pct
1          15        4          33        .333     16-24   66%
2          17        4          29        .448     17-25   68%
3          16        3          39        .333     15-25   60%
4          13        10        37        .081     14-23   60%
 
USC ATTACK BY SET
Set      K         E          TA        Pct       S/O      Pct
1          14        5          32        .281     15-24   62%
2          15        1          27        .519     18-25   72%
3          15        4          32        .344     15-22   68%
4          13        7          41        .146     15-24   62%
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves played a bit of catch-up in set one as USC earned its largest lead at 11-6 before Coach Winder called an apt timeout. After that break, Pepperdine strung together two 3-0 scoring runs fueled largely by Barnett's .444 hitting percentage on nine attempts and Jacob Reilly's four digs in that set. In fact, with Barnett at the service line, the Waves went 5-1 on a six-serve stretch. The Trojans clawed back within one at 23-22 and 24-23, but another Barnett kill sent Pepperdine to the other side of the court with the first set victory.
 
Playing the majority of the second set a few steps behind USC, the Waves trended upward throughout the middle of the stanza. A Hartke ace tied the teams back up at 21-all and a close rally that resulted in a Gabe Dyer kill kept Pepperdine alive at 22s. With his second ace of the night, Barnett gave the Waves a 23-22 lead but two straight Pepperdine attack errors handed the Trojans the 26-24 second set win to even out the match.
 
The third set played out similarly to the previous as the Waves came back to meet USC at the 19-20 score mark but couldn't complete the steal. Service errors also plagued the stanza as both teams committed seven cumulative. A quick set and kill from the Trojans ended the set at 25-22 for USC as the home team earned a 2-1 overall lead.
 
Lengthy challenge reviews and discussions drew out the fourth set to what felt like an hour as the teams stayed neck-and-neck with each other throughout. USC started to pull away at 17-20 when the Trojans went on a quick 3-0 run, but Pepperdine kept fighting their way back to within a point, but was too short in the end, falling 25-23 and 3-1 on the night.
 
UP NEXT
Pepperdine will play No. 3 USC on April 5 at Firestone Fieldhouse in a rematch set for 5:00 p.m. in Malibu.
 
STAY CONNECTED
Keep up with all things Pepperdine volleyball by following the team on X and Instagram and find more about Waves Athletics via @PepperdineWaves on all platforms.