LA JOLLA, Calif. - Fourth-ranked Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) favorite Pepperdine University led virtually all match long in sweeping UC San Diego, 3-0, in men's volleyball action at RIMAC Arena on Friday night. Set scores were 25-17, 25-10 and 25-18.
UCSD is now 1-11 overall and 0-8 in the MPSF. Pepperdine moved to 11-1 overall and 7-1 in league play with a sixth victory in a row. The Waves, who topped the preseason coaches' poll by a wide margin, began the night in second place in the 12-team MPSF. Friday's win, their seventh straight over the Tritons, put them in first.
There were only two tie scores in the contest, both coming in the first set at 1-1 and 4-4, with UCSD never holding a lead.
Junior middle blocker Mathew Schnitzer finished with a team-high seven kills on .500 hitting (7-1-12). Sophomore outside hitter Kirill Rudenko led all Tritons with seven digs, matching his career best, to go along with four kills, two assists, a service ace and a block assist. Freshman setter Milosh Stojcic came up with 17 assists. Junior libero Tanner Howard got to five digs.
Redshirt freshman Calvin Manchenko drew a first college start at an outside hitter spot, and put down a career-best four kills. Freshman Alec Flowers made his first appearance, coming off the bench in game two before starting the third set.
For Pepperdine, J.J. Mosolf and Scott Rhein shared the match high at 10 kills apiece, with the latter hitting .562 (10-1-16) to lead all players. Rhein also added nine digs. The Waves attacked at a .364 rate as a team (44-12-88). Setter Matt West collected 31 assists, four service aces, nine digs, three total bocks and three kills.
A 3-0 run capped by a Manchenko kill knotted the first set at 4-4 before Pepperdine reeled off the next three, with a later run of five points giving the Waves the commanding 16-8 advantage.
The visitors scored the first four points of the second and went on to dominate the frame. With the Tritons trailing by six in the third set at 18-12, a 4-0 stretch by the Waves secured the sweep. UCSD did manage a pair of triple blocks late, with Flowers, Tanner Syftestad and Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) on both.
UCSD concludes a four-match homestand on Saturday night, Feb. 14, against Stanford. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside RIMAC Arena.
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