A head-to-head match against 10th ranked Stanford last Friday ended with a tough loss for the Pepperdine men’s volleyball team. The 7th-ranked team fell 26-24 to its northern rival in a four-setter at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener.
Both teams gave tremendous effort, experiencing 19 tied scores and eight lead changes throughout the fourth. Sophomore Michael Wexter and redshirt-sophomore David Wieczorek led the team with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Senior Alex Harthaller followed close behind his teammates with nine kills for the night.
Seniors Joshua Stewart and Soren Dion-Kindem led the Waves in assists with 22 and 20, respectively.
Junior Clay Carr manned five blocks during the match, and senior Mitchell Penning followed with three — including four kills and an ace. Senior Max States earned his sixth ace of the 2016-17 season, helping the Waves to a 25-13 set-three win.
Pepperdine will take on USC in a home conference match Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m.