Pepperdine Takes Down Hawaii in Four Sets

MATCH STATS

• #8 Pepperdine Def. #3 Hawaii 3-0 (27-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20)
• #8 Pepperdine 13-6; #3 Hawaii 13-6
• Malibu, California (Firestone Fieldhouse)
• Box score

MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine Waves hosted the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Sunday afternoon, and the Waves pulled off the upset in four sets. This is the third match in a row the Rainbow Warriors have dropped in Southern California.

Leading the Pepperdine offense was redshirt junior outside hitter, David Wieczorek, with 22 kills on a .390 clip. Alex Harthaller also had an impressive offensive performance with 14 kills and a .367 hitting percentage. Colby Harriman also had a double figure kill performance with 12 kills and a .286 clip. Setter Robert Mullahey ran the offense with 49 assists and added five digs.

Hawaii was led by Stijn van Tilburg (.421) and Brett Rosenmeier (.346) with 20 and 14 kills, respectively. Setter, Joe Worsley, delivered 47 assists and libero, Larry Tuileta, led the defensive campaign with 13 digs.

The Waves will return to play on March 29 where they will head to Los Angeles to take on USC. The Rainbow Warriors will play again on March 30, hosting UCSD.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics

MALIBU, Calif. — David Wieczorek‘s season-high kill effort and Alex Harthaller`s first-career double-double helped propel the No. 7 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team to a 3-1 upset over No. 3 Hawai’i in Firestone Fieldhouse on Sunday night.

The Waves (13-6) won the non-conference matchup against the Rainbow Warriors (13-6) after securing 27-25, 25-19, 22-25 and 25-20 set scores. Wieczorek marked a season-high 22 kills, while Harthaller posted his first double-double at Pepperdine with 14 kills and 11 digs.

• David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy): 22 kills, .390 hitting %, 3 aces, 7 digs, 4 blocks, 20 service receptions with no errors
• Alex Harthaller (Innsbruck, Austria/Akademischeg Gymnasium/IPFW): 14 kills, .367 hitting %, 1 ace, 11 digs, 4 aces, 23 service receptions with only one error
• Colby Harriman (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS): 12 kills, 1 ace, 4 blocks, 1 dig
• Max Chamberlain (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS): 8 blocks, 5 kills, 3 assists, 2 aces
• Robert Mullahey (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS): 49 assists, 2 aces, 5 digs
• Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS): 2 kills, 4 blocks (1 solo)
• Spencer Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS): 8 digs, 2 assists, 35 service receptions with no errors
• Kaleb Denmark (Redlands, Calif./Arrowhead Christian Academy): 1 ace, 1 dig[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlBmn8bh92M]

  Pepperdine was huge in all facets of the match against Hawai’i, beginning on the offensive with 55 kills on a .325 success rate, along with 10 aces and 55 assists. The Rainbow Warriors countered with 54 kills on a .278 clip, while adding 51 assists and only one ace in the first set. The Waves then tallied 12.5 team blocks, along with 34 digs and 78 successful service receptions with only one error all game. The opposition put up 6.0 team blocks and 33 digs.
  Set K-E-TA (Pct)1. 14-6-36 (.222)

  2. 14-4-27 (.370)

  3. 17-2-32 (.469)

  4. 10-4-25 (.240)

  TOTAL: 55-16-120 (.325)

  Set K-E-TA (Pct)1. 11-7-30 (.133)

  2. 11-5-27 (.222)

  3. 19-3-33 (.485)

  4. 13-7-25 (.240)

  TOTAL: 54-22-115 (.278)

• This win breaks a four-match Hawai’i winning streak over Pepperdine. The Waves last won 3-0 in Malibu in 2016. Pepperdine holds a 44-34 all-time record over UH, dating back to 1981.
• In the Waves’ 19 matches, David Wieczorek has led the team in kills on 13 occasions.
• Pepperdine has gone 8-5 against ranked teams, including three top-five upsets this season with a sweep over #2 UCLA and four-set wins over #3 Hawai’i and #4 UC Irvine.
• David Wieczorek leads the conference in points/set, aces/set and kills/set and is second in hitting percentage.
• Robert Mullahey and Max Chamberlain rank in the top-five in two separate statistical categories, with Mullahey averaging 10.46 assists/set and Chamberlain posting 1.27 blocks/set this season.
  The Waves came out pounding in the first set, amassing 14 kills and three aces while allowing 11 kills and only one ace to the opposition. After a 7-7 tie late in the set, the Waves went on an 8-2 run with a pair of aces from David Wieczorek, kills from Alex Harthaller and a block collaboration from Colby Harriman and Max Chamberlain.After establishing the 15-9 lead, Pepperdine continued with the momentum en route to a 22-13 lead courtesy of more blocks from Chamberlain and Wieczorek and kills from Harriman. The Rainbow Warriors posted a 7-0 run late in the action to come within one at 21-10, but the Waves stayed ahead. Despite evening the score at the 24-24 mark, Pepperdine still had the energy and kills from Harriman and Wieczorek resulted in the 27-25 first set win.

  With the momentum on their side, the Waves came out equally as strong in the second set, working ahead to a 4-1 lead early. Hawai’i once again closed the gap to a 12-11 Waves’ lead, but a strong service output from Wieczorek including a Wieczorek ace and pair of kills from the back row, Pepperdine held an 18-12 advantage. Intent on not letting the Rainbow Warriors back in the set, Harriman, Wieczorek and Harthaller all put on a heavy attack for the 25-19 set win and 2-0 lead.

  Hawai’i refused to let the match go, however, and posted a .485 attack effort with 19 kills, compared to the Waves’ own .469 hitting percentage on seven kills. The Rainbow Warriors eventually made the overall score 2-1 with a 25-22 third set win.

  The fourth set looked to be in Hawai’i’s court early on, as the opposition collected an 8-4 lead, but the Waves rallied to tie the set at 11’s with back-to-back blocks from Harriman and Chamberlain in the mix. After a UH timeout, Robert Mullahey continued a strong service output including one ace to help the Waves to a 14-11 lead. Pepperdine continued to roll towards a 21-14 advantage late in the action, and with the energy on their side finished the match off with a 25-20 final set score courtesy of kills from Wieczorek and Harriman in the end.

  The Waves are now off until March 29 when the team heads to Los Angeles to take on USC. Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @PepperdineWaves. Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.

Courtesy of Hawaii Athletics

MALIBU, Calif. – The third-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team concluded a disastrous road trip with its third loss, falling in four sets to No. 7 Pepperdine, Sunday in a non-conference match at Firestone Fieldhouse. Set scores were 27-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20.

The Rainbow Warriors (13-6) suffered their fourth consecutive loss and finished 0-3 on their road trip, which included a pair of Big West losses to No. 10 CSUN. For Pepperdine (13-6), it was the David Wieczorek show. The All-American finished with a match-high 22 kills, hitting .390 with three aces, seven digs and four blocks.

Outside hitter Stijn van Tilburg led the way for the Warriors with 20 kills, hitting .421. Outside hitter Brett Rosenmeier made a return to the starting lineup and added 14 kills, hitting .346. Hawai’i hit .278 for the match compared to .325 for the Waves, who also tallied 10 aces and 12.5 blocks. UH finished with one ace and six blocks.

The Waves used a 7-1 run, including five straight that featured two aces by Wieczorek, for a 14-8 lead. Pepperdine extended its lead to 21-13 before the Warriors responded with seven unanswered to close to within one at 21-20. The teams traded points until a Rado Parapunov ace tied it at 24. UH erased another set point before a Rosenmier hitting error gave the Waves the first set.

Pepperdine doubled-up on the Warriors early in Set 2, 8-4. After UH rallied to within 12-11, Wieczorek took over with three straight kills and an ace for a 16-11 cushion. Following a Rosenmeier kill, the Waves strung together two more points to increase the run to 6-1 for their largest lead at 18-12. That was all they needed as the teams sided-out the rest of the way.

UH was much more competitive in Set 3, taking a 12-10 lead following kills by Patrick Gasman and Rosenmeier. The Warriors held the lead throughout and made it 23-20 after an overpass kill by Dalton Solbrig off a Rosenmeier serve. Van Tilburg’s 14^th kill gave UH the 25-22 win and snapped an 11-set losing streak.

The Warriors got off to a strong start in Set 4, taking an 8-4 lead after a Solbrig-Parapunov double-block and van Tilburg kill. The Waves re-took the lead at 14-11 after scoring five unanswered and made it 18-13 with three more. UH closed to within 22-18 with three straight points but Pepperdine finished off the match as Colby Harriman provided the match-ending kill.

The Warriors take the next week off before a two-match Big West series against UC San Diego, March 30-31 at the Stan Sheriff Center.