Box Score

HONOLULU - Top-ranked Pepperdine knocked off No. 14 Hawai`i tonight in straight sets in front of 3,081 at the Stan Sheriff Center in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball match.

The Waves, who improved to 15-1 overall winning their 12th straight match, lead the MPSF with a 12-1 mark. The Warriors fell to 3-12 and 3-10 MPSF, dropping their third-straight contest.

In the first set, the fans witnessed 12 ties and four lead changes. With the score knotted at 20, Pepperdine took advantage of a UH attack error and a kill by Wave J.D. Schleppenbach to give them the lead for good and played virtually sideout the rest of the way to win, 30-28.

It was all Pepperdine in Game 2 as the Waves rolled out to an 8-4 lead early and increased the margin to as many as 12 winning handily, 30-18.

Hawai`i took a 4-3 lead early in Game 3 only to watch the Waves reel off four unanswered points. Pepperdine increased its lead to as many as seven on several occasions. But with UH trailing 25-17, the Warriors regrouped and try to mount a huge comeback. Lauri Hakala, who had been on the left side most of this season, started tonight at his familiar spot at opposite. Hakala picked up four of his match-high 18 kills in later part of the game. UH pulled to within with in one at 29-28 before a Hakala hitting error sealed the win for the Waves, 30-28.

Hakala led the way for UH with 18 kills and 11 digs, while Matt Vanzant added 10 kills. Brian Beckwith dished out 37 assists. UH, as a team, hit .233 on the night with 31 digs and 9.5 blocks.

Pepperdine was led by Paul Carroll's 14 kills and Schleppenbach's 10. Jonathan Winder handed out 41 assists. The Waves hit .356 collectively with 28 digs and 7.5 blocks.

The two teams complete the two-match series on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. HST at the SSC.

-UH-