Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team started strong but faded in a four-set loss to No. 7 Pepperdine, Friday, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Firestone Fieldhouse. Set scores were 21-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-20.
 
UH senior outside hitter Steven Hunt led all attackers with a season-high 20 kills on .333 hitting. The Toronto native notched his fourth career 20-kill match and first since his freshman season. Freshman outside hitter JP Marks added 10 kills but hit at only a .077 clip. As a team, the Warriors (2-4, 1-2 MPSF) hit .207 and had trouble with the Pepperdine block.
 
The Waves (4-1, 3-0) recorded 14.5 team blocks, led by Maurice Torres' six. But the junior struggled offensively with seven kills and eight errors, hitting -.043. He proved equally effective at the service line, recording two aces and served six straight points early in the pivotal third set.
 
Punahou graduate freshman Josh Taylor had a team-high 18 kills on .419 hitting for the Waves. Middle blocker Matt Pollock had 12 kills with no errors in 18 swings and outside hitter Chase Ross added 10 kills, hitting at a .409 clip.
 
The Warriors jumped all over Pepperdine in the first set, taking a 23-17 lead after Sam Biscaro served three straight, capped by his only service ace of the night.
 
Pepperdine took Set 2 to even the match and took an 8-4 lead in Set 3, following Torres' serving run. The Waves took control of the set at 18-11 after three straight Warrior hitting errors.
 
UH fell behind 8-4 to start Set 4 and Pepperdine ran away with the match after the Warriors committed three straight hitting errors to trail 20-13. Hawai'i closed to within three but the Waves ended it with Taylor's 18^th kill on match point.
 
The teams play again Saturday at approximately 8:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. HT) following the Pepperdine men's basketball game.