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.