IRVINE, Calif. – Coming off a five-set thriller on Friday night, the Concordia Men's Volleyball team looked to earn their first win in MPSF play on Saturday against No. 11 Pepperdine. However, it was the Waves who got their first conference victory on the season as they defeated the Eagles 25-17, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21.
 
Jacob Weiser had a season-high 15 digs for his sixth double-digit dig match of the year while Darcy Taig tied his career-high of 11 kills and hit .409. Chandler Gibb had 36 assists and 12 digs and Hunter Howell had seven blocks, with two being solos.
 
Pepperdine got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first. A trio of Wave kills put them up 10-5 before Concordia collected kills from Raymond Barsemian and Jonathan Predney to draw them back into the set. Pepperdine errors brought Concordia within one at 16-15, but the Waves rolled on to the end, going on a 9-2 run to take the set.
 
Concordia roared out to a 5-1 run forcing an early Pepperdine timeout. The Waves used the strength of their serve to put them ahead 9-8, behind a 5-0 run consisting of two aces and three Eagle errors. Each team had mini runs which caused multiple lead changes until 19-19. Pepperdine was able to go up by two 21-19, and it was back and forth from there as each team sided out until then, where Pepperdine took the set.
 
Down 0-2, the Eagles looked to extend the match, but they saw themselves fall behind 3-1 in the third set. Pepperdine went ahead 9-7, but the Eagles did not back down, going on a 5-0 Gibb serving run that consisted of kills by Taylor Falduti and Predney, along with a solo block by Taig. Four kills by Pepperdine's David Wieczorek switched the momentum in the Waves favor giving them a lead at 14-13. Teams traded points until Pepperdine was able to go ahead 24-23. With the next play being do or die for the Eagles, they were able to fight off a match point from a Waves service error. For the second day in a row, the crucial set ended from a service run by Falduti and a solo block from Howell.
 
With the momentum on their side, the Eagles came out with a 5-2 lead from two Taig kills, a Falduti ace and two Waves errors. Pepperdine bounced back with a 9-2 run to take the lead 10-7. After the Eagles tied the set up at 14-14, the Waves went on a 6-2 run benefiting from Eagles errors to gain separation. Pepperdine held the lead for the majority of the set going up 24-19. Concordia fought off two match points, but it was not enough to come back.
 
Concordia is now 4-5 overall and 0-2 in conference while Pepperdine is 5-3 overall and 1-1 in conference. The Eagles return to CU Arena on February 15^th at 7 PM where they face the Stanford Cardinal. It will be just the second meeting all-time between Concordia and Stanford, where the Eagles hosted and defeated the Cardinal in four sets in 2015.