Middle Blockers Lead In No. 6 UC Irvine's Loss At No. 4 Pepperdine

Saturday, March 23

Malibu, CA

5:00 PM

UC Irvine

14-7

Pepperdine

16-6

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Irvine	17	20	24	0
Pepperdine	25	25	26	3

Middle Blockers Lead In No. 6 UC Irvine's Loss At No. 4 Pepperdine

March 23, 2019 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

Malibu, Calif. – Middle blockers Scott Stadick and Austin Wilmot led the sixth-ranked Anteaters in a 3-0 loss against No. 4 Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse.

UC Irvine held the advantage in blocks, 5-2, but could not contain the Waves offensively and fell to 14-7 overall. Pepperdine is 16-6 on the year.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UCI middle blockers Scott Stadick and Austin Wilmot led the Anteaters with seven kills apiece. Wilmot hit .636 (7-0-11), while Stadick joined Karl Apfelbach with a match-high four block assists
>Outside hitter Aaron Koubi added six kills and Apfelbach pitched in five kills and two aces
>Pepperdine was led by David Wieczorek and Michael Wexter with 14 kills each. Kaleb Denmark had 11 kills

TURNING POINTS
FIRST SET
>Pepperdine would score eight straight to jump out to a 13-6 lead
>UCI could never recover and the Waves would go on to win 25-17

SECOND SET
>The Waves would go on a 3-1 spurt to take a 11-7 lead
>Trailing 17-11, UCI would rally with three in a row, the last two on blocks by Scott Stadick and Karl Apfelbach to force a Pepperdine timeout, 17-14
>Two Pepperdine kills would follow to stop the momentum
>The teams would side out to end the set for the Pepperdine 25-20 victory

THIRD SET
>UCI used kills by Apfelbach and Stadick, an ace by Koubi and a block by Apfelbach and Stadick to take a 10-6 lead
>A kill by Austin Wilmot and an ace by Apfelbach extended the lead to 14-9
>Three consecutive kills by David Wieczorek tied the set at 19-19
>Teams would trade points until the Waves recorded a point off a UCI service error and a kill by Robert Mullahey to win the set 26-24

NOTES
>UCI has dropped five of the last six outings
>Apfelbach fired his 26^th ace of the season
>UCI's kill leader Joel Schneidmiller did not play

UP NEXT
>UCI will host No. 1 Long Beach State Friday (Mar. 30) at the Bren Events Center. First serve at 7:00 p.m.