Eaters Suffer 1st Loss of Season

Janaury 27, 2007

PEPPERDINE KNOCKS OFF UC IRVINE, 3-0

Irvine, Calif. -- No. 5 Pepperdine knocked off No. 1 UC Irvine, 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-23) in front of 1,439 fans at the Bren Center Saturday.

UC Irvine suffers its first loss of the season, going to 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Waves improve to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in league play.

Pepperdine was led by Paul Carroll's 15 kills, while John Parfitt added nine kills. Tom Hulse had eight kills and a match-high 14 block assists. Setter Jonathan Winder totaled 40 set assists, eight digs and seven blocks.

Matt Webber paced UC Irvine with 16 kills followed by David Smith who had 10 kills and hit .643 (10-1-14). Libero Nick Spittle improved on his career-high for the third consecutive match with 10 digs. Aaron Harrell pitched in eight kills and a team-high four blocks.

UCI senior Jayson Jablonsky had three service aces to tie the UCI career record with 93, matching Jimmy Pelzel's total from 2001-04.

The teams were tied 21-21 when Pepperdine would close out the set outscoring UCI 9-5 to win game one, 30-26. Game two didn't see a lead larger than two and with the score tied 26-26, back to back kills by Hulse and Jon Grobe gave Pepperdine the 28-26 advantage. A Matt Webber kill for UCI was followed by a kill by J.D. Schleppenbach and a UCI hitting error to give the Waves the 30-27 win. Pepperdine was leading 16-14 in game three when the Waves locked down the net, blocking UCI for four of the next five points to break open a 21-14 advantage. The Anteaters could get no closer than three the rest of the way. The Waves would have eight blocks in the final game.

Pepperdine would end the match out-blocking UCI, 16-6 and out-hitting the Anteaters .412 to .231, a season low for UCI.

The Anteaters will host Princeton in a non-conference match Tuesday (Jan. 30 ) at 7:00 p.m. in Crawford Hall.