Pepperdine uses career night from Wickens to defeat Concordia-Irvine in #CincoSets

In his first start at outside attacker, Spencer Wickens had a career night with 23 kills on a .541 attack percentage. Wickens was one of three Pepperdine players with a double-double (Dyer, Akinwumi). The Waves started four freshmen in the season opening match, including Bryce Dvorak at setter. Pepperdine outserved Concordia-Irvine, 11 aces to 1, while outdigging them, 65 to 48. The Eagles kept the match close on the strength of their block; they outblocked the Waves, eight to four. Individually, Concordia-Irvine was paced by their senior pin hitters – opposite Raymond Barsemian had a team-high 21 kills, while outside attacker Jordan Hoppe had 13 kills on 41 error-less attempts. Concordia-Irvine won the first and third games, while Pepperdine answered back to win the second and fourth games. The Waves took a 13-4 lead in the fifth and decisive game, and took the match on a walk off ace by Joe Karlous off the bench. There is a short turnaround for both teams as the rematch is on Wednesday night in Irvine. Check out the match highlights as recorded by associate editor, Jonathan Bates