Starting on Fire

Thursday, February 16

Riverside, Calif.

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

3-10, 1-8MPSF

Pepperdine

6-4, 4-3MPSF

Pepperdine

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

2/16/2017 9:52:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — California Baptist University came fired up to play Thursday night against No. 9-ranked Pepperdine, but just dropped a 3-1 match (21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-21).

The Lancers drop to 3-10 overall, 1-8 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Waves improve to 6-4 on the year, 4-3 in conference with the win.

Kevin Vaz had a career-high 20 kills (20-7-35) on the night to lead the Lancers. Luis Palos followed with 14 kills. Rohit Paul was just on the verge of double-digit kills with nine. Emmett Enriques finished with 10 digs, while Jacob Tarabetz combined for three blocks. Caleb Miller also posted three blocks, including one solo stuff.

CBU opened the match hitting at an impressive .636 clip. The set started out back-and-forth until the Lancers found their groove down 4-3.

Paul sparked a 3-0 spurt to put the Lancers in front, fueling the run with an ace and a Palos kill gave CBU a 6-4 lead.

Pepperdine evened the score at 6-6, but CBU was just heating up. After the Waves pulled within one, 13-12, Vaz got his team going on four-straight points. Miller had back-to-back combo blocks – with Tarabetz and Palos, respectively – to force a Wave timeout.

A Pepperdine error out of the break, however, gave CBU a 17-12 cushion that it rode to a 25-21 victory as Palos slammed home the winning set point.

The Waves took the next two sets, but the Lancers were determined to battle back in it.

CBU opened on a 6-4 run before creating some further distance off an Enrique de Diego Garcia and Palos block and Palos kill, 8-5. Kills from Palos and Tarabetz pushed the lead to 14-9, forcing a Pepperdine timeout.

The Lancers kept their distance, 17-13, to force the visitors to blow their final timeout of the set.

Something clicked for the Waves, however, as they came raging back in it and tied the set 18-18. The Lancers fought to regain their upper hand, but soon saw Pepperdine take a 23-20 lead and never look back.

CBU continues at home, hosting No. 6-ranked Stanford on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.