Follow
Pepperdine lived up to its nickname “The Malibu Roofing Company” in the decisive fifth-game overtime.
Both outside attacker Ilay Haver and middle attacker James Eadie delivered the match-winning block as the No. 4 seed Pepperdine upset No. 1 seed UCLA 19-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-23, 16-14 in the MPSF Tournament semifinals on Friday.
The block capped off a 3-0 run to close out the match in front of a home crowd of 807 people. All the points on the run came on UCLA errors, including a serving error at match-point that sent the match into overtime.
Outside attacker Ryan Barnett in the final game led all players with five kills, including back-to-back kills late in the game. Barnett also finished with a match-high 21 kills on a .447 attack percentage to help the Waves reach the conference tournament finals for the first time since 2022.
Barnett was one of two Waves to have double-digit kills against UCLA. Outside attacker Cole Hartke contributed 13 kills but was held to a .103 attack percentage.
Despite the loss, the two-time defending NCAA champions out-hit Pepperdine .366 to .230.
UCLA limited Pepperdine to less than a .200 attack percentage in each of the final three games, including a .167 attack percentage in the fifth game. The Bruins hit more than .300 in every game except the fourth game.
The Bruins also had 15 aces – 11 more aces than Pepperdine. Opposite Cooper Robinson led all players with five aces, while outside attacker Zach Rama added four aces.
UCLA, though, committed 28 service errors with six errors coming in the fifth game.
UCLA in the loss had four players with double-digit kills.
Middle attacker Cameron Thorne finished with 11 kills and one error on a team-best .714 attack percentage. Robinson, the MPSF Player of the Year, also had a team-high 16 kills and hit .357.
Pepperdine with this victory will advance to MPSF Tournament finals on Saturday and play the winner of the other semifinal match between Stanford and USC.
UCLA’s chances at a possible three-peat may not end with this loss. The Bruins remain in contention for one of the two at-large bids to the nine-team NCAA Tournament, according to the latest Off the Block bracketology.