The No. 12-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team outlasted No. 15 USC, 25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 22-25, 15-10, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Saturday (Feb. 17) in Malibu.

The Waves improved to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the MPSF.  USC fell to 4-10 overall and 1-3 in the MPSF.

Jack Wyett led USC with 20 kills and 7 digs, Gianluca Grasso added 9 kills, 10 digs, 3 blocks and 2 aces, Connor Inlow had 6 kills and 4 blocks and Matt Douglas had 6 digs.

For Pepperdine, David Wieczorek had 18 kills (hitting .371) and 6 digs, Colby Harriman had 16 kills and 5 aces, Alex Harthaller had 10 kills, 9 digs and 4 blocks, Max Chamberlain had 7 kills (hitting .636) and 6 blocks, Noah Dyer had 10 digs, Robert Mullahey had 8 digs and 4 blocks and Michael Wexter had 6 blocks.

Pepperdine outhit USC, .303 to .220, and the Waves had more blocks (13.0 to 8.5) and aces (10 to 4).

Back-to-back points early in the first set put Pepperdine up 9-7, then the Waves used a 3-0 run to go up 13-10 and USC couldn't catch up as Pepperdine hit .393 in the set and served 3 aces.  A quick 4-point run gave the Waves a 4-1 edge in the second set and they built it to 18-12, but the Trojans roared back to tie it at 21-21 and then Troy tallied the set's final 3 points while hitting .360.  USC fell behind 5-1 in the third set and trailed 10-5 before pulling within 14-13 only to see Pepperdine run off 7 straight points to regain control of the set.  In the fourth set, USC scored 5 unanswered points to build a 12-7 lead and held off the Waves the rest of the way while hitting .333.  Pepperdine got out to a 3-1 lead in the fifth set and extended it to 8-3, a margin it never relinquished while hitting .500.

USC next returns home to host new MPSF foes Concordia on Friday (Feb. 23) and No. 10 Grand Canyon on Saturday (Feb. 24).  Both matches start at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center.