David Wieczorek had 13 kills while hitting .571 to lead the No. 4-ranked Pepperdine men's volleyball team to a 25-16, 25-23, 25-21 sweep over No. 6 USC in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Thursday (April 4) in Malibu.
 
Pepperdine improved to 19-6 overall and, going into Saturday's regular season final matches, maintained its first place tie in the MPSF with UCLA with an 8-3 league mark. 
 
USC, which had a 4-match winning streak snapped, dropped to 15-9 overall and 6-5 in the MPSF.  The Trojans are just 1-8 on opponents' home courts in 2019.
 
With the outcome, USC locked up the No. 3 seed in the upcoming MPSF Tournament.  The Trojans will host a quarterfinal match on April 13 at 7 p.m. PT in the North Gym against either Concordia or Grand Canyon.
 
Pepperdine hit .392 to USC's .329.  The Waves served 7 aces (Troy had none).  USC had more blocks (6.5 to 5.0) and digs (23 to 20).
 
Gianluca Grasso led USC with 12 kills while hitting .556, while Jack Wyett added 11 kills and Matt Douglas had 8 digs.
 
Kaleb Denmark had 11 kills for Pepperdine, Michael Wexter added 10 kills and 5 digs and Max Chamberlain served 4 aces.
 
Pepperdine jumped out to a quick 7-2 start in the first set and USC could never recover as the Waves hit .545 and served 4 aces.  Troy had a 9-6 edge in the second set but the Waves caught up and the set stayed tight until Pepperdine scored 4 straight points to go up 21-18, however USC scored 5 of the next 6 points to move ahead 23-22 before the Waves tallied the set's final 3 points despite the Trojans hitting at a .423 clip and getting 4.5 blocks.  Behind a 3-point run, Pepperdine opened up a 13-10 lead in the third set and USC couldn't catch up.
 
USC will conclude regular season play by hosting No. 5 UCLA on Saturday (April 6) at 7 p.m. PT in the Galen Center on Senior Night.