LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University men's volleyball earned an electrifying five set win over No. 7 Pepperdine at the Melvin Price Convocation Center on Saturday night to improve their record to 8-6 while Pepperdine falls to 8-6.
"As a coach, it's wonderful to see their years of hard work and dedication pay off and I couldn't be prouder of a fantastic team win versus a tough Pepperdine team," head coach Nickie Sanlin said after the win.
The Bearcats started the night up 2-0 before Pepperdine came back to force a fifth set as all five sets ended up being won by five points or fewer with McKendree winning 25-21 and 25-20 in sets one and two before Pepperdine won 25-22 and 25-23 in sets three and four and the Bearcats would pick up a 15-11 set five win to give the Bearcats their third win of the season against a nationally ranked opponent.
All three of McKendree's wins over nationally ranked opponents have come at home with the first being on Feb. 10 against Ohio State, Feb. 24 against Loyola Chicago, and March 5 against Pepperdine.
Offensively, the Bearcats received career nights from graduate student outside hitters Ethan Carroll (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and Patrick Ross (Anthem, Ariz./Boulder Creek) as Carroll recorded a career-high 23 kills while Ross recorded a career-high of 19 kills. Carroll's previous career-high of 22 kills came on Feb. 29, 2020, at Purdue Fort Wayne. Ross recorded his previous career-high of 18 kills twice with the first happening on Jan. 26, 2019, at Saint Francis and the second time was April 10, 2021, at home against Purdue Fort Wayne.
"Ross and Carroll having career highs in tonight's match shows where the program started and where it's currently at," Sanlin said about Ross and Carroll's performances.
The Bearcats also recorded a season-high 65 kills with redshirt junior middle blocker Daniel Duggan (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) and redshirt junior middle blocker Jacob Gall (Fairview Heights, Ill./Althoff Catholic) added seven kills each. Redshirt senior setter Ryan Serrano (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) tied a season-high with 49 assists.
Defensively, the Bearcats were led by Serrano with 14 digs while senior libero Francisco Comas (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) added seven digs. The Bearcats also recorded 12 total team blocks in the win with Serrano recorded six block assists. Duggan recorded five block assists, while Carroll and Gall added four block assists each including Gall have the Bearcats only solo block and Ross added three block assists.
Serrano recorded his fifth double-double of the season in the win and the 16th double-double of his career.
Pepperdine was led by Jaylen Jasper as he recorded a game-high 33 kills while Austin Wilmot and Jacob Steele added nine kills each. Bryce Dvorak recorded 51 assists and 10 digs. Jasper also added 10 digs and three block assists.
The Bearcats return to action next Friday, March 11 in the Lindenwood Invitational at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. against Limestone University at 4 p.m.
