March 12, 2012
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Harvard Men’s Volleyball Tripped Up by No. 8 Pepperdine

Final 1 2 3 4 5 T
Harvard (12-3, 5-2 EIVA) 18 15 25 17 1
Pepperdine (10-9, 6-8 MPSF) 25 25 22 25 3
HarvardPepperdine
K: Dj White - 13
B: Michael Owen - 3
D: Chris Gibbons - 9
SA: Matt Jones - 3
K: Maurice Torres - 20
B: Nikola Antonijevic - 5
D: Maurice Torres - 14
SA: Maurice Torres - 3
TEAM STATISTICS HarvardPepperdine
Hitting % .195 .426
Blocks 5.0 9.5
Digs 27 42
Aces 4 4
full stats

Junior Rob Lothman dished out 37 asssists in the Crimson's losing effort against No. 8 Pepperdine on Monday. (Gil Talbot)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard men's volleyball team lost to No. 8 Pepperdine, 3-1, inMalibu, Calif., Monday night. Freshman DJ White led the Crimson attack with 13 kills but it wasn't enough as Harvard fell to 12-3 for the season.

The Waves jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the match, taking the first two sets 25-18 and 25-15. The Crimson responded however, edging Pepperdine in the third set 25-22.

In the fourth stanza Harvard opened with a quick 3-1 lead off a Michael Owen kill and two attack errors. A Matt Pollack kill and an attack error by sophomore Will Chambers evened it at 3-3. The teams traded points through much of the set as Matt Jones cut the Pepperdine lead to one, pushing the score to 14-13, Waves. Pepperdine began to take control the rest of the way, going on a 9-1 run to make it 23-14. Harvard attempted a comeback scoring the next two points thanks to an attack error and a Nick Madden kill but wasn't able to close the gap as the Waves rolled to a fourth-set win, 25-17.


White, who had been named EIVA Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the day, did his best to spark the Crimson offense tallying 13 kills on 28 swings, garnering a .321 hitting percentage. Madden and Jones were second and third on the team in kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Junior Rob Lothman registered 37 assists while sophomore Chris Gibbons paced Harvard with nine digs. Owen and Jones both tallied two blocks on the afternoon to lead the defensive effort.

Maurice Torres was the catalyst for Pepperdine earning a double-double with 20 kills and 14 digs. Matt West dished out 52 assists Nikola Antonijevic had five of the teams 19 blocks.
Harvard will play one last game out west before heading back to Cambridge as they take on Cal Baptist on Tuesday. The match is slated for 10 p.m. (EST)