PROVO, Utah—No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball swept No. 4 Pepperdine Saturday night behind Taylor Sander's 18 kills and six blocks, tying a season high. 

"The boys are dialed in to our game plans, and we are executing really well," BYU head coach Chris McGown said. "It was a nice night. I told the guys after that match that I hope they understand they are playing good volleyball right now, but I feel like we have so much more upside to get to."

With the win, BYU (12-3, 12-1 MPSF) extends its winning streak to six games, tied for the longest of the season. Devin Young recorded five kills and five blocks, while Matt Underwood tallied seven kills. Setter Tyler Heap had 38 assists as each of the three sets came down to the final points. 

The teams traded points early in the third set, with Sander and Josue Rivera doing most of the scoring for the Cougars. With the game tied at 11, the Cougars scored three straight on kills by Tim Dobbert and Sander and a block from Rivera to force a Pepperdine (9-4, 9-4 MPSF) timeout. The teams combined for four straight service errors to push the score to 19-16. Two more kills by Sander and attack errors by Pepperdine left the Cougars with a 23-19 lead. Pepperdine scored the next three points to cut the lead to one, but two straight BYU blocks finished the set for the Cougars at 25-22 to give BYU the sweep.

The Cougars went on a 6-2 run to take a 9-5 lead early in the first set, led by Underwood’s three kills during that stretch. The lead extended to 17-10 after two blocks by Sander and a solo block by Michael Hatch. With BYU leading 19-12, the Waves scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead to one at 21-20, but Sander’s two kills helped hold off the rally, and the Cougars won the set, 25-22.

The Waves jumped out to an early 8-5 lead in the second set. Sander scored the next five BYU points to tie the game at 10. The teams battled to 18-18, with BYU getting three more kills from Sander and one each from Underwood and Young. Pepperdine and BYU traded points to 22-22, but a Waves’ service error and an ace by Sander gave the Cougars their first set point. After a kill by Pepperdine’s Nikola Antonijevic, Sander finished the set with a kill to give BYU the set at 25-23. 

BYU returns to action next weekend as they travel to California to take on Long Beach State on Friday and Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

PROVO, Utah—No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball returns to the Smith Fieldhouse for the first time in a month, hosting No. 7 USC and No. 4 Pepperdine Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Both matches will be broadcast live on BYUtv and streamed on byutvsports.com. They will begin at 7 p.m. MST.

BYU (10-3, 10-1 MPSF) held onto its No. 2 ranking after a bye week. The Cougars reached second place after defeating then-No. 8 Stanford in a five-set thriller on the road Feb. 15. BYU is No. 1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The Cougars are led by Taylor Sander, who is now No. 3 at BYU for career kills during the rally-scoring era with 1,451. Sander averages 4.46 kills per set this season, good for No. 4 in the nation.

Michael Hatch is No. 3 in the country for blocks per set with 1.49. Leading on the back row is Jaylen Reyes with 1.69 digs per set.

USC’s back row is led by Henry Cassiday with 3.10 digs per set. Andy Benesh leads the nation in hitting percentage with a .518 clip, and Micah Christenson is No. 2 nationally in assists per set with 11.70.

The Trojans (9-5, 8-5 MPSF) will face Cal Baptist Wednesday on the road. USC comes off two wins against Hawai’i at home.

The last time BYU met USC, the Cougars won 3-2 on the road Feb. 1.

Pepperdine (8-3, 8-3 MPSF) is led by Josh Taylor with 4.46 kills per set, good for No. 3 in the nation. Nikola Antonijevic averages 1.43 blocks per set, good for No. 4 nationally.

The Waves will play at Cal Baptist Thursday before traveling to Utah. Pepperdine hosted Cal Baptist Saturday and defeated the Lancers 3-1.

The last time BYU faced Pepperdine, the Waves pulled off the win in Malibu, Calif., 3-2 Jan. 31.

Links to live stats and live streaming for both matches will be available on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.