PROVO, Utah – No. 2 BYU men's volleyball head coach Shawn Olmstead reached 100 career wins as the Cougars defeated No. 8 Pepperdine in four sets (25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20) on Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. 

BYU vs. Pepperdine Box Score

“I didn’t know anything about coming up on my 100th win until one of the coaches mentioned it to me about five minutes before the match," Olmstead said. "I immediately just thought of all the great people I’ve been surrounded by throughout my time here. I think very highly of David Hunt and Pepperdine. It makes it that much more special to be able to get this win against them because I think the world of him.”​

Olmstead joins his former coach and BYU legend, Carl McGown, as the only two coaches to reach the milestone in program history. McGown reached his 100th win in the midst of his ninth season while Olmstead is currently in his fifth. Olmstead also reached 100 career wins while the head coach of the BYU women's team (2011-14).

Winning their first 12 matches of the year, the Cougars match their best start to a season in the rally era. Middle blocker Felipe de Brito Ferreira recorded seven blocks to match his season high  while middle blocker Miki Jauhiainen connected on seven kills to match his career high.  Three Cougars reached double figures in kills as opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez led the way with 14. Outside hitters Davide Gardini and Zach Eschenberg had 12 and 10 kills, respectively.

Set 1
De Brito Ferreira, Garcia Fernandez and Wil Stanley blocked four attacks to give BYU (12-0, 2-0 MPSF) a 7-1 advantage over Pepperdine (4-3, 1-1 MPSF) to start the first set. Jauhiainen won a joust at the net to extend the Cougars' lead to 15-9. BYU took set one, 25-18, off a kill from Jauhiainen. The Cougars exceptional defense helped hold the Waves to a .069 hitting percentage in the first game.

Set 2
Pepperdine took an early edge before BYU responded and a Garcia Fernandez kill gave the Cougars the lead, 8-7. Both teams continued to trade points leading to a 14-14 tie. Gardini dropped an ace to bring the score to 21-18 before a kill by Garcia Fernandez finished off the set to clinch the 25-22 win for BYU.

Set 3
Both teams continued the competitive play in the third set with Pepperdine claiming an early 9-8 advantage. The Cougars continued to go point-for-point with the Waves before a Pepperdine attack error gave BYU the 15-14 edge. A block by Eschenberg and Jauhiainen broke an 18-18 tie to keep the Cougars in control. The Waves answered with a 6-1 before securing the set, 25-22.

Set 4
Both teams struggled with errors early in the fourth set with BYU landing an 8-7 lead. After connecting on a kill, Jauhiainen scored from the service line to extend the Cougars' advantage to 17-14. Back-to-back points from de Brito Ferreira brought BYU to 20 points. A pair of kills by Eschenberg led to match point before a Gardini kill capped off the 25-20 win.

The Cougars will take a brief road trip to play Grand Canyon on Friday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m. MST at the GCU Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The match will be streamed on GCUTV and live stats will be available on the BYU schedule page.

PROVO, Utah – No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball will open conference action at home with matches this week against No. 7 UCLA and No. 8 Pepperdine at the Smith Fieldhouse.

BYU Game Notes
Pepperdine Game Notes

The Cougars (10-0) will face the seventh-ranked Bruins (5-3) to begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. MST before hosting the eighth-ranked Waves (3-2) on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 5 p.m. MST. Both matches will be televised live on BYUtv and will be streamed on the BYUtv App and byutv.org.

The MPSF coaches tabbed BYU to win the conference this year in their preseason poll. UCLA came in just behind the Cougars after receiving two of the seven first-place votes while Pepperdine was picked to finish fourth.

Winning its first 10 matches, BYU is off to its best start since going 12-0 to open the 2008 season. The Cougars remain ranked No. 2 in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll while receiving five first-place votes. BYU moved atop the rankings of this week’s Off the Block National Media Poll after beating No. 3 UC Santa Barbara in back-to-back matches. The Cougars have played one of the toughest schedules in the country with eight of their 10 wins coming against ranked opponents.

UCLA is coming off a four-set win over No. 4 Long Beach State, handing the Beach their first loss of the season. The Bruins currently average 2.31 aces per set to lead the NCAA and are third in the nation with an average hitting percentage of 3.42. BYU holds the advantage when the two teams meet in Provo with a 24-10 home record over UCLA.

Pepperdine had a bye week last week after losing to No. 4 Long Beach State in four sets the previous week. The 2019 MPSF champions had to replace three all-conference players from last year and will look to rebound after dropping their last two non-conference matches. The Waves will begin MPSF action at No. 13 Stanford on Thursday before making the trip to play the Cougars in Provo.

BYU opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez continues to lead the NCAA in aces per set with an average of .946. The junior also ranks second in points per set (5.55) and is fifth in kills per set (4.14). Coming off his second-consecutive MPSF Defensive Player of the Week award, Wil Stanley is second in the nation with 10.85 assists per set.

As a team, the Cougars are second in the NCAA with a hitting percentage of .343 and third in assists per set with 12.24. BYU is also currently fifth in blocks per set (2.649) and sixth in both kills per set (13.03) and aces per set (1.86).