MALIBU -- Southern California was unfriendly to No. 1 BYU, as the Cougars dropped their third consecutive match in the Golden State and fourth overall. BYU fell to No. 2 Pepperdine in three, 30-28, 30-23 and 30-21.

For the second consecutive match, the Cougars were led by Yosleyder Cala who had 17 kills on .324 hitting. Ivan Perez added eight kills, four blocks, seven digs and a service ace for BYU.

The first game was a back-and-forth battle of runs. Pepperdine started the set jumping out to a 7-2 lead. BYU came firing back with Ivan Perez behind the service line. The Cougars scored six consecutive points to take an 8-7 lead capped by a block by Russell Holmes, Brian Congelliere and Cala. Later in the first game, the Waves extended their 15-12 lead to 20-13 on a kill by Tom Hulse. The Cougars began to chip away at the lead and tied the game at 28 before Pepperdine scored back-to-back points to take the set, 30-28. The Waves' setter, Jonathan Winder scored a kill on a assist dump and a service ace to finish BYU off in the first.

In the second, Pepperdine started strong again. After the Cougars started the game with a 5-3 lead, the Waves went on a 10-4 run to grab a 13-9 advantage. BYU could not recover from the early Pepperdine run, falling 30-22. The Waves out-hit the Cougars, .304 to .161 in the second game.

The third game started out as a very tightly contested set with the Cougars once again jumping to an early 5-3lead. Like the first two games, Pepperdine had an early run to take a multi-point lead. In the third set, the Waves turned a 5-3 deficit into an 11-7 lead. Tom Hulse's service ace gave Pepperdine the 11-7 advantage. BYU would not lead again as the Waves cruised to the sweep on a 30-21 win.

BYU will return home next week as the Cougars will look to put an end to the current four-match losing streak. BYU will play Hawaii at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday. Both matches are set to start at 7 p.m. (MST) with Friday evening's match scheduled to be simulcast on KBYU and BYU-TV.

Volleyball Box Score
        #1 BYU Cougars vs #2 Pepperdine (Feb 17, 2007 at Malibu, Calif.)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  3| 17   6  34  .324|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  1  0|  0
 2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  2|  1   1   6  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  3|  0   0   0  .000| 30|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  1
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3|  8   7  26  .038|  0|  1   0|  2|  7| 0  4  1|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  8   5  16  .188|  2|  0   5|  0|  1| 1  3  0|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  3|  6   4  15  .133|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  3|  3   2   5  .200|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3| 11| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  3|  1   0   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 14 NEFF, Chip..........  2|  0   0   0  .000| 10|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 STEWART, Andrew.....  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 45  25 106  .189| 43|  1  12|  7| 27| 2 15  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17 10  44  .159   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  8  31  .161   BYU Cougars......... (0) 28 23 21  9-4 (5-3 MPSF)
   3  15  7  31  .258   Pepperdine.......... (3) 30 30 30  11-1 (9-1 MPSF)
    Pepperdine             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GAUDINO, Greg.......  3|  7   1  11  .545|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 9  SCHLEPPENBACH, J.D..  3|  9   6  24  .125|  3|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0
 11 GROBE, Jon..........  3|  6   2  10  .400|  2|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  0  1|  0
 12 CARROLL, Paul.......  3| 14   5  34  .265|  0|  4   2|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 14 HULSE, Tom..........  3|  5   1  10  .400|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 2  6  1|  0
 15 WINDER, Jonathan....  3|  1   1   3  .000| 36|  1   2|  0|  5| 1  2  0|  1
 10 SUTHERLAND, Tanner..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  16  92  .283| 41|  7   8|  1| 29| 3 14  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  9  42  .119   Site: Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  11  4  23  .304   Date: Feb 17, 2007   Attend: 2506   Time: 1:29
   3  17  3  27  .519   Referees: John Martin, Kim Pickering

PROVO -- BYU looks to put an end to its first two-match losing streak since the end of 2006 as the Cougars head to Malibu to take on the second-ranked Pepperdine Waves. The two teams met in a pair of exhibition matches in October, with BYU winning both matches, 3-1.

This is the Cougars' second consecutive MPSF matchup that pits the top-ranked team against the NCAA's No. 2 squad. Nearly two weeks ago, BYU split a pair of matches with then-No. 2 UC Irvine.

SERIES INFORMATION

Pepperdine is one of only three opponents on this season's schedule that has a all-time winning record against BYU. The Waves own a 22-16 series advantage and a 15-5 lead in Malibu. After Pepperdine won the first six matches of the series, the Cougars got their first win on Feb. 12, 1993, during current co-head coach Shawn Patchell's senior season. Since 1994, BYU and Pepperdine have played evenly, with each school winning 12 of 24 matches. Since 2003, the two teams have split the annual two-match season series with the Waves picking up the last season sweep in 2002.

Last year, The Cougars met Pepperdine in a 1 vs. 2 battle similar to this season's matchup. BYU won a four-set match on Feb. 3 before being swept at the Smith Fieldhouse on Feb. 4, 2006.

LUCKY NUMBER .300

BYU is a perfect 9-0 this season in matches that they hit over .300. Conversely, the Cougars are 0-2 in matches where they hit under .200. BYU is coming off a season-low .239 hitting performance at Cal-Baptist.

PATCHELL NAMED USA VOLLEYBALL ASSISTANT

The U.S. Boys' Youth National Team will be guided by University of Hawai'i Assistant Coach Tino Reyes. He will be assisted by Brigham Young University Co-Head Coach Shawn Patchell and Stanford University Assistant Coach Ken Shibuya. The U.S. Boys' Youth National qualified for the 2007 FIVB World Championships Aug. 15-26 in Mexico by finishing second at the 2006 NORCECA Continental Boys' Youth Championship.

During the summer of 2005, Patchell coached the US World University Games team and in 2006, he was part of the U.S. Boys' Youth National Team coaching staff.

NEAR RECORD PERFORMANCES

BYU dominated UCLA in its Friday match. Two players had near-record setting nights in hitting percentage. Yosleyder Cala had the fifth best hitting night in BYU history when he posted a .789 hitting percentage (15-0-19). Not far behind him, Russell Holmes posted the sixth best performance when he hit at a .786 clip (12-1-14). As a team, the Cougars had a top-10 performance all time in hitting performance as they hit .500 collectively (51-12-78). The performance was witnessed by one of the top-15 largest crowds to watch a BYU volleyball match (5,537).

SPREADING THE WEALTH

Redshirt freshman setter Yamil Perez has been spreading the wealth evenly in the early going for the Cougars. Against UCLA, four different BYU players had double figures in kills with only Ivan Perez doing in twice. Along with Perez, Yosleyder Cala, Russell Holmes and Robby Stowell posted double-digit kills in a match.

Yamil Perez has kept the Cougars' opponents off balance as several BYU players posted double-digits in swings. The Cougars hit .500 against UCLA on Friday night while three BYU players posted over .500 hitting percentages.

DOMINATING START

BYU is off to its most dominating start in program history (in terms of sets won vs. sets lost) in its first nine matches. BYU has won 27 sets against only one loss. Previous to this season, the next best start in school history was the 2001 championship season when the Cougars started 10-0. In its first nine matches, BYU won 27 sets while losing three sets (two against Lewis and one against UCLA). The Cougars swept eight of their first 10 matches in 2001. This season BYU has swept eight of nine matches.

"ALL-RETURNING" TEAM

Last season BYU had one All American and five All-MPSF performers. Three of the five return this season including second team AVCA All American Russell Holmes. Holmes was also second team All-MPSF. Ivan Perez earned an MPSF honorable mention citation last season and was the first BYU player to be named to an All America team as a freshman two seasons ago. Yosleyder Cala was named to the All-MPSF third team last year.