MALIBU -- Battling with the second-ranked team in the country on its home court was no easy task as the No. 6 Cougars dropped a 3-1 match to No. 2 Pepperdine Thursday night. With the loss the Cougars fall to 16-12 on the season and 12-9 against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation foes.

The Cougars were led by Mat Taylor who recorded 21 kills on the night. Andrew Stewart, Alex Da Pron and Russell Lavaja also knocked down double-digit kills with 18, 13 and 10, respectively. Setter Yamil Perez recorded 58 assists and 13 digs--tying a career high. Lavaja was successful at the service line, picking up a career-high three aces.

BYU started the match strong, leading 6-2 in the first set, forcing the Waves to call an early timeout. Pepperdine scored three consecutive points, tying the score 9-9 before taking its first lead of the night on the following point. Former Cougar and current Pepperdine middle blocker, Rodnei Santos, knocked down three kills to give his team a 16-14 advantage. After finding themselves trailing by as many as four points, Taylor, Da Pron and Lavaja helped the Cougars get back to within one. A kill by Lavaja knotted the score 27-27. Taylor contributed an attack of his own, but the Waves’ Paul Carroll knocked down consecutive kills to give Pepperdine the 30-28 win.

The second set was tied six times before the Waves started pulling ahead at 15-12. Da Pron’s three kills evened the score again, this time at 16-16. The level play continued with neither team gaining more than a one-point lead until a kill by Futi Tavana and subsequent Pepperdine attack error gave BYU a 24-22 advantage. Tied 28-28, Stewart’s 11th kill of the night brought up set-point for the Cougars, which they clinched after another Wave error. BYU out-hit Pepperdine .455 to .250 in the second set.

The Waves claimed the third set to go up 2-1, hitting .632 from the floor and out-blocking the Cougars four to zero.

Set four began with an early BYU run to give the Cougars a 7-3 advantage. The lead grew to six points, 16-10, after a block and kill by Da Pron, followed by a Pepperdine attack error. The Waves continued to fight, coming back to overtake the lead 20-19 off a 5-0 run. The remainder of the fourth set followed a similar pattern as the first two, with multiple tied scores and lead changes before Pepperdine clinched the match with a 30-28 win.

The Cougars and Waves match up again on Friday at 7 p.m. PT.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
        #6 BYU Cougars vs #2 Pepperdine (Apr 16, 2009 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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4| 10   3  17  .412|  1|  3   6|  0|  0| 0  1  1|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  4| 21   5  39  .410|  1|  0   3|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  0   0   0  .000| 58|  0   7|  0| 13| 0  0  2|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 18   3  37  .405|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  4  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4|  8   5  24  .125|  2|  0   4|  0|  1| 1  5  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  4| 13   7  27  .222|  0|  1   2|  1|  4| 2  0  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  8| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   2|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 70  24 146  .315| 65|  4  24|  6| 39| 3 12  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  7  42  .333   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  4  33  .455   BYU Cougars......... (1) 28 30 20 28  16-12, 12-9 MPSF
   3  14  7  33  .212   Pepperdine.......... (3) 30 28 30 30  20-3, 18-3 MPSF
   4  16  6  38  .263
   Pepperdine             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  JAYNES, Tyler.......  4|  6   1  13  .385|  1|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  8  1|  0
2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  4| 12   4  17  .471|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
5  RIECKS, Cory........  4| 11   4  26  .269|  1|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  0
6  McKEE, Matt.........  4|  4   4  16  .000|  0|  0   1|  3|  3| 1  3  0|  0
10 CRIDER, Kasey.......  4|  0   0   1  .000| 55|  2   0|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  1
12 CARROLL, Paul.......  4| 30   6  49  .490|  2|  3   6|  0|  8| 0  7  0|  0
4  POLLOCK, Matt.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
14 GRUBBS, Sean........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0
15 PEDERSEN, Sean......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
20 HULSE, Mark.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
21 SCHIRRIPA, Brent....  1|  1   0   3  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 64  19 125  .360| 60|  6  11|  4| 40| 2 30  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  37  .378   Site: Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  14  7  28  .250   Date: Apr 16, 2009   Attend: 1214   Time: 2:11
   3  13  1  19  .632   Referees: Tony Chan, Robert Oshita
   4  19  7  41  .293

After splitting a pair of matches at then-No. 5 Stanford, the No. 6 BYU men’s volleyball team (16-11, 12-8 MPSF) goes to No. 2 Pepperdine (19-3, 17-3 MPSF) for two matches on Thursday and Friday nights. The visit marks the final two matches of the Cougars’ regular season.

The Cougars finished 1-1 against the the Cardinal last weekend, defeating it 3-2 on Friday before suffering a sweep on Saturday. With the loss Stanford now stands alone at No. 4 in the MPSF standings, while BYU is tied with USC at No. 5.

Pepperdine enters the weekend coming off a 3-0 loss at then-No. 2 UC Irvine, snapping a 10-match win streak.

Series Information

The Waves lead the series against BYU, 22-15 and 14-5 in Malibu. Pepperdine won the first six matches in the series, dating back to 1990, before the Cougars picked up their first win in 1993. Five of the last nine meetings between these two teams have resulted in sweeps. The Cougars swept the regular-season series played last year in Provo, before falling to the Waves in five sets in the MPSF championship match.

Match Coverage

The matches can be tracked and watched live online by visiting Pepperdine’s men’s volleyball schedule page at www.pepperdinesports.com. The video and stats can be launched by clicking on the respective links for the appropriate game on the schedule page.

Coming Off...Weekend Split With Stanford

BYU notched a five-set win (26-30, 33-31, 30-24, 26-30, 15-11) over the Cardinal Friday night, breaking the Stanford’s previous five-match win streak. The win also spoiled the Cardinal’s eight-match win streak against MPSF opponents as well as its 10-match undefeated record at Maples Pavilion, dating back to 2007. Team captain Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 16 kills and 13 digs, marking his first double-double of the 2009 season and second of his career. Futi Tavana and Mat Taylor each contributed 13 kills apiece, with Russell Lavaja recording 10 blocks, both match- and career-highs. Tavana also recorded eight blocks, including a career-high three block solos.

Just one night later, BYU suffered a 3-0 sweep (30-24, 30-19, 30-19) courtesy of Stanford. With the loss the Cardinal now stands alone as the No. 4 team in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings with only one week in the regular season remaining. Middle blocker Futi Tavana led BYU with 15 kills, tying his previous career-high. The redshirt freshman was the lone Cougar with double-digit kills. As a team BYU was out-hit by only one kill (45-44) but the difference-maker was attack percentage, with Stanford leading .386 to .138.

Up Next

The Cougars prepare for the first round of the MPSF Tournament on April 22.

Last Year Against Pepperdine

March 7, 2008

In a renewed rivalry between top Mountain Pacific Sports Federation elites, the No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball team (15-1, 10-1) topped No. 5 Pepperdine (8-6, 8-6) in four sets (30-20, 30-25, 31-33, 30-26) at the Smith Fieldhouse to remain atop the MPSF standings.

For only the second time this season five Cougar hitters tallied 10 or more kills. Ivan Perez led the way with 19 kills and a .343 attack percentage. He was followed by Jonathan Charette with 16, Russell Holmes and Andrew Stewart with 13 apiece, and Trent Sorensen with 12. As a team BYU hit .379 and kept Pepperdine to .269. The Cougars have yet to allow an opponent to hit .300 against them this season.

March 8, 2008

For only the first time since the 1999 championship season, the No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball team (16-1, 11-1) swept No. 5 Pepperdine (8-7, 8-7) in three sets (30-28, 30-23, 30-26) and completed a weekend sweep of the Waves for the first time since the 2004 championship season.

As is per usual with the current Cougar squad, the seniors led the charge against Pepperdine. Ivan Perez had 13 kills and five blocks to lead the Cougars, and Jonathan Charette followed with 11 kills of his own. Russell Holmes tallied nine kills and five blocks, and Trent Sorensen had eight kills and three blocks. As a team, BYU hit .348 with sophomore Reed Chilton at setter and recorded nine total team blocks.

April 26, 2008

The BYU men’s volleyball team (25-5) fell to Pepperdine (16-10) in a 2-3 loss (30-28, 30-28, 30-32, 27-30, 8-15) in the championship match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

The fifth-set loss is the first the team has suffered this season after going 5-0 in the fifth set during the regular season. The Cougars fall to 18-12 all-time in MPSF Tournament play and 3-2 in Tournament Championship matches.

Senior All-MPSF First Team honorees Ivan Perez and Jonathan Charette were named to the All-Tournament team. Perez tallied his team-leading 10th double-double of the season with 20 kills and 12 digs. Charette also had 20 kills, and senior Russell Holmes had 13 kills and five blocks on the night.