Cougars Claim Five-Game Thriller Over No. 2 Pepperdine

MALIBU -- For only the second time this season, the top-ranked BYU men's volleyball team needed all five games to lay claim to an important MPSF victory, coming from behind to beat No.2 Pepperdine on Saturday, 19-30, 38-36, 23-30, 30-23, 15-9 in front of 2,217 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. The Cougars improve to 12-1 overall and maintain their hold on the MPSF Mountain Division lead with an 8-1 league record. With the loss, the Waves end a five-match win streak and fall to 11-3 overall and drop to third place in the MPSF's Mountain Division with a 6-3 league record. The win marks the Cougars' eighth victory over a top-15 opponent this season.

Junior Mike Wall led the Cougars with a match-high 29 kills, while Matt Olsen was the only other BYU player in double figures with 10 kills. Wall hit .407 for the match, while Olsen was 10-of-17 at the net, hitting .471. Luka Slabe came off the bench to spark the Cougars, picking up seven kills, three aces, four blocks and a match-high 11 digs. In his 171st career victory, BYU head coach Carl McGown used 12 players to get the win.

Showing signs of having played three matches in four days, the Cougars bounced back from a slow start to record a .301 team hitting percentage, while the Waves notched a .258 team attack mark on the night. BYU committed only one hitting error in the final two games of the match, hitting .667 in game four and .417 in game five. The Cougars won the defensive battle, outblocking Pepperdine by a slim 29-23 margin and outdigging the Waves, 47-36. The Waves recorded a season-best 16 service aces, while BYU produced just eight.

The Waves rolled to an easy 30-19 win in the first game as the Cougars hit a stiff .032, recording just 11 kills on 31 swings with 10 errors. The tide turned quickly in BYU's favor in the second game, as the Cougars jumped out to a commanding 20-12 lead. Pepperdine crawled back into the game , notching things up at 29-29. Both teams took turns serving for game point, but BYU eventually hung on for a thrilling 38-36 win.

The Waves cruised to a 30-23 win in game three, but BYU turned it up a notch and dominated play in the final two games, sealing the hard-fought victory.

The Cougars return to Provo this week and will look to continue their 10-match home court win streak on Friday, March 9, taking on No. 13 Concordia (New York) at 7 p.m. (MST) in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Brigham Young vs #2 Pepperdine (Mar. 3, 2001 at Malibu, Calif.)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WALL, Mike..........  5| 29   7  54  .407|  0|  1   2|  1|  4| 0  4  0|  0
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  2|  2   3   7 -.143|  3|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  5| 10   2  17  .471|  0|  2   2|  0|  4| 1  3  1|  0
 5  WILSON, Mac.........  2|  4   0   4 1.000|  0|  1   3|  0|  1| 0  4  1|  0
 6  GORNY, Chris........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  1|  2   3   7 -.143|  0|  1   0|  3|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 9  LEBRON, Hector......  5|  2   0   3  .667| 52|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  3  1|  0
 10 LARSEN, Jeremiah....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  4|  3   4  14 -.071|  1|  0   2|  1|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  4|  4   2  10  .200|  1|  0   1|  1|  7| 1  4  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  6| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  4|  7   2  17  .294|  1|  3   3|  2| 11| 0  4  1|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 63  23 133  .301| 60|  8  15| 16| 47| 2 27  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11 10  31  .032   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  8  38  .289   Brigham Young....... 19 38 23 30 15  12-1, 8-1
   3  11  4  28  .250   #2 Pepperdine....... 30 36 30 23  9  11-3, 7-3
   4  16  0  24  .667
   5   6  1  12  .417
    #2 Pepperdine          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Brian Wagner........  1|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 2  Keith Barnett.......  5|  4   0   8  .500| 54|  8   5|  0|  4| 0  4  2|  0
 3  Chris Van Reusen....  5|  9   2  17  .412|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  5  1|  0
 5  Beau Daniels........  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  Brad Keenan.........  5| 10   5  23  .217|  0|  4   4|  0|  2| 0  5  3|  0
 7  Fred Winters........  5|  6  11  23 -.217|  1|  2   5|  2|  1| 0  1  1|  0
 9  9...................  0|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 Lance Walker........  5| 21   6  39  .385|  0|  1   0|  0|  6| 1  4  3|  0
 12 Scott Wong..........  5| 18   4  40  .350|  1|  1   6|  3|  8| 1  2  1|  0
 13 Matt Showley........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 16 Clint Olson.........  5|  0   0   2  .000|  2|  0   0|  3| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 69  29 155  .258| 59| 16  20|  8| 36| 2 21 11|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  3  31  .258   Site: Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  22  8  45  .311   Date: Mar. 3, 2001   Attend: 2217   Time: 2:15
   3  18  7  37  .297   Referees: Ron Stahl, Rick Olmstead
   4  14 10  31  .129
   5   4  2  13  .154