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Apr 11 | 07:00 PM
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Anonymous
| Posted: 11 Apr 2003 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
MALIBU -- In their fight for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, the BYU Cougars rallied back from a 2-0 deficit to beat top-ranked Pepperdine 26-30, 21-30, 30-27, 30-19, 16-14 in the Firestone Fieldhouse Friday night.
With the win, BYU improves to 17-4 in the MPSF and 19-5 overall, while Pepperdine falls to 18-3 (21-4 overall), taking the Cougars one step closer to tying the Waves for the conference title and earning the privilege of hosting all three rounds of the MPSF tournament.
"It was a great comeback," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "Some guys off the bench came in and did a wonderful job. Pepperdine is the best blocking team in the nation, and we out-blocked them tonight."
Blocking was key for the Cougars as they held the Waves to 7.0 blocks on the night while controlling the net with 11.5 blocks of their own, snapping Pepperdine's 10-match home win streak. Michael Burke led the Cougars with five block assists, while Chris Gorny Carlos Moreno each added four.
Rafael Paal led the Cougar attack with 21 kills and chipped in four blocks, seven digs and four aces, while Burke, Gorny and Luka Slabe each added double-digit kills to bolster the offense.
The Cougars were also hot with their serving, registering 10 aces to Pepperdine's two. Carlos Moreno guided the team with 59 assists and added eight digs.
The Waves came out strong in the first two games, hitting .467 and .407, respectively, to level the Cougars 2-0 right off the bat. BYU kicked it into gear to win game three and caught its momentum going into the fourth game.
Pepperdine was overcome with errors in game four, recording a meager .056 attack percent with 11 kills and 9 errors on 36 attempts while the Cougars dominated, hitting .414 with 15 kills and only 3 errors on 29 attempts to tie the match.
Game five was intense as the Cougars and Waves battled for the win. BYU came out to score first and got as far as a 7-4 lead, but Sean Rooney Brad Keenan rallied the Waves with some key blocks and kills to get back in the game. A Mike Gledhill block gave the Waves their first lead at 14-13, but Burke put in a spike off a Moreno set to tie it back up at 14. Slabe got the Cougars the lead with a much-needed ace, then Burke again took the set from Moreno and spiked the ball for the win.
For Pepperdine, three players registered double--digit kills, including Keenan with 21 (.594) and Rooney with 17 (.167).
The Cougars and Waves face off again Saturday night at 7 p.m. (PST) in Malibu to determine the MPSF title and hosting privileges for the conference tournament.
.Volleyball Box Score
2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
Brigham Young vs No. 1 Pepperdine (Apr 11, 2003 at Malibu, California)
Brigham Young | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 PATTERSON, Casey.... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
4 HILLMAN, Joe........ 3| 6 3 16 .188| 0| 1 0| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 0
5 MORENO, Carlos...... 5| 3 0 7 .429| 59| 2 5| 0| 8| 0 4 0| 0
6 GORNY, Chris........ 5| 12 4 19 .421| 0| 0 1| 0| 5| 0 4 0| 0
7 MAYOL, Jaime........ 2| 1 3 8 -.250| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
9 PAAL, Rafael........ 5| 21 9 45 .267| 4| 4 2| 1| 7| 1 3 0| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 2| 4 4 14 .000| 0| 1 3| 0| 1| 0 3 0| 0
15 BURKE, Michael...... 5| 14 2 23 .522| 0| 0 2| 0| 1| 0 5 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 3| 0 0 0| 0
18 SLABE, Luka......... 4| 11 4 24 .292| 0| 2 2| 0| 5| 0 1 0| 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 5| 72 29 156 .276| 64| 10 15| 2| 37| 1 21 0| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 15 8 35 .200 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 13 9 33 .121 Brigham Young....... 26 21 30 30 16 19-5, 17-4 MPSF
3 19 7 42 .286 No. 1 Pepperdine.... 30 30 27 19 14 21-4, 18-3 MPSF
4 15 3 29 .414
5 10 2 17 .471
No. 1 Pepperdine | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 HEIN, Andy.......... 5| 9 2 14 .500| 1| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0
4 GLEDHILL, Mike...... 5| 6 5 20 .050| 0| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 2 0| 0
5 ENDSLEY, Kevin...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
6 KEENAN, Brad........ 5| 21 2 32 .594| 2| 1 5| 0| 2| 0 5 0| 0
7 WINTERS, Fred....... 5| 12 7 31 .161| 1| 0 4| 3| 10| 0 1 0| 0
8 DE WOLFF, Arist..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0
9 KA, James........... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
11 MAYER, John......... 5| 3 0 4 .750| 56| 0 1| 1| 6| 0 2 0| 0
12 ROONEY, Sean........ 5| 17 9 48 .167| 0| 1 1| 2| 4| 1 0 0| 0
14 COATS, Dhiraj....... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 4| 13| 0 0 0| 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 5| 68 25 149 .289| 60| 2 13| 10| 42| 1 12 0| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 4 30 .467 Site: Malibu, California (Firestone Fieldhouse)
2 16 5 27 .407 Date: Apr 11, 2003 Attend: 1523 Time: 2:15
3 12 5 38 .184 Referees: Ron Stahl, Marvin Hall
4 11 9 36 .056
5 11 2 18 .500
Anonymous
| Posted: 9 Apr 2003 | Updated: 28 Apr 2011
Anonymous
PROVO -- The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title will be decided this weekend as third-ranked BYU travels to top-ranked Pepperdine in a season finale for both teams this Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12, in Malibu.
With Pepperdine leading the MPSF with an 18-2 record, BYU is trailing by two matches at 16-4 and will need a sweep this weekend to tie the Waves for the conference title. If the teams tie, the Cougars will earn the top seed and the privilege of hosting the semifinal and final rounds of the MPSF tournament if they win in their first-round match.
"I can't tell you what the outcome will be," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "We can win, but we're playing a great team at their place. To win we will have to be very, very consistent. Hopefully we will play like how we did in that second match against Long Beach."
Two weeks ago the Cougars played the best they have played all season in two matches against then fourth-ranked Long Beach State. As a team they recorded a season-high .494 attack percent and out-blocked Long Beach 13.0 to 5.0 as they swept the 49ers 3-0 in Provo on March 29. Now after a week off, BYU faces its two toughest matches of the season, both physically and emotionally.
Last year, Pepperdine swept BYU in two regular season matches in Provo and then handed the Cougars a 1-3 loss in the semifinal round of the MPSF tournament, a loss that excluded BYU from earning a trip to the NCAA tournament. The Waves went on to win the MPSF tournament but eventually lost to Hawaii in the NCAA championship.
"We don't want to put 'live or die' on these matches," Peterson said. "We also can't get emotionally down if we don't win a match, since it's at their place. We are a good team and they are a good team, so we need to take care of business and play hard."
To their credit, the Waves hold a 16-10 series record over the Cougars and have won the last three matches. Statistically, Pepperdine has the edge over BYU in every category this season, but BYU is not far behind. Each team has defeated every opponent it has faced this season at least once and has recorded losses to two of the same teams: second-ranked Hawaii and fourth-ranked Pacific. The Waves are also currently enjoying a ten-match win streak at home in the Firestone Fieldhouse.
There's a lot on the line this weekend, and these two matches on April 11 and 12 will determine the MPSF conference title, hosting privileges for the tournament, and possibly who will earn a berth to the national tournament.
Both matches will played at 7 p.m. (PST) in the Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu. Live audio for both matches can be accessed online through the men's volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com.
