MALIBU -- In the first match of the season and in front of 983 fans at the Firestone Fieldhouse, BYU fell 0-3 (28-30, 28-30, 21-30) to Pepperdine Friday night during the Warner Center Marriott Tournament. With the win, Pepperdine begins its season 1-0 overall, while the Cougars fall 0-1.

This match-up between these two conference rivals mark the 21st match in the all-time series, as Pepperdine leads with a 21-12 advantage ahead of the Cougars.

"It showed for us that we have to improve in certain areas to be a good team," head coach Tom Peterson said. "We have some inexperience in the middle position and we have players moving to different positions, but we will be improving as the season progresses."

Senior opposite hitter Joe Hillman led BYU's attack with 17 kills, registering a .364 hitting percentage for the Cougars. All-American Jonathan Alleman also added 10 kills and six digs, and junior setter Carlos Moreno handed out 35 assists on the night.

BYU had chances in the first two games to take the lead, but Pepperdine prevented any momentem for the Cougars by playing consistently throughout the match. The Cougar squad had the advantage in blocking, however, with 8.5 blocks compared to the Waves' seven blocks.

Both teams excelled at the net in the first game as the Waves edged the Cougars in hitting percentage, .424 to .333. Hillman accounted for eight of his 17 kills in the first battle.

The Waves raced out quickly in the second game with a six-point lead (21-15) before the Cougars begun an 11-6 run to pull the game within one point at 27-26. Pepperdine's Tanner Sutherland completed an attack to give the Waves a 28-26 advantage. Two BYU service errors later, Pepperdine entered the break ahead, 2-0.

In game three, BYU struggled with hitting, committing nine errors and only recording nine kills.

For Pepperdine, sophomore middle Andy Hein and freshman middle John Parfitt led the front line, pounding down 10 kills each. The Waves played well even without the contributions of junior standout Fred Winters.

"You never know how good you are until further in the season," Peterson said.

The Cougars look to win against Pepperdine in the second match of the tournament on Jan.10 in Malibu. The first serve of Saturday's match is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Live stats will be provided at http://pepperdinesports.ocsn.com/livestats/m-volley/ and results can be also found at byucougars.com.

To view the detailed box score, click the pdf version above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                    Final 2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
     BRIGHAM YOUNG vs Pepperdine Waves (Jan 09, 2004 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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  RANGEL, Steffin.....  2|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 3  FERRE, Aaron........  2|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  3|  3   2   6  .167| 35|  0   3|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
 8  HYTE, David.........  3|  3   0   3 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 10 CARPENTER, Cory.....  3|  1   3   8 -.250|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 1  5  0|  0
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  3| 17   5  33  .364|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3| 10   4  21  .286|  0|  0   3|  2|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  2|  2   5   9 -.333|  0|  1   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 20 EVANS, TAYLOR.......  2|  3   2   8  .125|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 40  23  93  .183| 36|  3  10|  6| 22| 2 13  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  30  .333   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  8  31  .226   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 28 28 21  0-1
   3   9  9  32  .000   Pepperdine Waves.... 30 30 30  1-0
    Pepperdine Waves       |     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..........  3| 10   2  16  .500|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0
 4  GLEDHILL, Mike......  3|  6   2  14  .286|  0|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 8  de WOLFF, Arist.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 9  KA, James...........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 10 SUTHERLAND, Tanner..  3| 11   8  21  .143|  1|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 11 MAYER, John.........  3|  3   1   7  .286| 40|  3   2|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  0
 12 ROONEY, Sean........  3|  9   5  25  .160|  1|  1   0|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 16 PARFITT, John.......  3| 10   1  15  .600|  1|  1   5|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  19  98  .306| 46|  6  14|  3| 24| 2 10  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  5  33  .424   Site: Malibu, California (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  16  8  32  .250   Date: Jan 09, 2004   Attend: 983   Time: 1:30
   3  14  6  33  .242   Referees: Robert Okamura, Bob Oshita

PROVO -- With four starters and 10 players returning from last year's squad, the BYU men's volleyball team opens the 2004 season with a pair of non-conference matches Jan. 9-10 against Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.

"We have a chance to be a very good team if we can have great ball control and passing," head coach Tom Peterson said. "Pepperdine is a team where what you see is what you get, and they are one of the tallest teams in the country."

In Coach Peterson's first season with the Cougars in 2003, the team finished with a 23-7 overall record and 17-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. BYU also ended the season as the NCAA Runner-Up to champion Lewis University. This year's team returns All-Americans Carlos Moreno and Jon Alleman and a handful of athletes competing for starting positions.

The match-up this weekend will give both teams a chance to play tough competition before the conference starts. The Cougars led the series 2-1 against Pepperdine last season and came from behind to beat the Waves 3-2 in the final MPSF Tournament match.

In pre-season matches, the Cougars joined three top NCAA teams including Long Beach State, Pepperdine and UC Irvine to compete against four top Canadian teams in the seventh annual Can-Am Challenge.

Pepperdine captured the 'Best American Team' award after posting a perfect 4-0 record over Canadian universities, and BYU helped the USA win the crown with a 2-2 record.

The Cougars are having to shuffle the roster due to injuries in the middle blocker position, but the coaching staff has been able to choose from a group of talented athletes.

"The best teams bring the best combinations of players and it hurts when you have players injured," Peterson said.

BYU opens its conference play against Cal State Northridge next weekend, Jan. 16-17, at the Smith Fieldhouse. Friday's match will begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday's match will kick off at 8:30 p.m.