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Press ReleaseMALIBU, Calif. -- 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 (30-28, 28-30, 30-20, 30-28). 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. 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.
(Courtesy BYU Athletic Department)
