Rob Neilson had 42 assists in the Cougar's loss to Pepperdine Saturday. (Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

MALIBU -- The No. 6 BYU Cougars dropped their second-consecutive match to No. 2 Pepperdine, losing in three games (30-20, 30-28, 30-14) Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse. With the loss, the Cougar's record is now 7-6 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Pepperdine improved to 9-1 overall and in the MPSF.

BYU Coach Tom Peterson said Pepperdine was too strong while the Cougars struggled.

"They really exposed our weaknesses that we have right now," Peterson said. "It's very unlike a BYU team to get rolled over at the end and that's very discouraging."

Ivan Perez and Victor Batista each had 12 kills to lead BYU while Michael Burke hit .571 (9-1-14). Perez and Batista also led the Cougars with six digs apiece. As a team, BYU hit .206 (49-29-97).

Pepperdine had three players register double-digit kills with Sean Rooney leading the way with 13. John Mayer added 11 while John Parfitt had 10. Rooney, Andy Hein, and Jonathan Winder controlled the nets as each collected five blocks. The Waves were on fire all match, hitting .500 (47-5-84) as a team and finishing with 13.5 team blocks.

Game one started where Friday's match left off, with Pepperdine in control. The Waves took the first lead of the game and never looked back as they won 30-20.

The second game was much more interesting as there were 13 ties and four lead changes. The Cougar's offense was much stronger as they pounded out 25 kills. Batsita had nine of his own to lead BYU but it was not enough. Pepperdine made key plays at the end to close out the game 30-28 and take the 2-0 lead.

The Waves made sure game three would not be as close, stepping up defensively and limiting the Cougars to just nine kills. Pepperdine won the game 30-14.

Peterson said he knows that his players have the potential but they need to keep working.

"We have a lot more talent right now than what we're showing," Peterson said. "We have a week off so I'm confident that we will be able to improve and get back to where we need to be."

The Cougars will have next weekend off and then play the UC Irvine Anteaters in the Smith Fieldhouse Feb. 25 and 26 at 7 p.m. Both matches can be heard on BYU Radio and Friday's match will broadcast on BYU-TV.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                      Briham Young University - Volleyball
   #6 Brigham Young Cougar vs #2 Pepperdine (Feb 12, 2005 at Malibu, Calif.)
    Brigham Young Cougar   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  BURKE, Michael......  3|  9   1  14  .571|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  1  1|  0|  10.5
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3| 12   7  22  .227|  2|  0   1|  3|  6| 1  1  0|  0|  13.5
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  3|  6   5  13  .077|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  4   4  10  .000|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  1   1   5  .000| 42|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  3| 12   8  23  .174|  1|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  1  1|  0|  12.5
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3|  5   3   9  .222|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  29  97  .206| 48|  0   8|  5| 26| 2  4  2|  0|  53.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  9  28  .214   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  25  6  38  .500   Brigham Young Cougar (0) 20 28 14  7-6, 2-4 MPSF
   3   9 14  31 -.161   Pepperdine.......... (3) 30 30 30  9-1, 9-1 MPSF
    Pepperdine             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Spencer, Corey......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  Hein, Andy..........  3|  8   1  12  .583|  0|  3   2|  0|  0| 1  4  0|  0|  14.0
 6  de Wolff, Max.......  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 9  Ka, James...........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Mayer, John.........  3| 11   1  15  .667|  2|  1   0|  0|  5| 2  0  0|  0|  14.0
 12 Rooney, Sean........  3| 13   1  30  .400|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 2  3  0|  0|  16.5
 13 Grobe, Jon..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  0  0|  0|   1.0
 14 Hulse, Tom..........  3|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0|   4.0
 15 Winder, Jonathan....  3|  2   0   2 1.000| 37|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  4  0|  0|   5.0
 16 Parfitt, John.......  3| 10   2  20  .400|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  1|  0|  10.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47   5  84  .500| 39|  5   6|  0| 14| 7 13  2|  0|  65.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  2  25  .520   Site: Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  21  1  37  .541   Date: Feb 12, 2005   Attend: 1732   Time: 1:20
   3  11  2  22  .409   Referees: John Martin, Marvin Hall
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       0  13   2    15
                        Lead changes     1   4   1     6