MALIBU -- After BYU upset Pepperdine in a come-from-behind victory Friday night, the Waves came back to show why they are the top team in the nation, shutting out the Cougars in three games to clinch the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in the season finale in Malibu Saturday.
In the second matchup between the teams in as many nights, blocking was again the big difference in the match. This time Pepperdine dominated the net with 10.5 blocks to BYU's 4.0 and held the Cougars to a .170 attack percentage on the night while hitting .376 for the 30-25, 30-18, 30-24 win.
"They played a lot better tonight and we didn't. We don't have any excuses for it." BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "They are a very good team, of course. There was lots of emotion, up and down, and it's hard to play against a team that's very consistent. They are the most consistent team in the nation. It's hard to keep the emotion down."
The Waves now own the MPSF title and the rights to host all three rounds of the conference tournament with a 19-3 record, while the Cougars fall into a tie for second with Hawaii at 17-5 (19-6 overall).
Sean Rooney led the Waves with 16 kills, hitting .371 on the night, while Brad Keenan and Fred Winters each added 14 kills. Keenan registered a match-high .667 hitting percent as he did not commit a single attack error in the match and also added five blocks for the Waves.
BYU struggled on the attack without a single player registering over eight kills on the night. Jonathan Alleman led the Cougars with eight kills and Michael Burke and Rafael Paal registered seven each. Carlos Moreno and Casey Patterson shared time at setter, recording 25 and 12 assists, respectively.
"They beat us in every category tonight." Peterson said. "That's just the way volleyball is. Good teams get on a roll and it translates into hits, digs, blocks and aces. They were on a roll and it was hard for us to break into that."
BYU brought in some players from the bench to try to change the momentum, but it wasn't enough to get an edge on the Waves. Pepperdine took the first game 30-25, and while the Cougars tried to come back in game two, the Waves shut them down at the net. The Waves worked their way up to a comfortable 21-14 lead and kept the Cougars to a .100 attack percent for an easy 18-30 win.
Again in game three BYU got behind early, 10-16, and despite valiant efforts by some players off the bench, the Cougars could not shake Pepperdine's momentum. BYU got within four points at 20-24, but to no avail. The Waves hit .486 to BYU's .207 to win the third game 30-24 and take the match 3-0.
The first round of the MPSF tournament will be held on April 19, hosted by each of the top four seeds. The semifinal and championship rounds will be held on April 24 and 26 at Pepperdine, assuming the Waves win their first-round match.
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Volleyball Box Score
2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
Brigham Young vs No. 1 Pepperdine (Apr 12, 2003 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
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3 BURKE, Michael...... 3| 7 2 15 .333| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 2 0| 0
5 MORENO, Carlos...... 2| 2 1 4 .250| 25| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0
6 GORNY, Chris........ 3| 3 5 10 -.200| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
9 PAAL, Rafael........ 3| 7 3 22 .182| 2| 0 3| 1| 6| 0 1 0| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 3| 8 4 17 .235| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 0| 1| 7| 0 0 0| 0
1 PATTERSON, Casey.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 12| 2 1| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
4 HILLMAN, Joe........ 1| 3 1 6 .333| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
7 MAYOL, Jaime........ 2| 5 4 13 .077| 0| 0 1| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0
8 HYTE, David......... 1| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
18 SLABE, Luka......... 2| 6 3 18 .167| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 41 23 106 .170| 39| 3 9| 2| 33| 0 8 0| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 8 37 .216 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 13 9 40 .100 Brigham Young....... 25 18 24 19-6, 17-5 MPSF
3 12 6 29 .207 No. 1 Pepperdine.... 30 30 30 22-4, 19-3 MPSF
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
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3 HEIN, Andy.......... 3| 3 3 7 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 3 0| 0
4 GLEDHILL, Mike...... 3| 6 4 13 .154| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 3 0| 0
6 KEENAN, Brad........ 3| 14 0 21 .667| 1| 1 3| 0| 2| 0 5 0| 0
7 WINTERS, Fred....... 3| 14 4 30 .333| 1| 0 2| 1| 6| 0 4 0| 0
11 MAYER, John......... 3| 2 0 3 .667| 41| 1 0| 0| 7| 0 0 0| 0
12 ROONEY, Sean........ 3| 16 3 35 .371| 1| 0 3| 0| 6| 1 2 0| 0
1 WAGNER, Brian....... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
9 KA, James........... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
14 COATS, Dhiraj....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 2| 5| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 55 14 109 .376| 47| 2 8| 3| 30| 2 17 0| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 5 40 .275 Site: Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
2 18 5 34 .382 Date: Apr 12, 2003 Attend: 2453 Time: 1:30
3 21 4 35 .486 Referees: Marvin Hall, Bob Oshita
Pepperdine wins regular season MPSF Title.