PROVO -- After winning the first two games by a combined 21 points, the No. 1-ranked BYU men's volleyball team calmed the fifth-ranked Waves of Pepperdine, winning 3-1 (30-18, 30-21, 30-23, 30-28). The Cougars now extend their winning streak to 13 matches, tying for the second longest streak in BYU history.
With the win, BYU improves to 14-3 overall, 12-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Waves dropped to 11-5 overall, 7-5 in league play. The Cougars have also won seven straight matches at home.
"I am very pleased with our passing tonight and how we held them to a low hitting percentage in the first two games," head coach Tom Peterson said. "Anytime you beat Pepperdine, it's a savored win."
BYU held Pepperdine to .000 (10-10-31) hitting percentage in the first game, while hitting a solid .385 percentage as a team. Sophomore Victor Batista gave the Cougars a huge lift with a blistering .783 percentage, connecting on 18 kills and committing no errors. Batista tied his career-best in kills and set a new career-high in hitting percentage.
Other BYU players in double-digit figures were Fernando Pessoa, Jon Alleman and Joe Hillman. Pessoa posted 16 kills, six digs and five blocks on the night. Alleman and Hillman pitched in 10 kills each, as Alleman added a match-high nine digs and a season-high six blocks. Hillman threw in two aces and three digs.
Setter Carlos Moreno posted 57 assists on the night, which moved him from fourth place to third on BYU's all-time assists list. He has now totaled 3,745 career assists, right behind Hector Lebron (4,378).
Fred Winters and Sean Rooney led Pepperdine with 19 and 11 kills respectively. Winters hit a .324 clip for the match and added four digs. Rooney gave a strong defensive performance with five blocks and four digs. Setter John Mayer paced the Waves with 45 assists.
"Rooney and Winters are great players," Peterson said. "We put three blockers up on them and it slowed what they did. If you can close one of them down, you make it easier on yourself."
Junior Mike Burke struggled a bit due to recovering from shoulder surgery. He still threw in nine kills and six blocks. He helped BYU to an overall .355 hitting percentage for the match.
"Mike had a bad night offensively but he hasn't been practicing because some muscles in his shoulder are just a little tweaked," Peterson said.
The Cougars match up with Pepperdine again on Saturday night, beginning at 7 p.m.
"We have a wonderful opportunity tomorrow night to put ourselves ahead in the conference heading into Hawaii and UCLA," Peterson said.
Volleyball Box Score
2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
Pepperdine vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mar 12, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
Pepperdine | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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3 HEIN, Andy.......... 4| 9 5 21 .190| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0| 9.5
7 WINTERS, Fred....... 4| 19 7 37 .324| 1| 1 4| 2| 4| 0 0 0| 0| 20.0
10 SUTHERLAND, Tanner.. 2| 5 2 9 .333| 1| 0 3| 1| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 5.0
11 MAYER, John......... 4| 4 1 7 .429| 45| 0 3| 0| 3| 0 1 2| 0| 4.5
12 ROONEY, Sean........ 4| 11 7 27 .148| 1| 0 4| 0| 4| 1 4 1| 0| 14.0
14 HULSE, Tom.......... 4| 0 2 3 -.667| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0| 0.5
8 DE WOLFF, Arist..... 3| 0 1 2 -.500| 0| 1 1| 0| 2| 1 0 0| 0| 2.0
9 KA, James........... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
13 GROBE, Jon.......... 1| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
16 PARFITT, John....... 4| 6 2 13 .308| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 3 2| 0| 7.5
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Totals.............. 4| 54 27 120 .225| 50| 2 17| 3| 25| 2 10 6| 0| 63.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 10 10 31 .000 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS
2 12 7 30 .167 Pepperdine.......... 18 21 30 28 11-5,7-5 MPSF
3 13 4 20 .450 BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 30 30 23 30 14-3,12-1 MPSF
4 19 6 39 .333
BRIGHAM YOUNG | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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3 BURKE, Michael...... 4| 9 4 21 .238| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 6 1| 0| 12.0
5 MORENO, Carlos...... 4| 2 2 7 .000| 57| 0 3| 0| 1| 0 6 1| 2| 5.0
11 HILLMAN, Joe........ 4| 10 3 17 .412| 0| 2 3| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0| 12.5
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 4| 10 6 25 .160| 1| 0 1| 0| 9| 1 5 0| 0| 13.5
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 4| 16 6 29 .345| 1| 0 3| 1| 6| 0 5 0| 0| 18.5
18 BATISTA, Victor..... 4| 18 0 23 .783| 0| 1 4| 0| 4| 0 5 0| 0| 21.5
10 CARPENTER, Cory..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0| 0.5
14 NEILSON, Rob........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 4| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 1| 6| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
20 EVANS, TAYLOR....... 1| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0
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Totals.............. 4| 66 22 124 .355| 59| 3 14| 2| 29| 1 29 2| 2| 84.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 14 4 26 .385 Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 17 5 33 .364 Date: Mar 12, 2004 Attend: 1831 Time: 1H 55M
3 15 8 31 .226 Referees: LES CALLES, BURT FULLER
4 20 5 34 .441