MALIBU, Calif. – Senior outside hitter Jake Langlois and No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball swept past No. 9 Pepperdine (25-22, 25-22, 26-24) Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse to complete the series sweep.
"This was a great weekend for our team," BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "Pepperdine is a phenomenal program, and I'm proud of our guys battling both Friday and Saturday night to get two wins here on the road. It was a great effort from our entire team. I loved our ability to focus when we really needed to sideout or score a point."
Langlois led the Cougars with a season-high 19 kills on a .378 clip. Erik Sikes collected double-digit digs with 12 and Leo Durkin set the team with 42 assists. Price Jarman had five blocks and Brenden Sander and Tim Dobbert contributed 10 and nine kills, respectively, in the win.
Pepperdine (6-9, 4-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) took a 4-1 advantage against BYU (17-2, 11-1 MPSF) to start the first set. The Cougars countered with an 8-2 run, fueled by errors from the Waves, to take a 9-6 lead. Pepperdine scored eight of the next 11 points to retake a 14-12 edge, forcing Olmstead to take a timeout. A trio of Langlois kills helped BYU even the score at 18-all, and a Sander ace gave the Cougars a 22-20 advantage late. Langlois then ended the set 25-22 for BYU after consecutive kills.
Dobbert got things started for the Cougars in the second set with a kill and an ace en route to a 3-0 lead. The teams traded points as a Joseph Grosh kill kept BYU ahead 9-6. The Waves then went on a 4-1 rally to tie things up at 12 apiece. With Pepperdine up 17-15, the Cougars rallied with a 5-2 run to recapture a 20-19 advantage. A Sander kill gave BYU set point at 24-22 and Miki Jauhiainen followed that up with a service ace to win the set 25-22.
The Waves got off to an early 3-1 lead in the third set, but a pair of Jarman kills helped the Cougars tie the set at 5-5. Pepperdine then went up 9-6, but a trio of Langlois kills and an ace tied the score yet again at 10-all. The teams stayed within a point of each other from there until two Dobbert kills put BYU up 17-15, forcing a timeout from the Waves. The Cougars led by as many as five, 21-16, following a Jauhiainen kill, but Pepperdine used a late push with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 22 apiece. A Sander kill eventually gave BYU set point at 24-23, and consecutive Langlois kills ended the set and match in overtime, 26-24.
The Cougars return home to the Smith Fieldhouse for their next match, facing No. 4 Hawai’i Friday, March 17, at 7 p.m. MDT. The match will be televised live on BYUtv and simulcast on BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143. Links to the video/audio feeds as well as live stats can be found on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.