MALIBU -- In the final match of the Warner Center Marriott Tournament, Pepperdine bounced BYU, 3-0 (34-32, 30-23, 30-20), to finish off the non-league match-up between two of the top teams in the country. Pepperdine ranks as No. 2 in Volleyball Magazine and BYU follows behind at No. 3.

The Waves now move on to 2-0 with the win and the Cougars drop 0-2. The Cougars will host Cal State Northridge, Jan. 16-17, for its first conference match-up of the season at the Smith Fieldhouse.

"Pepperdine played very well tonight, they are a very technical team," head coach Tom Peterson said. "We made some mistakes that cost us and we'll have to break those things down in practice to get ready for next week's matches."

Senior opposite hitter Joe Hillman again led the Cougars in hitting with 11 kills, BYU's only player to record double-digit kills. The rest of the points were spread throughout the roster with senior hitter Jon Alleman registering five kills and a .400 hitting percentage and senior Fernando Pessoa also adding five.

BYU's weakness showed through the inexperience of the middle position. With All-MPSF selection Michael Burke out with a preseason injury, Peterson rotated Dave Hyte, Cory Carpenter and Aaron Ferre in the lineup. The Cougars also struggled with serving and service receive, two areas that Peterson said the team will focus on in practice.

In game one, the Cougars kept it close with kills from Hillman and Alleman and took the lead after a service error by Pepperdine. The Waves then crept ahead with kills by outside hitters, freshman Tanner Sutherland and junior Sean Rooney. Pessoa, who switched positions from libero to outside, served up an ace for BYU to tie the game at 28-28.

The Cougars tied the score again at 32, but Pepperdine finished out the last two points with a kill by junior outside hitter Mike Gledhill and a Cougar attack error.

The second game started fairly close, with both teams trading points until Pepperdine grabbed the lead at 20-17. An attack by Pessoa brought the Cougars within two (20-18), but Rooney's back-to-back kills gave the Waves the momentum they needed to finish out at 30-23.

Cougar newcomers Victor Batista and Enoc Cardona entered in game three and saw action in the outside position. Batista registered his first kill to put BYU within two points (17-15) and Cardona added two more kills down the stretch for BYU. Pepperdine ended the match with two kills by freshman middle John Parfitt and one kill by Rooney.

Next week's matches with Cal State Northridge will kill off Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Smith Fieldhouse.

To view the detailed box score, click the pdf version.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                    Final 2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
          BYU vs Pepperdine Waves (Jan 10, 2004 at Malibu, California)
    BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  RANGEL, Steffin.....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 3  FERRE, Aaron........  3|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  3|  3   0   5  .600| 30|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 8  HYTE, David.........  1|  1   0   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 CARPENTER, Cory.....  3|  3   3   8  .000|  0|  0   4|  0|  0| 3  0  1|  0
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  2| 11   4  18  .389|  0|  0   1|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3|  5   1  10  .400|  1|  0   3|  2|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  3|  5   5  13  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 18 BATISTA, Victor.....  1|  3   2   7  .143|  0|  0   3|  1|  1| 0  0  1|  0
 19 CARDONA, Enoc.......  1|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 35  18  76  .224| 31|  2  19|  6| 17| 3  2  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  5  29  .379   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  7  25  .200   BYU................. 32 23 20  0-2
   3   7  6  22  .045   Pepperdine Waves.... 34 30 30  2-0
    Pepperdine Waves       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  HEIN, Andy..........  3|  7   1  12  .500|  0|  4   4|  0|  0| 1  4  0|  0
 4  GLEDHILL, Mike......  3|  8   4  16  .250|  0|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0
 8  de WOLFF, Arist.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 9  KA, James...........  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 10 SUTHERLAND, Tanner..  3| 10   2  15  .533|  0|  0   5|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0
 11 MAYER, John.........  3|  3   0   4  .750| 42|  1   5|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 12 ROONEY, Sean........  3| 12   2  19  .526|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 14 HULSE, Tom..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 16 PARFITT, John.......  3|  8   4  13  .308|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 48  13  80  .438| 42|  7  23|  2| 17| 1 15  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  6  33  .424   Site: Malibu, California (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  16  4  26  .462   Date: Jan 10, 2004   Attend: 1112   Time: 1:15
   3  12  3  21  .429   Referees: Kim Pickering, Tony Chan

PROVO -- With four starters and 10 players returning from last year's squad, the BYU men's volleyball team opens the 2004 season with a pair of non-conference matches Jan. 9-10 against Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.

"We have a chance to be a very good team if we can have great ball control and passing," head coach Tom Peterson said. "Pepperdine is a team where what you see is what you get, and they are one of the tallest teams in the country."

In Coach Peterson's first season with the Cougars in 2003, the team finished with a 23-7 overall record and 17-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. BYU also ended the season as the NCAA Runner-Up to champion Lewis University. This year's team returns All-Americans Carlos Moreno and Jon Alleman and a handful of athletes competing for starting positions.

The match-up this weekend will give both teams a chance to play tough competition before the conference starts. The Cougars led the series 2-1 against Pepperdine last season and came from behind to beat the Waves 3-2 in the final MPSF Tournament match.

In pre-season matches, the Cougars joined three top NCAA teams including Long Beach State, Pepperdine and UC Irvine to compete against four top Canadian teams in the seventh annual Can-Am Challenge.

Pepperdine captured the 'Best American Team' award after posting a perfect 4-0 record over Canadian universities, and BYU helped the USA win the crown with a 2-2 record.

The Cougars are having to shuffle the roster due to injuries in the middle blocker position, but the coaching staff has been able to choose from a group of talented athletes.

"The best teams bring the best combinations of players and it hurts when you have players injured," Peterson said.

BYU opens its conference play against Cal State Northridge next weekend, Jan. 16-17, at the Smith Fieldhouse. Friday's match will begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday's match will kick off at 8:30 p.m.