#3 BYU Sweeps #9 Pepperdine Behind Three-Headed Pin-Hitting Monster

  0 Braden Keith | March 11th, 2017 | College - Men's Indoor, MPSF, News

Match Stats

  • #3 BYU def. #9 Pepperdine 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17)
  • BYU moves to 16-2 (10-1 MPSF); Pepperdine falls to 6-8 (4-7 MPSF)
  • Firestone Fieldhouse, Malibu, California
  • Attendance: 637
  • Box Score

The 3rd-ranked BYU Cougars swept #9 Pepperdine 3-0 on Friday evening on the front-end of a weekend double header. For the Cougars, that was a 10th-straight victory, including the last 7 without senior All-American Ben Patch, who is still out with a groin injury.

In his absence, the Cougars’ other pin hitters have really evolved, and those 3 carried the Cougars to the win on Saturday.

“This was a great all-around team performance from our guys,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “They were assertive from the start of each set. We’ll look to have that same mindset as we return to competition tomorrow night.”

Langloi had 15 kills while Dobbert and Sander each chipped in 14. Sander chipped in 4 aces and a solo block to lead the team in scoring with 19 points, and each of the 3 hit .367 or better.

In total, BYU’s hard-swinging trio combined for 43 of the Cougars’ 49 kills. With the offensive load coming from the outside, Price Jarman was free to control the net and finished with 3 block assists and 2 solo blocks, plus 4 kills on 10 swings.

Pepperdine was more balanced in their offense, led by Noah Dyer, who had 11. But the Waves struggled to stay in system all night – their setter Joshua Stewart had just 21 assists on the team’s 32 kills, and the team hit just .339 on his sets. On the whole, it was his worst setting output of the season.

BYU setter Leo Durkin was much more efficient with 41 assists, including a .512 hitting percentage on his sets.

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Courtesy BYU Athletics:

MALIBU, Calif. – Combined play from pin hitters Jake Langlois, Brenden Sander and Tim Dobbert helped No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball handle No. 9 Pepperdine in straight sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) Friday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.

“This was a great all-around team performance from our guys,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “They were assertive from the start of each set. We’ll look to have that same mindset as we return to competition tomorrow night.”

Langlois led the Cougars with 15 kills while Sander and Dobbert each had 14. Additionally, Sander had a career-high tying four aces, Langlois had three blocks and Dobbert had eight digs. Leo Durkin set the team with 41 assists and had nine digs while Erik Sikes added nine digs of his own. Price Jarman contributed a team-high five blocks in the win.

Dobbert collected the first three points of the first set for BYU (16-2, 10-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) from a pair of kills and an ace to take a 2-1 edge against Pepperdine (6-8, 4-7 MPSF). Sander then collected two aces to extend the Cougars’ lead to four, 7-3. BYU maintained its advantage at 15-10 following another Sander ace, forcing a timeout from the Waves. After the break, Pepperdine countered with a 7-1 run to take a 17-16 lead, but kills by Dobbert and Langlois evened the score at 20-all. The Cougars had set point at 24-22 following Sander’s fourth ace, and he ended the close set 25-23 on a kill.

The Waves went up 3-2 early in the second set, but BYU scored the next four-consecutive points to go up 6-3. Pepperdine’s offense picked up from there as it took a 10-8 edge following a 7-2 rally, which included three aces from Mitchel Penning. A Jarman kill tied the set at 12 apiece, but the Waves went on another run, this time 5-2, to take the lead again at 17-13. A trio of Langlois kills helped the Cougars tie the set again at 19-all, and the teams remained within a point of each other from there as a Jarman solo block put BYU up 23-22. The Cougars closed out another close set 25-23 after consecutive errors from Pepperdine.

A kill from Jarman kept BYU on pace with the Waves to start the third set, tying things up at 5-5. Kills from Dobbert and Sander propelled the Cougars to a 10-8 advantage, forcing a Pepperdine timeout. Another Dobbert kill extended BYU’s lead to five at 14-9, but the Waves scored the next four-straight points to get back within a point, down 14-13. An 8-1 run from the Cougars ensued to re-extend BYU’s lead to eight at 22-14. Langlois eventually ended the set and match with a kill, 25-17.

The Cougars return to Firestone Fieldhouse Saturday, March 11, at 7 p.m. PST for a rematch. The match will be streamed live on TheW.tv. Links to the video stream and live stats can be found on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.

Courtesy Pepperdine Athletics:

MALIBU, Calif.: – The 9th-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team was overpowered in straight sets by 3rd-ranked Brigham Young in Firestone Fieldhouse this Friday night. The Cougars posted 25-23, 25-23 and 25-17 set scores to earn the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory.

The Waves (6-8, 4-7 MPSF) tallied a .228 hitting percentage with 35 kills and 14 errors on 92 swings, compared to the Cougars (16-2, 10-1 MPSF) with .359 on the offensive after posting 49 kills with 12 errors on 103 attempts. The Waves also amassed 6.5 team blocks, five aces and 36 digs, while facing 9.5 team blocks, seven aces and 40 digs from across the net.

Freshman Noah Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS) led the Waves with 11 kills, while adding three blocks, three assists and seven digs for the Waves. Senior Mitchell Penning (St. Louis, Mo./Westminster Christian Academy) also tallied three blocks, while leading his team with a season-high three aces. Sophomore Michael Wexter (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West HS) added three blocks, including one solo effort, while picking up six kills and seven digs.
Senior Joshua Stewart (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Preparatory/Pacific) was good for 21 assists, nine digs, one block and three kills throughout the night. Redshirt-sophomore David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) produced eight kills on a team-high .353 success rate and added four blocks and an ace. Junior Clay Carr (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) tabbed two blocks, kills and assists, along with one ace and junior Weston Barnes (Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach HS/George Mason) added five digs, four assists and 30 successful service receptions.

The Waves played tough through the first set, amassing a .375 hitting percentage to start the match. BYU went ahead 12-7 early in the set, but the Waves eventually rallied back with a 7-1 run to pull ahead 17-16 with help from Wieczorek’s serving efforts, kills from Penning and Dyer and a Malibu Roofing Company rejection by Stewart and Penning. The two teams exchanged leads through to the 22-22 mark, before the opposition picked up an ace and two kills to win the first set 25-23.

Pepperdine and BYU battled point-for-point to gain the first advantage in the second set. Penning with three near-consecutive aces helped propel the home team forward to a 10-8 lead early in the set and the Waves kept pounding en route to a 17-13 gap. The opposition then countered their attack and tied the set at the 19-19 mark. After once again exchanging leads, this time to 23’s, the Cougars capitalized on plays to shut the set down 25-23 and pull ahead 2-0 on the night.

Despite starting the third set in similar fashion, battling to an 8-8 tie, the Waves were unable to keep momentum and their opponents pulled ahead 14-9. An ace from Carr and kill by Dyer aided the early Waves comeback effort to a 13-14 score, but BYU found their stride late in the set and completed the sweep with a 25-17 victory.

The Waves will face off with BYU again tomorrow, March 11 at 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse to close out the two-match series. Follow Pepperdine @PeppVolleyball on Twitter and Facebook for immediate updates and head to PepperdineWaves.com for recaps, results and more.

 

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of VolleyMob.com. Braden's first foray into sports journalism came in 2010, when he launched a swimming website called The Swimmers' Circle. Two years later, he joined SwimSwam.com as a co-founder. Long huge fans of volleyball, when Braden and the SwimSwam partners sought an opportunity to …

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