Cougars hope to catch Wave to finals

PROVO — Familiarity will abound when top-ranked BYU meets No. 4 Pepperdine in tonight's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball semifinals.

In the 7 p.m. match at the Smith Fieldhouse, BYU (25-4 overall, 20-2 MPSF) will face Pepperdine (19-8, 14-8) for the fifth time this season, pairing the Cougars — this year's MSPF regular-season champion — against the 2003 champs. And it marks the third consecutive year that the two have met in the playoffs, including the Cougars' five-game victory in the 2003 championships at the Waves' Firestone Fieldhouse.

The two reached tonight's semis with three-game sweeps in Saturday's quarterfinals — BYU beating UC Irvine and Pepperdine shutting out Cal State Northridge. The winner advances to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. finals, to face the winner of tonight's 9 p.m. semifinal between No. 2 Long Beach State (26-5, 18-4) and No. 3 UCLA (24-5, 17-5).

Pepperdine is led by a pair of talented, towering All-American outside hitters in 6-foot-9 Sean Rooney and 6-5 Fred Winters. Both earned 2004 first-team all-MPSF honors and have national-team experience — Rooney with the United States and Winters with his native Canada.

The Waves loom equally large in the middle, with 6-11 Andy Hein, 6-7 John Parfitt and 6-8 Tom Hulse.

The key to countering Pepperdine's height will be getting back to the basics of serve, serve-receive and passing, says BYU coach Tom Peterson.

"We have a lot of weapons to go to if we pass the ball well," he said, mindful of the Waves' block. "If we pass well, we'll get to run our offense. But if we're out of system very often, they're going to gang up on us."

In a preseason tournament at Pepperdine, the Waves beat the Cougars in back-to-back matches, back when BYU was struggling with injuries, newcomers and new roles. The Cougars three main middle blockers — Victor Batista, Michael Burke and Chris Gorny — had yet to set on the court.

Later in mid-March, BYU returned the favor by downing Pepperdine in two league matches in Provo. In the first, Batista enjoyed a career-best night amassing 18 kills without an error and a .783 hitting percentage. In the second, the Cougars rode a season-high 77 assists from setter Carlos Moreno, while opposite Joe Hillman and outside hitter Fernando Pessoa posted career highs with 26 and 24 kills, respectively.

More importantly, the Cougars effectively passed around the Waves' too-tall threat and held Rooney — one of the nation's best in hitting percentage — to a substandard night.