BYU volleyball: Waves crush Cougs in 3 straight
PROVO — After No. 4 BYU upset No. 1 Pepperdine on Friday, the two teams took to the court again Saturday but the Cougars were not as successful this time around as they were defeated 3-0 (30-26, 30-22, 30-23).
BYU was led by Kent Tuttle with 12 kills, followed by Andrew Stewart's 10 kills and Russell Lavaja's nine. Yamil Perez assisted on 23 points, while Reed Chilton had 22 assists of his own.
BYU started the match much the way it ended Friday's with a kill by Robb Stowell. The Waves showed that they were hungry for victory, soon making the set a back-and-forth battle. With the score tied 10-10, a Pepperdine serve hit the net causing confusion on the Cougar side. The ace gave Pepperdine its first lead of the night, 11-10. However, a service error on the following play tied the match once again.
The two teams continued to exchange points but with the score tied, 15-15, Pepperdine went on a 3-0 run, thanks mostly to strong blocking on the part of the Waves' frontline, to take a 18-15 lead. The Pepperdine run was ended by another Stowell kill. Still, from that point on the set seemed to be a game of cat and mouse with BYU struggling to catch the Waves, not leading again and only tying the set once more, 24-24. Pepperdine went on to win the set 30-26.
After winning the second set, too, it became clear early in the third set that the Waves wanted to put the Cougars away quickly taking a 6-1 lead.
The Cougars will face Penn State next weekend.
