No. 6 Pepperdine tops No. 9 BYU for rare win in Provo
The BYU Cougars men's volleyball team plays the Pepperdine Waves on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. | Jaren Wilkey/BYU No. 6 Pepperdine remained unbeaten in MPSF play Friday night in Provo, taking down No.
9 BYU in four sets and handing the Cougars their third home setback of the season. The Waves broke an otherwise even match open late in the third set, ultimately cruising to their seventh league victory. Pepperdine’s win came on set scores of 25-21, 19-25, 25-23 and 25-15.
“We (had a) really funky start,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said after the match. “(I) felt like our guys were just trying to do too much. … Once you saw us just hitting the way we need to hit, and just doing things correctly, you saw us kind of come (back).
” It still wasn’t quite enough, as Olmstead’s squad dropped its fifth straight match against a ranked opponent. Entering the weekend, the Cougars had won six straight matches against Pepperdine, the Waves’ last win in Provo coming a decade ago. “Credit to Pepperdine,” Olmstead said.
“It’s tough to play here, been tough to play here, but it didn’t seem to impact them. ” Pepperdine scored the first four points of the initial set before BYU rallied to take a 15-14 lead on a 5-0 run. The Waves soon regained control of the set though, scoring six of the next seven points and pulling away for the win.