No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball will host No. 6 Pepperdine for two matches at the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend, according to a March 25 announcement from the program.
The matches bring together two teams ranked in the national top ten, offering significant implications for conference standings and postseason positioning.
BYU returns home after six consecutive road games, during which it suffered losses to Hawai’i and Stanford but rebounded last weekend with two sweeps over Concordia Irvine. The Cougars had previously achieved a nine-match and 27-set winning streak earlier in the season.
Head coach Shawn Olmstead is nearing a milestone, now just one win away from tying Carl McGown’s record of most wins by a head coach in program history at 205 victories. Olmstead reached his current total of 200 wins in fewer matches than McGown.
Senior outside hitter Trent Moser continues to lead BYU offensively with an average of 3.37 kills per set and a .344 hitting percentage, including a career-high performance against Stanford earlier this month. Senior setter Tyler Herget ranks second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and sixth nationally with an average of 10.25 assists per set.
The Cougars have relied on contributions from twelve players who have each played at least twenty-five sets this season, providing depth especially when covering injuries or making lineup changes. Defensively, Gavin Chambers leads BYU with an average of just over one block per set, placing him tenth individually among NCAA players.
Pepperdine enters the series with a record of fifteen wins and four losses, including eight victories in its last nine outings and an undefeated mark in MPSF play so far this year. The Waves are noted for their strong serving game—second nationally in aces per set—and are led by Cole Hartke, who tops national rankings both in attacks per set (9.14) and kills per set (4.47).
In their all-time series, BYU holds a forty-five to thirty-six advantage over Pepperdine and has won six straight meetings between the teams; their most recent encounters saw BYU prevail at home last season.
Both matches will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus and made available on-demand via BYUtv.org and the BYUtv App after broadcast.
