No. 6 Pepperdine Upsets No. 9 BYU in Provo

Waves hand Cougars third home loss of season in four-set match

Mar. 28, 2026 at 5:08am

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The No. 6 Pepperdine Waves men's volleyball team defeated the No. 9 BYU Cougars in four sets on Friday night in Provo, Utah. Pepperdine broke open an otherwise close match late in the third set and cruised to a 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 25-15 victory, handing BYU its third home loss of the season.

Why it matters

The win was significant for Pepperdine, as the Waves had not defeated BYU in Provo in over a decade. The loss was a setback for the Cougars, who had won six straight matches against Pepperdine prior to this meeting.

The details

Pepperdine scored the first four points of the opening set before BYU rallied to take a 15-14 lead. The Waves regained control and pulled away for the 25-21 win. BYU bounced back in the second set, hitting .458 to even the match. But Pepperdine closed out the third set on a 7-2 run to eke out a 25-23 victory. The Waves then dominated the fourth set, tallying four service aces to win 25-15.

  • The match took place on Friday, March 27, 2026.
  • The teams will play again on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 7 p.m.

The players

Pepperdine Waves

The No. 6 ranked men's volleyball team from Pepperdine University.

BYU Cougars

The No. 9 ranked men's volleyball team from Brigham Young University.

Shawn Olmstead

The head coach of the BYU Cougars men's volleyball team.

Trent Moser

A senior outside hitter for the BYU Cougars who left the match due to cramps.

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What they’re saying

“We (had a) really funky start. (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).”

— Shawn Olmstead, BYU Head Coach

“Credit to Pepperdine. It's tough to play here, been tough to play here, but it didn't seem to impact them.”

— Shawn Olmstead, BYU Head Coach

“I know teams come back, but you got to be confident, you got to be assertive, you got to be aggressive and just be able to put teams away. They went on a run that ended up winning that set, so that one stings.”

— Shawn Olmstead, BYU Head Coach

“They saved all their aces for that set. (Things) were starting to fall apart because they were serving so tough.”

— Shawn Olmstead, BYU Head Coach

What’s next

The teams will play again on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo.

The takeaway

This match highlighted Pepperdine's ability to win on the road against a highly ranked opponent, while also exposing some inconsistencies in BYU's play that the Cougars will need to address before the rematch the following night.