BYU Athletic Communications

The BYU men's volleyball team (25-5) fell Saturday to Pepperdine (16-10) in a 2-3 loss (30-28, 30-28, 30-32, 27-30, 8-15) in the championship match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament in Long Beach, Calif.

The fifth-set loss is the first the team has suffered this season after going 5-0 in the fifth set during the regular season. The Cougars fell to 18-12 all-time in MPSF Tournament play and 3-2 in Tournament Championship matches.

Senior All-MPSF First Team honorees Ivan Perez and Russell Holmes were named to the All-Tournament team. Perez tallied his team-leading 10th double-double of the season with 20 kills and 12 digs. Holmes had 13 kills and five blocks, and senior Jonathan Charette also had 20 kills on the night.

"I was proud of my boys tonight," BYU head coach Shawn Patchell said. "It wasn't clicking for us, but we found ways to win the first two sets and never quit trying. I told them in the locker room that I was proud of the way they competed for such a long time."

BYU struggled from the service line in the first set, knocking eight serves into the net. The Cougars trailed most of the set, trailing by as many as five points, but tied the match for the first time at 27-27 on a hitting error from All-MPSF First Teamer Paul Carroll. BYU took its first lead of the match at 28-27 on Perez's second service ace.

Pepperdine tied the set again at 28-28, but the Cougars sided out and subsequently won the set 30-28 on a Charette kill off the Waves' block. The Cougars had no blocks in the set and hit .256 as a team compared to Pepperdine's 3.5 total team blocks and .233 attack percentages.

The Cougars fell behind early again in the second set 3-9, but tied the set at 12-12. The Waves built another steady three-point lead, but BYU tied the match again at 24-24 and took the lead on the next point. The two teams were tied for the last time at 27, but the Cougars won three of the next points to earn their second come-from-behind set win on the night.