BYU Volleyball Punches NCAA Ticket With Sweep Of Pepperdine In MPSF Title

PROVO, Utah – BYU volleyball is MPSF champions for the first time since 2018. The Cougars swept Pepperdine to win the MPSF Tournament title in a straight three sets.

BYU won the match on its homecourt, the Smith Fieldhouse in front of a crowd of 700 people.

What a night 🤩 pic.twitter.com/PkTOtHPyL5

— BYU Volleyball (@BYUvolleyball) April 25, 2021

BYU Volleyball is heading back to the NCAA Tournament

The win punches BYU’s ticket to the 2021 NCAA Tournament which features seven teams, all playing in Columbus, Ohio. An exciting moment for a program that had a potential national championship season taken away due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they are returning back to men’s volleyball’s biggest stage.

The NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament takes place May 3-8 on the campus of Ohio State University.

BYU closes out the 2021 season with a 19-3 record heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Most coaches might run away from this, but Coach Olmstead embraced the moment 😂🕺💦 pic.twitter.com/ZLYmfXzIhr

— BYU Volleyball (@BYUvolleyball) April 25, 2021

The Cougars were led once again by their stars in the sweep over Pepperdine in Zach Eschenberg and Gabi Garcia Fernandez. Both standouts combined for 23 of BYU’s 42 kills in the sweep.

This is BYU’s 10th MPSF Tournament championship dating back to 1993.

Set 1: BYU Volleyball 25, Pepperdine 23

BYU had three service aces in set one. Those aces proved to be a big difference in a tight set one that found BYU edging out the Waves by two.

Set 2: BYU 25, Pepperdine 15

The Cougars had an insane .933 hit percentage in set 2 as they rolled to a comfortable two-set advantage. Digging the Waves into a hole that they wouldn’t be able to climb out of.

Set 3: BYU 25, Pepperdine 19

BYU had 16 of their 42 match kills in set three as Shawn Olmstead’s program clinched their first conference tournament championship since 2018.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.