PROVO -- On a night that was to be head coach Carl McGown's last match in the Smith Fieldhouse, No. 6 Stanford gave him and the fourth-ranked Cougars a match they will not soon forget. After losing the first two games of the match, the Cardinal battled back to win games three and four and hung around all the way through game five. In the end, the Cougars outlasted Stanford, 21-19, in game five to claim the match, 3-2. Having won 12 of its last 13 matches, BYU will travel to Malibu, Calif., to take on top-ranked Pepperdine in the semi-finals of the MPSF Tournament.

"Before the match I was thinking how this was going to be my final match in the Smith Fieldhouse," McGown said. "I'm pretty nostalgic about things like that. I was going to be alright with however it ended up. But, it's going to be nice to be able to write down a win for my last match in the Fieldhouse. Mostly, I had just been thinking that this was going to be my last match. I'm pleased it turned out this way."

BYU All-American Mike Wall his first double-double of the season with a season-high 33 kills on 50 swings, hitting an impressive .480 at the net. Four other Cougars registered double-digit kills, including Rafael Paal, who turned in a season-high 17 kills. Joaquin Acosta tallied 13 kills, while Luka Slabe had 12 and middle blocker Chris Gorny added 11.

While being out-blocked 11.0-5.0, the Cougars managed to apply defensive pressure with 50 digs to Stanfords 29. Wall led the way with a season-high 15 digs, followed by Slabe, Paal and Carlos Moreno who had seven each.

The Cougars got off to a blistering start in game on, hitting .455 in the 30-24 victory. BYU spread the wealth with five different players picking up four kills each. All totaled, seven different players divided 33 attempts with just six errors. Game two was more of the same, with BYU hitting 19-of-26 for a .577 average. Wall paced the Cougars with a game-high eight kills in the 30-23 win.

"After playing flawlessly in the first two games, we had guys walking back on the court laughing and maybe thinking we were going to go home after three games," McGown said. "Stanford is one of the top teams in the country. Against a team that is that good, you just can't be doing things like that. We lost focus and showed some immaturity. As a result, we started playing worse, and they started playing better. Stanford is a very good volleyball team. They certainly put us in a situation where our backs were against the wall."

After falling 0-2 in the match, the Cardinal reeled off back-to-back wins to force a fifth and deciding game. In game five, the two teams battled through 14 ties while Stanford fought off five match-point serves. BYU gained the advantage at 20-19 when Acosta dialed up the match-winning kill.

Stanford's Curt Toppel recorded a team-high 25 kills, while Billy Strickland was credited with 13. Marcus Skacel had a team-best eight digs, while Paul Bocage and Chris Sandman had five blocks each for the Cardinal.

BYU will travel to Malibu, Calif. on Thursday, April 25 to take on top-ranked Pepperdine in the semi-final round of the MPSF Tournament. Match time is slated for 5 p.m. (PDT) at the Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves advanced after sweeping CS Northridge on Saturday, 3-0. UC Santa Barbara upset UCLA in five games on Saturday and will meet the winner of the Hawaii-Long Beach State match on Thursday in Malibu following the BYU-Pepperdine match.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
           #6 Stanford vs Brigham Young (Apr 20, 2002 at Provo, Utah)
    #6 Stanford            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  BOCAGE, Paul........  5|  9   0  18  .500|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 2  3  1|  0
 8  STRACHE, Kyle.......  2|  4   1   8  .375|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 STRICKLAND, Billy...  5| 13   4  26  .346|  1|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  0
 15 TOPPEL, Curt........  5| 25   5  43  .465|  0|  1   8|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  0
 17 HANSEN, Kevin.......  5|  4   3  13  .077| 71|  0   3|  0|  1| 1  0  1|  0
 21 SKACEL, Marcus......  5| 11   6  33  .152|  2|  0   5|  1|  8| 0  3  1|  0
 3  SANDMAN, Chris......  4| 10   0  14  .714|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 1  4  0|  0
 4  CURTIS, William.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  VOGEL, David........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 9  RING, Seth..........  5|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 11 JOHNSTONE, Doug.....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 76  19 156  .365| 75|  2  18|  4| 29| 4 14  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  3  30  .333   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  5  33  .273   #6 Stanford......... 24 23 30 31 19  16-10
   3  18  1  26  .654   Brigham Young....... 30 30 24 29 21  24-6
   4  18  8  40  .250
   5  13  2  27  .407
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WALL, Mike..........  5| 33   9  50  .480|  1|  0   0|  1| 15| 0  1  0|  0
 4  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  5| 13   7  25  .240|  0|  2   3|  0|  6| 0  0  1|  0
 6  GORNY, Chris........  5| 11   4  17  .412|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  2  2|  0
 9  PAAL, Rafael........  5| 17   2  25  .600|  2|  0   4|  0|  7| 0  3  0|  0
 11 MORENO, Carlos......  5|  3   1   6  .333| 84|  1   3|  0|  7| 0  3  3|  2
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  5| 12   5  25  .280|  2|  1   3|  0|  7| 0  1  2|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  4|  1   2   6 -.167|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 91  30 156  .391| 91|  4  17|  2| 50| 0 10  8|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  6  33  .455   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  4  26  .577   Date: Apr 20, 2002   Attend: 1757   Time: 2:05
   3  17  5  27  .444   Referees: Kim Pickering, Tom Given
   4  20 11  41  .220   2002 MPSF Tournament - First Round
   5  14  4  29  .345   BYU Advances to Semi-Final Round vs. Pepperdine; April 25, 2002.

PROVO -- The fourth-ranked BYU men's volleyball team (22-6) will take on No. 6 Stanford (16-9) in the first round of the MPSF Volleyball Tournament, beginning Saturday, April 20 at 7 p.m. (MDT) in the Smith Fieldhouse. Tickets for the first-round match are $10 and $5 and can be purchased at the Marriott Center Ticket Office, or by calling (801) 378-BYU1 or (800) 322-BYU1.

THE BYU-STANFORD RIVALRY

BYU owns an 11-8 all-time record over Stanford, dating back to 1990 -- the Cougars first NCAA-sanctioned season. BYU has won five of the last six matches against the Cardinal. The two team split a pair of matches earlier this season, with Stanford winning the season-opener, 3-1, and BYU outlasting the Cardinal on the following night, 3-2. BYU owns a 5-2 record against Stanford in Provo. Prior to the loss to Stanford on Jan. 11, the Cougars had not lost to the Cardinal in Provo since Jan. 25, 1991.

COUGARS ON THE NET

BYU fans can follow the action of this weekend's match by viewing the Cougars' live webcast. Stats, and play-by-play action will be available by logging on to the world-wide web at: MPSF Tournament.

COUGARS EARN SIXTH STRAIGHT TOURNY BERTH

After sweeping fifth-ranked UC Santa Barbara on March 28, the Cougars earned their ninth invitation to the MPSF Tournament by finishing as one of the league's top-eight teams. The 2002 season marks the sixth consecutive appearance in the league's post-season tournament. BYU has posted a mark. The Cougars clinched the all-important No. 4 seed with a victory at Hawai'i on April 13.

RAISING THE BAR

Last season, the Cougars concluded their NCAA National Championship season with a 23-4 record, marking their second National Title in the previous three seasons. With a 22-6 record in 2002, BYU has posted five 20-win seasons, including three in the past four seasons. In 1999, BYU turned in a school-record 30-1 mark enroute to its first-ever NCAA National Title.

Since 1993 UCLA has registered a 160-31 league record to lead the MPSF. BYU ranks second with a mark of 135 wins and only 56 losses in league competition. Hawai'i ranks a close third with a 133-58 league mark over the past nine seasons. Dating back to the 1998 season, BYU has produced a 6-5 mark against the Bruins, including a record of 3-1 in the past four meetings. In 1999, BYU blanked UCLA, 15-0 in game two of a three-game sweep.