PROVO -- It was a match full of new players, but the BYU Cougars were still able to beat the Concordia Clippers 30-20, 30-23, 30-28 in a non-conference contest in Provo Wednesday night. The Cougars hit a .429 attack percentage to increase their overall record to 12-3 (11-3 MPSF), while the Clippers hit .213 and fell to 6-10 (4-4 EIVA) on the season.

Sophomore Casey Patterson took the starting libero position and junior Dave Hyte started in the middle in their first and second starts of the season, respectively. By game three, Patterson switched to setter and the only starter left on the court was senior Luka Slabe, who guided the team with a match-high 10 kills (.389), five digs and one ace.

"It was nice to come back and win the last game," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "I like for them to get that close-game experience. But I don't know if I like it that close."

In the third game the Clippers managed to take their only lead of the match over a court full of less-experienced Cougars, but BYU rallied to a 27-point tie and took over from there. Two BYU blocks and some Concordia errors determined the game for the Cougars' two-point win.

BYU took a fairly easy win in the first game as they out-hit Concordia .556 to .273 and out-blocked them 3.0 to 0.0. With one game to boost their confidence, the Cougars progressively changed who was on the court and seemed to have a completely different team by the third game.

Junior newcomer Joe Hillman got his first major playing time of the season and hit a stellar match-high .667 attack percentage with seven kills, four digs and two blocks. Steffin Rangel, Tim Layton and John Penfield all got their first action of the season in games two and three. Leading the Cougars throughout the match was senior Luka Slabe, who hit a match-high 10 kills (.389) and added five digs and one ace.

Three Clippers recorded nine kills each, including Ricardo Maia who hit a team-high .538 percentage with nine kills (9-2-13). Setter Jesus Perez recorded 33 assists and added four kills and one ace.

The Cougars stay home this weekend to host tenth-ranked Penn State on March 7 and 8 in the Smith Fieldhouse. Friday's match will begin at 7 p.m. and Saturday's match will begin at 9 p.m. after the BYU men's basketball game.

Volleyball Box Score
                        2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
        Concordia vs Brigham Young (Mar 05, 2003 at Brigham Young Univ)
    Concordia              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  DIAZ, Rafael........  3|  5   7  18 -.111|  0|  0   4|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 5  PEREZ, Jesus........  3|  4   2   6  .333| 33|  1   4|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  2
 6  PETERSON, Metellus..  3|  4   2  13  .154|  0|  0   3|  1|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 10 REICHERT, Felipe....  3|  9   7  19  .105|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 11 PARRA, Juan Jose....  3|  9   1  20  .400|  1|  1   3|  1|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 14 MAIA, Ricardo.......  3|  9   2  13  .538|  3|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 9  NIEMCZYNOWICZ, Adam.  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 40  21  89  .213| 39|  3  15|  4| 10| 0  4  0|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 2.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  6  22  .273   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  7  37  .162   Concordia........... 20 23 28  6-10, 4-4
   3  15  8  30  .233   Brigham Young....... 30 30 30  12-3, 11-3
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  2|  4   2   9  .222|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 3  BURKE, Michael......  1|  3   0   3 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  2|  2   0   2 1.000| 27|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  0
 8  HYTE, David.........  3|  6   0  10  .600|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 9  PAAL, Rafael........  2|  5   4  10  .100|  0|  1   2|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  3| 10   3  18  .389|  3|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 2  RANGEL, Steffin.....  2|  5   2   9  .333|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 4  HILLMAN, Joe........  2|  7   1   9  .667|  0|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  0
 11 PENFIELD,John.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 PATTERSON, Casey....  3|  1   1   2  .000| 15|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 13 LAYTON, Tim.........  2|  4   1   5  .600|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  14  77  .429| 45|  4  12|  3| 22| 1 12  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  3  18  .556   Site: Brigham Young Univ (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  18  5  34  .382   Date: Mar 05, 2003   Attend: 1057   Time: 1:19
   3  16  6  25  .400   Referees: Tom Given

PROVO -- BYU men's volleyball head coach Tom Peterson will have his first matchup against one of his previous assistant coaches this weekend as the third-ranked Cougars host No. 11 Penn State for the first time in 12 years. To round off the week, the Cougars (11-3, 11-3 MPSF) will also be hosting Concordia on Wednesday. Both Concordia and Penn State (12-3, 8-0 EIVA) are members of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.

With Penn State coming to Provo on Friday and Saturday, Peterson is feeling a little extra pressure. The Nittany Lions made four NCAA Tournament appearances and won their only national championship in 1994 with Peterson as their head coach.

"Penn State is a good team," Peterson said. "I don't want to lose these matches, especially since their head coach (Mark Pavlik) was my assistant coach when I was there."

Pavlik took over as head coach when Peterson left, and Friday's match will mark the first meeting between the two coaches. The teams have only competed twice since the Nittany Lions beat the Cougars in 1994 with Peterson at the helm, but BYU won both of those matches on neutral turf. Overall, the Cougars are behind in the series 2-4 since 1990.

With Concordia, the Cougars hold a 2-0 lead in the series, having won a 3-0 contest last March in Provo.

"Concordia usually has some foreign players that have good experience, so they should be a pretty good team," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "And it will be nice to get back into the Smith Fieldhouse to play this week."

The Cougars played their previous two matches on the road at USC and came away with back-to-back 3-0 wins over the Trojans. Penn State is currently on a 7-0 road winning streak and holds a perfect 8-0 record in the EIVA Tait conference.

Wednesday's match against Concordia and Friday's match against Penn State will both be held at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Saturday's match against Penn State will be held at 9 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.