Ten-Straight Wins Tie School Record

IRVINE -- After losing the first game, the No. 4-ranked BYU men's volleyball team came back to dominate ninth-ranked UC Irvine 3-1, extending its winning streak to ten matches and bringing its record closer to conference leaders, Hawai`i and UCLA. The game scores for the match were 26-30, 30-24, 30-21, 30-26.

Since the NCAA adopted rally scoring, this ten-match winning streak ties the longest streak from 2001 when the Cougars won the National Championship. With the win, BYU improves to 11-3 overall on the season, 9-1 in MPSF play. The Anteaters drop to 7-11 overall, 3-8 in league play.

"We are happy about the win," head coach Tom Peterson said. "After losing the first game, we knew we needed to play more consistent to stay competitive. Even though we had six aces for the match, we do have to serve better and more consistently."

Coming back from a preseason shoulder injury, junior Mike Burke picked up where he left off, claiming 15 kills in 19 attempts and a match-high .737 percentage. He also added a match-high six blocks to help BYU to 11.5 total team blocks. Last season Burke earned All-MPSF Honorable Mention honors in his first year at BYU. He also led the Cougars in blocking with 143 on the season and 1.41 blocks per game.

"Mike played a great match and blocked the ball at the right times," Peterson said. "We're glad he's back playing with us, and he will only be getting better as the season goes on."

BYU overpowered UC Irvine with a total of 71 kills on 132 attempts, hitting a .386 percentage for the match. The Anteaters recorded 46 kills and only had one player in double digits, All-American Jimmy Pelzel, who led with 16 kills. The Cougars spread the offensive muscle around, with five players in double-digit kills.

Leading the team was senior Joe Hillman, who posted 20 kills and a career-high nine digs in a .395 hitting performance. Other Cougars contributing to the win were Jon Alleman with 13 kills, sophomore Victor Batista with 12 kills and senior Fernando Pessoa with 11 kills. Batista hit a solid .688 percentage and chipped in four blocks.

BYU's best hitting came in the last game at a .600 percentage, boasting 22 kills in 35 attempts with only one hitting error. The Cougars recorded 88.5 points to UC Irvine's 56 points for the match.

Returning to Provo for a four-match home stand, BYU will host UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 5-6 beginning at 7 p.m. both nights in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars will then take on MPSF-rival Pepperdine on Mar. 12-13 at 7 p.m.

For the detailed boxscore, click the pdf version link above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
            BRIGHAM YOUNG vs UC Irvine (Feb 28, 2004 at Irvine, CA)
    BRIGHAM YOUNG          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Burke,Michael.......  4| 15   1  19  .737|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 1  5  0|  0|  18.5
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  4|  0   3   4 -.750| 66|  1   3|  0|  1| 0  4  0|  2|   3.0
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  4| 20   5  38  .395|  0|  1   4|  0|  9| 1  3  0|  0|  23.5
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  4| 13   6  28  .250|  0|  0   6|  3|  6| 0  2  1|  0|  14.0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4| 11   4  27  .259|  0|  3   5|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|  14.5
 18 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 12   1  16  .688|  0|  1   6|  0|  1| 0  4  1|  0|  15.0
 6  FERRE, Aaron........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 20 EVANS, TAYLOR.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  20 132  .386| 66|  6  28|  3| 29| 2 19  2|  2|  88.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13 14  35 -.029   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  2  30  .533   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 26 30 30 30  11-3,9-1
   3  18  3  32  .469   UC Irvine........... 30 24 21 26  7-11,3-8
   4  22  1  35  .600
    UC Irvine              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Bemus, Spencer......  4|  6   5  19  .053|  0|  0   2|  3|  3| 0  1  1|  0|   6.5
 2  Pelzel, Jimmy.......  4| 16   6  33  .303|  0|  1   3|  1|  4| 1  2  0|  0|  19.0
 8  Reid, Brett.........  4|  0   1   1-1.000| 39|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  1  1|  1|   1.5
 14 Webber, Matt........  2|  1   4   8 -.375|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 15 Smith, David........  4|  7   3  17  .235|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0|   8.0
 16 Weichert, Kyle......  4|  6   2  12  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0|   8.0
 6  Ford, Greg..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  Thornton, Brian.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  Spittle, Paul.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Jablonsky, Jayson...  3|  9   3  15  .400|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   9.5
 12 Fell, BJ............  2|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 46  24 106  .208| 42|  3  11|  6| 28| 1 12  2|  1|  56.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  6  26  .192   Site: Irvine, CA (Crawford Court)
   2  11  8  28  .107   Date: Feb 28, 2004   Attend: 846   Time: 1:58
   3  11  6  31  .161   Referees: Ken Taylor, Verna Klubnikin
   4  13  4  21  .429

PROVO -- Coming off a two-match sweep over Stanford, the No.4 ranked BYU men's volleyball team will test its eight-match winning streak on the road against ninth-ranked UC Irvine, on Feb. 26 and 28.

"UC Irvine is very well-coached team," head coach Tom Peterson said. "When they play well, they can cause some problems. They have senior Jimmy Pelzel, who is a high caliber player and caused problems for us last year."

This will be the 29th meeting between the two teams, as the Cougars lead with a 23-5 all-time record and 11-3 at the Anteaters' gym. Last season BYU swept UC Irvine at home on Mar. 14-15, 2003.

The team climbed into a tie with league-leading Hawaii on Saturday after sweeping No. 11 Stanford for the second straight night (38-36, 30-28, 30-25). The Cougars hit .484 on the night, connecting on a three game season-high 74 kills on 124 attempts. BYU started the match on a blistering pace, racking up 31 kills on 43 attempts (.605) with just five errors.

Hitting his career-best .700 percentage, senior outside hitter Fernando Pessoa racked up 16 kills to lead the BYU 3-0 (30-24, 30-24, 30-25) over the Cardinal on Friday.

The Cougars hit a .520 percentage in the third game, powered by senior opposite Joe Hillman with 10 kills for the match and a season-best .471 hitting percentage. Transfer sophomore Victor Batista led the front row in blocking, recording six blocks on the night. Batista also gave the team seven kills and two aces.

With the wins, the Cougars, who have not lost a single game over a four-match period, improve to 9-3 overall on the season and 7-1 in MPSF action. The Cardinal dropped to 5-11 overall and 3-9 in league play.

Junior middle blocker Mike Burke will be rejoining BYU for its road trip after coming back from a shoulder injury, although it's unlikely Chris Gorny will be traveling due to an ankle injury suffered in Friday's match against Stanford.

"It's nice we have guys coming back from injury like Mike Burke," Peterson said. "But it will be hard to have any continuity. When Gorny went out, it disrupts the flow of our lineup, but it's nice that we have a deep team so guys can come in and do a good job. It will take all of us to play well against Irvine, not just a few."

Leading the Cougars in kills is All-America candidate Fernando Pessoa with 168 kills, averaging 4.10 per game. Following behind are seniors Joe Hillman and All-American Jonathan Alleman with 3.58 and 3.56 kills per game, respectively.

All-American setter Carlos Moreno has tallied 555 assists for the season, including 13.88 assists per game and senior libero Shawn Olmstead leads the team with 1.79 digs per game.

The matches begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday and 4 p.m. on Saturday at Crawford Court.