PROVO -- With career and season-high hitting, the No.1-ranked BYU men's volleyball team dismantled the Patriots of George Mason, 3-0 on Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars earned their 18th straight win of the season, tying the previous school record set by the 1999 National Champions.The game scores were 30-26, 30-15, 30-23.

Coming off an emotional win over Lewis on Friday in front of a season-high crowd, the team settled down and focused on their game, using seven players off the bench in the win over the Patriots.

"The guys that came in played well for us tonight," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "They were hungry to play, since they don't get many chances to play at home. But they deserved to play tonight and it's what they need to get experience. "

BYU hit solid as a team, with a season-high hitting percentage of .500 that included a .636 percentage in the second game. The Cougars registered 8.5 team blocks for the match, six of which also came in the second game.

All-American Jon Alleman racked up 18 kills, leading the Cougar squad and connecting for a new career-high and blistering .857 percentage. Alleman also chipped in four blocks and four digs on defense.

Sophomore Taylor Evans took advantage of his first start of the season, registering a career-high 15 kills including seven in the first game. He added three assists, three digs and a block for BYU. Starters Joe Hillman and Michael Burke sat out for the match, resting injuries that caused problems during the Lewis match on Friday.

"Mike's shoulder is still sore because his muscles are still recovering from surgery," Peterson said. "Joe also tweaked his back on Friday and needs to rest it. As a team, we still need to improve to win another championship. There are still good teams in our conference who are playing well, so we need to stay focused."

Players off the bench contributed for some of game two and all of game three. Senior Dave Hyte started the match and pitched in three kills with no errors, four blocks and one dig on the night. Steffin Rangel hit a solid .500 percentage, four kills on eight attempts. Sophomore walk-on Brian Rowley played in his first match of the season and stepped in at libero, adding four digs and two assists.

Rob Neilson and Carlos Moreno shared the setter position with 20 and 26 assists, respectively. Senior libero Shawn Olmstead subbed in as an outside hitter, recording his two kills to end game three and give BYU the win.

Leading George Mason with eight kills was Dustin Crosby and following with seven kills was Felix Campos, the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Player-of-the-Week for Mar. 22. Setter Dave Egan posted 25 assists and two digs for the match.

In game one, Victor Batista served up two aces to give the Cougars a 6-3 lead, but George Mason followed closely behind with a kill by Matt Steinfurth to make it 8-6. The Patriots tied the score at 10 and again at 12 after a few BYU serving and hitting errors. But Evans helped to length the Cougar lead with two of his seven kills. A block by Campos tied the score again at 25 and a kill by Crosby tied the game at 26, but those were the last points for George Mason. Senior Fernando Pessoa had a kill and a service ace, while Alleman pitched in two kills to give the Cougars a 30-26 win in game one.

The second game showed BYU's determination, as Alleman put down consecutive kills in a 6-0 run to give the team a 12-6 team. After two kills by Crosby, Pessoa and Alleman added kills to cap off a 13-3 run for a 19-9 lead in game two. A block and kill by Moreno gave BYU a 10-point lead and the domination continued with kill by Evans to finish off game two at 30-15.

In game three, Peterson rotated his second team in for most of the game, as Rangel and Evans provided points for the Cougar lead at 6-4. BYU went on a 4-0 run, sparked by Alleman again to give the team a 14-9. Crosby and Campos chipped away at the lead, but BYU held on with consecutive kills by Evans. Shawn Olmstead rotated in at outside hitter at the end, recording two of the Cougars' three kills for a 30-23 victory.

"We practice against the best team in the nation," Peterson said. "That's a huge advantage for us. We could rest our starters and still pick up a win."

The Cougars will take to the road next week against UC San Diego on Apr. 2-3, starting at 7 p.m. (PST). The team will then make its last regular road trip to UCLA on Apr. 8-9 at the Pauley Pavilion. The matches start at 7 p.m. (PST)

To view the boxscore, click the pdf version above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
      George Mason vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mar 27, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    George Mason           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  BULL, Bobby.........  3|  4   5  15 -.067|  2|  1   1|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 3  CAMPOS, Felix.......  3|  7   5  22  .091|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 1  0  1|  0|   8.0
 4  CROSBY, Dustin......  3|  8   5  19  .158|  2|  1   2|  4|  2| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
 9  STEINFURTH, Matt....  3|  5   2  11  .273|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   6.0
 11 EGAN, Dave..........  3|  2   1   3  .333| 25|  0   0|  1|  2| 1  0  1|  0|   3.0
 19 GOUBEAUX, RJ........  3|  5   3  13  .154|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  1  2|  0|   6.5
 1  SHEPPARD, Graham....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 31  21  83  .120| 29|  2   7|  6| 12| 3  6  4|  0|  39.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  3  25  .360   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   8 12  31 -.129   George Mason........ 26 15 23  4-14,2-5 EIVA
   3  11  6  27  .185   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 30 30 30  19-3,15-1 MPSF
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  2|  3   0   4  .750| 26|  1   1|  0|  3| 1  0  0|  1|   5.0
 8  HYTE, David.........  3|  3   0   3 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 2  2  1|  0|   6.0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3| 18   0  21  .857|  2|  1   4|  0|  4| 2  2  1|  0|  22.0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  2|  6   3  10  .300|  1|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 18 BATISTA, Victor.....  2|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  2   2|  0|  2| 0  0  1|  0|   4.0
 20 EVANS, Taylor.......  3| 15   6  25  .360|  3|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  1  1|  0|  15.5
 2  RANGEL, Steffin.....  2|  4   0   8  .500|  0|  1   2|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 6  FERRE, Aaron........  1|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 CARPENTER, Cory.....  2|  0   2   2-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  2|  1   0   2  .500| 20|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 56  13  86  .500| 55|  6  16|  2| 27| 5  7  4|  1|  70.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  7  31  .419   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  15  1  22  .636   Date: Mar 27, 2004   Attend: 1853   Time: 1H 15M
   3  21  5  33  .485   Referees: TOM GIVEN, BURT FULLER

PROVO -- With the 2003 NCAA National Championship match still fresh on their minds, the top-ranked Cougars will host Lewis University on Friday, March 26 in the Smith Fieldhouse. The match, which will be broadcast nationally on CSTV, will begin at 9 p.m. (MDT). The Flyers edged BYU last year in an exciting five-game match to claim their first-ever NCAA National Championship.

"We're excited to play Lewis because they are a good team and it will be an interesting match between last year's championship teams," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "We hope fans will come out and enjoy the match. We're looking forward to having them come to Provo."

At last season's national championship tournament in Long Beach, Calif., Lewis outlasted the Cougars for the five-game victory. After dropping a hard-fought 42-44 loss in game one, the Flyers rallied to take games two and three, 30-27, 30-21.

The Cougars bagged game four. But a 7-1 run in the fifth set propelled Lewis to its first-ever NCAA National Championship with the 15-13 win in the fifth and decisive game. In the process, the Flyers became the first Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association team, and non-Division I school, to win the NCAA National Championship.

Jonathan Alleman, a senior on this year's squad, was named to the 2003 NCAA All-Tournament team after posting 18 kills, seven digs and five blocks against Lewis. He was also credited with 17 kills on 30 attempts in the semi-final win over Penn State, while adding four aces and 10 digs for his third-straight double-double in post-season play.

Other Cougars this season who played against Lewis include All-American Carlos Moreno and returning starters Chris Gorny, Michael Burke and Fernando Pessoa.

Currently the Cougars are riding a 16-match win streak, the longest active win streak in the nation and the second longest in the program's history. BYU's 1999 national championship team holds the record with an 18-match win streak.

Earning 13 of the possible 16 first-place votes in this week's USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll, the Cougars enter their third week as the top-ranked team in the nation. The Cougars also hold a three-match lead over Long Beach State for the league lead in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The Cougars have posted a mark of 15-1 against teams ranked in the top-15, including wins over Hawaii, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford and UC Irvine. Most recently, BYU held on for back-to-back wins against fifth-ranked Hawaii in Honolulu, site of the 2004 NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Four.

The match on Friday will be the seventh meeting between the two teams, with BYU holding a 5-1 overall record against the Flyers. The Cougars' five wins have all come in Provo, while the only loss was in last year's championship match.

Lewis enters Friday's match-up after winning its third straight match on Saturday, defeating conference foe Quincy in four games. Lewis (11-10, 7-3) was led by senior opposite Fabiano Barreto, who had a match-high 25 kills, hitting .452, with one service ace, seven digs, five block assists, and 28.5 total points.

The Lewis match will be broadcast live at 9 p.m. on College Sports TV, available on DirecTV, channel 610. BYU will also host George Mason on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. George Mason will play Lewis on Thursday, Mar. 25 at 7 p.m.