HONOLULU -- The BYU Cougars opened the 2005 season with a 3-1 (30-26, 30-32, 34-32, 32-30) win over the Lewis University Flyers in the opening match of the Outrigger Tournament Wednesday.

While the Cougars came away with the win, coach Tom Peterson said his team needs to play better and eliminate the errors to become a better team and continue winning.

"Of course you want to win on opening night," Peterson said. "It isn't what we can focus on though. We didn't play well but we gained valuable experience. It's good to play really good teams to know where we're at."

After winning the first game 30-26, the Cougars dropped the second in a close one, 30-32. The third and fourth were also close but BYU made enough plays to come out with the win.

Both teams struggled, making various errors and hitting for low percentages. BYU hit .236 (66-32-144) on the night while Lewis hit .222 (54-26-126).

Senior middle blocker Michael Burke led the way for the Cougars, registering 16 kills, five digs, and five blocks. Junior outside hitter Victor Batista hit for a match-high 18 kills and recorded seven digs.

In a lineup that featured various new starters, two players stood out in their debuts as starters. Freshman middle blocker Russell Holmes recorded nine kills while recording a team high .500 hitting percentage (9-2-14). He also added a service ace and two blocks. Junior setter Rob Neilson, who saw action off the bench in 2004, contributed 51 assists, five kills, and seven digs.

The Cougars also received a much-needed spark off the bench from Senior Casey Patterson, who came in and registered six kills and six digs. Peterson said that his biggest contribution was his solid passing, an area where the Cougars struggled all night.

Jeff Soler was the high man for the Flyers as he recorded 15 kills and eight digs. Jared Dayton and Enrique Escalante each registered 12 kills while J.J. Castellano had a match-high 11 digs.

Peterson said he hopes his team will come ready to play Thursday against a very good Penn State team.

"Penn State is an experienced team and they aren't going to make the same mistakes that Lewis made," Peterson said. "We need to play much better than we did tonight if we hope to be competitive."

The Cougars will be back in action on Thursday at 4 p.m. (HST) as they take on Penn State. Lewis will play Hawai'i, the hosts of the tournament, at 7 p.m. (HST).

To view the detailed box score, click on the pdf version above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
            Lewis vs Brigham Young Univ. (Jan 05, 2005 at Honolulu)
    Lewis                  |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Escalante, Enrique..  4| 12   2  25  .400|  1|  2   4|  0|  2| 0  4  1|  0|  16.0
 4  Dayton, Jared.......  4| 12   8  27  .148|  1|  3   5|  1|  3| 0  3  0|  0|  16.5
 7  Soler, Jeff.........  4| 15   3  31  .387|  3|  2   2|  3|  8| 1  2  0|  0|  19.0
 8  Mueller, Matt.......  4|  9   9  22  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
 14 Sisk, Brandon.......  4|  3   0   6  .500| 43|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  4|   3.5
 16 Pochopien, Greg.....  4|  3   4  15 -.067|  0|  0   5|  0|  0| 1  4  1|  0|   6.0
 2  Kyner, David........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  Castellano, J.J.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 22 China, Michael......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 54  26 126  .222| 49|  7  21|  9| 35| 2 18  2|  4|  72.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  4  21  .429   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  6  37  .243   Lewis............... (1) 26 32 32 30  0-1
   3  13 10  37  .081   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 34 32  1-0
   4  13  6  31  .226
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     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| 16   4  32  .375|  0|  1   4|  0|  5| 2  3  0|  1|  20.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  2|  3   4   9 -.111|  1|  1   2|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4|  9   2  14  .500|  1|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|  11.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  5   2   7  .429| 51|  0   2|  0|  7| 2  1  0|  1|   7.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 18  12  42  .143|  1|  1   4|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  1|  20.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  4|  8   5  25  .120|  2|  4   3|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|  12.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Robert.  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  4|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  3|  6   3  13  .231|  2|  0   3|  1|  6| 0  2  0|  1|   7.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  3|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 66  32 144  .236| 59|  9  23|  7| 39| 4 11  0|  4|  84.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  32  .312   Site: Honolulu (Stan Sheriff Center)
   2  14 10  37  .108   Date: Jan 05, 2005   Attend:     Time: 2:22
   3  16  8  38  .211   Referees: Dixon Chun, Dan Hironaka
   4  20  8  37  .324   Length of Games - 0:26/0:30/0:35/0:32
                        11th Annual Outrigger Volleyball Invitational
                        LEWIS "Flyers" vs. BYU "Cougars"

HONOLULU -- The defending NCAA National Champion BYU Cougar men's volleyball team will kick off the 2005 season with three matches at the Outrigger Tournament this week in Honolulu. BYU will square off against east coast and Midwest powers Penn State and Lewis University, and the University of Hawai'i, the tournament host.

"We're very excited to start the season," coach Tom Peterson said. "We've never played in the Outrigger Tournament before. It is a great opportunity to play in such a prestigious tournament."

The Cougars will be introducing a new lineup in Hawai'i after losing five starters from the 2004 National Championship team. Senior middle blocker Michael Burke and junior outside hitter Victor Batista are the two returning starters.

Burke hit for a team high .506 hitting percentage while finishing second in blocks at 1.17 per game. Batista led the team with 1.24 blocks per game and was second on the team with a .458 hitting percentage.

Several players will look to crack the lineup to help BYU maintain its winning tradition. The frontrunners include junior setter Rob Neilson, junior libero Brian Rowley, freshman outside hitter Ivan Perez, freshman middle blocker Russell Holmes, and junior opposite hitter Taylor Evans. Neilson and Evans are the only two with significant playing time.

"It will be interesting to see how they perform," Peterson said. "We are inexperienced but at the same time very talented."

The Lewis University Flyers will be the first opponent for the Cougars as the teams play Wednesday Jan. 5 at 4 p.m. HST. The Flyers are coming off their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Final Four, which they won in 2003. After winning the MIVA postseason tournament to earn a birth in 2004, Lewis lost to BYU in the NCAA Semifinals.

Senior outside hitter Jeff Soler and junior middle blocker Enrique Escalante return to lead the Flyers. Soler averaged 3.58 kills per game and 1.37 digs in 2004 while Escalante was second the team with a .406 hitting percentage. Escalante also contributed 1.14 kills per game.

The second match for the Cougars will be against Penn State on Friday at 4 p.m., the school where Peterson won his first national championship in 1994. Penn State also earned a birth to the 2004 NCAA Final Four by winning the EIVA postseason tournament. The Nittany Lions lost to Long Beach State in the semifinals.

The top-returning player for the Nittany Lions is senior middle blocker Keith Kowal. A First Team All-American, Kowal led the team with 3.83 kills per game while hitting a blistering .574. He also led the team with 1.39 per game.

BYU will conclude the Outrigger Tournament with a match against Hawai'i. The Warriors had a solid 2004 season, finishing 17-12 overall and 13-9 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Warriors' season ended with a loss to UCLA in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals.

Senior outside hitter Delano Thomas, a 2004 Third Team All-MPSF honoree selection, will lead the Warriors. Thomas led the team with 4.00 kills per game while hitting .298. He led the MPSF with .690 aces per game in conference play.

The Cougars will be back in action Jan. 14 and 15 in Provo against the Cal Baptist Lancers of the NAIA.