PROVO -- The BYU Cougars made short work of Ball State, sweeping the Cardinals, 30-22, 30-27, 30-23, in one hour and fifteen minutes Friday at the Hall of Fame-Morgan Classic.

The Cougars came out and got ahead early in the first game and never looked back. They held Ball State to a meager .091 hitting percentage on the match while hitting .333.

Victor Batista was on fire for BYU all night, finishing with 10 kills while hitting .750 (10-1-12). Casey Patterson was also strong with his swing, also registering 10 kills while hitting .563 (10-1-17). While no other Cougar had double figure kills, they had 44 kills compared to 35 for Ball State.

The nets belonged to BYU all night as the Cougars kept the Cardinal hitters at bay with 12 team blocks. Russell Holmes led the way with five while four other BYU players had three each.

Luis Castera and Nick Meyer were the top attackers for Ball State as they finished with 11 kills apiece. Castera added five digs and four blocks.

After blowing by the Cardinals in game one, the Cougars struggled to put Ball State away in the second. The Cardinals hung around by holding BYU to a .194 (16-10-31) hitting percentage. Ball State hit .000 (8-8-29) for the game. The Cardinals held a 21-17 lead after a Castera kill before the Cougars scored nine of the next 10 points to go ahead 26-22.

BYU came back strong in the third, holding the lead throughout while hitting .462 (14-2-26) and limiting Ball State to .139 (17-12-36).

Both teams will be action Saturday with the Cougars playing in the Hall of Fame Classic championship match at 8 p.m. (EST) and Ball State playing in the consolation match at 6. The winner between Springfield College and Penn State will play BYU for the tournament title.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                      Briham Young University - Volleyball
    Ball State vs Brigham Young Cougar (Feb 04, 2005 at Springfield, Mass.)
    Ball State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  MEYER, Nick.........  3| 11   6  19  .263|  1|  2   4|  1|  1| 0  4  0|  0|  15.0
 5  BERG, Evan..........  3|  3   1   7  .286| 29|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 8  DURBIN, Patrick.....  1|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  1   1|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 11 BUSHONG, Scott......  3|  3   3  11  .000|  1|  0   4|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|   5.0
 14 CASTERA, Luis.......  3| 11   7  26  .154|  0|  0   2|  0|  5| 1  1  0|  0|  12.5
 15 BRALEY, Andrew......  2|  1   4   8 -.375|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 3  RIVERA, Arturo......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  RUMSCHIK, Mark......  3|  1   5   8 -.500|  2|  1   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 10 PECKLER, Ian........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 GRABOVAC, Zoran.....  2|  3   0   4  .750|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 35  27  88  .091| 33|  4  14|  4| 16| 1 10  0|  0|  45.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  7  23  .130   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   8  8  29  .000   Ball State.......... (0) 22 27 23  3-4
   3  17 12  36  .139   Brigham Young Cougar (3) 30 30 30  7-3
    Brigham Young Cougar   |     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......  2|  6   1   9  .556|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|   8.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3|  8   3  13  .385|  0|  0   2|  2|  4| 0  2  1|  0|   9.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  2   2   6  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  5  1|  0|   4.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  1   1   3  .000| 37|  2   4|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|   4.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  2| 10   1  12  .750|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0|  11.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3|  6   7  20 -.050|  0|  1   2|  1|  5| 1  2  1|  0|   9.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   2.5
 4  CONGELLIERE, Robert.  2|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 5  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  2| 10   1  16  .562|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|  11.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 44  17  81  .333| 39|  4  16|  4| 20| 2 20  4|  0|  60.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  5  24  .375   Site: Springfield, Mass. (Blake Arena)
   2  16 10  31  .194   Date: Feb 04, 2005   Attend: 410   Time: 1:15
   3  14  2  26  .462   Referees: M. Paull, D. Carson, J. Limeres, Tom Waniewski
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       5  10   0    15
                        Lead changes     4   6   1    11

PROVO -- Coming off a split with the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins, the No. 4 ranked BYU Cougars will head to Springfield, Mass. for the Hall of Fame-Morgan Classic Friday and Saturday.

BYU Coach Tom Peterson said he is looking forward to visiting the birthplace of volleyball and playing some of the best teams in the East.

"It's a neat opportunity to go see where volleyball was invented and learn some of the history," he said. "The young people need to learn the history about what they are doing. It's a great chance to play a few more of the best teams in country

This marks the Cougar's first trip to the Classic, a tournament in its 18th year. BYU will play the Ball State Cardinals at 6 p.m. EST on Friday in the first round while the Penn State Nittany Lions will play the host Springfield College Pride at 8 p.m. EST. The winners will play Saturday at 8 p.m. while the losers will play in the consolation match at 6 p.m.

"Ball State is a good team," Peterson said. "They are one of the top teams that will be favored to win the MIVA."

Ball State started the 2005 season at 3-0 but has fallen on hard times, losing three straight to Lewis, Penn State, and George Mason. Outside hitter Nick Meyer leads the Cardinals with a 3.88 kills per game average. As a team, Ball State is hitting .219 on the season.

The Cougars face the possibility of playing Penn State for the second time this season. BYU defeated the No. 6 ranked Nittany Lions in a come-from-behind, five-game thriller at the Outrigger Tournament in Honolulu. Penn State is now on a five-match win streak since the loss to the Cougars.

"Penn State will be favored to beat Springfield so we will probably have to win on Friday to play them again," Peterson said.

Alex Gutor is leading the way for the Nittany Lions, averaging 3.87 kills per game. Matt Proper is not far behind, registering 3.59 kills per contest.

Springfield College, the tournament host, is the only Division III team in the pool. While the Pride has started the season at 1-4, they have been one of the dominant teams at the Division III level, winning the championship in 2002 and 2003. Brandon Mueller has averaged 5.70 kills per game in Springfield's last three matches.

Junior outside hitter is leading the way for BYU, averaging 4.20 kills per game. Senior middle blocker Michael Burke has been consistent all season, contributing 2.66 kills per game and leading the team with a .446 hitting percentage and a 1.40 blocks per game average. Against UCLA on Friday, he registered a career high 10 blocks, three of which were solos.

BYU will be looking to gain some momentum before jumping back into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation race. At 6-3 overall and 2-2 in league play, the Cougars are in the middle of the pack but in good position to get to the top after a split with the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins.

Peterson said his team will need to continue to work hard and improve its consistency to move up.

"We still have to play every match like it's a championship match for us to get better," Peterson said. "We can't afford to have a good night then a bad night like we've been having."

After the Hall of Fame Classic, BYU will travel to Malibu, Calif. and play No. 2 Pepperdine University, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and 12. Friday's match will begin at 7 p.m. PST while Saturday's will start at 3 p.m. PST.