PROVO -- After spending nearly five weeks away from home, No. 3 BYU's return to the friendly confines of the Smith Fieldhouse resulted in a 30-28, 30-24, 28-30, 30-28 win over No. 9 Long Beach State.

With four block solos, Russell Holmes set a BYU (17-5, 13-4 MPSF) record for block solos in a season with 24, eclipsing co-head coach and former All-American Ryan Millar's record of 22 in 1999. Holmes also added a career-high 16 kills and tied his career high with the four block solos.

"I liked Russell's fire," co-head coach Shawn Patchell said. "He is our leader on the court. It is good that our team captain can lead with his play like he did tonight."

The Cougars pounced the 49ers from the early going, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first set after a Perez kill. After Long Beach responded with a small spurt, the two teams traded side outs with BYU hanging to a two-point margin at 16-14.

The 49ers continued to chip away at the big lead, tying the score at 19 on a Dan Alexander and Paul Lotman combo block. The Cougars came back with a 6-3 run, to retake a three-point advantage at 25-22. BYU finished game with a Perez kill.

After the Cougars started the second set ahead 4-3, the 49ers used a 6-1 run to take a 9-5 lead and force a BYU timeout. The Cougars came out of the time out with a 3-1 spurt to cut into the lead only to have Long Beach come back with a big run to take a 15-9 lead on an ace by Alexander.

BYU several two-point runs to cut into the 49ers lead. With the Cougars trailing 20-16, they reeled off four points in a roll to tie the score at 20. Yosleyder Cala added a kill and the 49ers gave up a pair on attack errors. BYU wasn't satisfied with the tie as the Cougars jumped ahead. The BYU run ended at seven straight points, giving the Cougars a 23-21 lead. BYU extended its lead, finishing the second game on a Stowell kill. After a sluggish start to the second set, the Cougars finished the game on a 14-4 run and hit .455 in the game.

The third game began as a back-and-forth contest with both teams converting a majority of their side outs. Perez's serving put pressure on the Long Beach passers. The Cougars reeled off three consecutive points, the last two on back-to-back Holmes kills to take a 14-11 advantage. After BYU built an 18-14 advantage, the 49ers fought back scoring three consecutive points and forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. After BYU jumped back ahead by three, Long Beach reeled off four consecutive points to take a one-point advantage. The 49ers picked up a two-point advantage when BYU's Yamil Perez was called in the net. Two points later, Long Beach won the game on a Lotman kill.

"It doesn't matter what Long Beach's record is," Patchell said. "They play us tough no matter what. They are one of our rivals. Our guys were up to the challenge tonight."

Long Beach came out on fire in the fourth set, taking an 11-5 advantage. The Cougars began to chip away, eventually tying the game at 18 with a Cala kill and taking a 19-18 lead with a service ace from Holmes. The 49ers cam back with a 3-0 run of its own to take a 23-21 advantage on a pair of blocks. The Cougars responded with a 3-1 spurt to tie the game at 24 before Holmes slammed an over pass to give BYU the advantage. The advantage jumped back and forth until the game settled at a 28-all tie. The Cougars finished with the final two points for the win.

The same two teams will do battle Friday evening at 7 p.m.

Volleyball Box Score
#9 LBSU 49'ers vs #3 BYU Cougars (Mar 29, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    LBSU 49'ers            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Lotman, Paul........  4| 25   5  45  .444|  0|  1   3|  1| 12| 0  8  0|  0
 13 Liles, Teddy........  4|  6   3  14  .214|  0|  1   3|  1|  3| 1  0  1|  0
 14 Fabry, Daniel.......  4| 14   4  22  .455|  0|  0   2|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 17 Eaton, Connor.......  4|  1   3   5 -.400| 64|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  2|  0
 18 Bittner, Dean.......  4| 11   4  25  .280|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  2  2|  0
 23 Alexander, Dan......  4| 10   5  19  .263|  0|  1   5|  0|  1| 0  9  2|  0
 1  Caldwell, Tyler.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 3  Watten, Dustin......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 11 Anderson, Fletcher..  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Pestolesi, Tommy....  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 15 Christensen, Gavin..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 67  25 133  .316| 66|  3  19|  3| 34| 1 19  7|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  8  43  .256   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  8  33  .242   LBSU 49'ers......... (1) 28 24 30 28  11-12, 6-11 MPSF
   3  13  5  25  .320   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 28 30  17-5, 13-4 MPSF
   4  19  4  32  .469
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  4|  5   1  11  .364|  2|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  3  1|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 16   6  33  .303|  0|  1   7|  1|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4| 16   1  23  .652|  1|  1   3|  0|  4| 4  1  3|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  4| 19   6  42  .310|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  2  3|  0
 14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  1   1   2  .000| 59|  0   4|  0|  6| 0  0  2|  0
 17 STEWART, Andrew.....  2|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  3| 10   3  18  .389|  2|  1   4|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  3|  1   0   4  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 69  19 136  .368| 64|  3  21|  3| 35| 5 11  9|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  5  38  .289   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  17  2  33  .455   Date: Mar 29, 2007   Attend: 1845   Time: 2H 20M
   3  18  7  30  .367   Referees: Tom Given, Bert Fuller
   4  18  5  35  .371

PROVO -- Postseason seeding will be at stake this weekend as No. 3 BYU welcomes No. 9 Long Beach State to the Smith Fieldhouse for a pair of matches on Thursday and Friday evenings. Both matches start at 7 p.m.

The Cougars (16-5, 12-4 MPSF) are currently a game and a half behind second place UC Irvine for the second seed. BYU holds the tie-breaker over UCI by virtue of the total number of games won in the head-to-head matches.

The Cougars will be playing their first matches at home since Feb. 23 and 24. BYU has a 7-1 home record this season. The Cougars have played 13 of their last 17 games on the road.

"It's nice to be back home," BYU co-head coach Ryan Millar said. "It feels like we haven't been home for a long time."

Long Beach comes into the match having lost two in a row, including a five-set heartbreaker against No. 1 Pepperdine. The 49ers have won three in a row against BYU. Long Beach State eliminated the Cougars from the MPSF Tournament.

"These matches will definitely not be easy," Millar said. "Long Beach is a great team. Our guys will be ready and hopefully we can pick up another couple of wins."

Thursday evening's match will be televised by BYU-TV and KBYU.