PROVO -- The No. 1 BYU men's volleyball closed the season home-opener with a win against Cal Baptist University (30-25, 23-30, 30-19, 30-25) Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars owned 62 kills, 8.5 blocks and hit .426 on their victory over the Lancers, who are the number one ranked team in the NAIA.

Senior Ivan Perez led the Cougars with 20 kills, followed by senior Trent Sorensen with 12 of his own. Sophomore Reed Chilton helped give BYU its advantage with 48 assists on the night.

The Cougars and the Lancers battled for the lead early in the first game, tying the score six times. BYU gradually gained momentum tying it at 8-8 and never looked back. The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 24-19, which came off an attack error by the Lancers. BYU took advantage of its lead and finished the 30-25 win with a kill by Perez. The Cougars hit .500 with 16 kills, six of which Perez claimed.

Much like the first game, both teams struggled to take control in game two. The game tied 11 times, and at 13-14 the Lancers took the lead and pulled away from the Cougars. Though BYU stayed close behind Cal Baptist, the Cougars could not take the lead as the Lancers won 23-30.

In game three the Cougars took control from the first points and pulled away from the Lancers. At 10-8 the Cougars stepped up their defensive game and scored seven unanswered points, which included three blocks with the help of senior Jonathan Charette, Sorensen and sophomore Andrew Stewart. Cal Baptist could not recover from BYU's momentum as BYU took the game 30-19, hitting .500.

In game four BYU quickly took the lead and pulled away from Cal Baptist. With 14 kills and hitting .290, the Cougars finished the win 30-25 with a kill by Charette.

In 2007 BYU was 11-1 in the Smith Fieldhouse. The record was the fifth best mark in Cougar history. The Cougars hope to use their home court advantage as they match up again on Saturday against Cal Baptist at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Volleyball Box Score
                             BYU  Cougar VolleyBall
       Cal Baptist vs #1 Brigham Young (Jan 25, 2008 at Provo, BYU, Utah)
   Cal Baptist            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 BALIABA, Donald.....  4| 26   8  45  .400|  0|  0   7|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|  26.0
11 PLUNKETT, Eric......  4|  0   2   3 -.667| 49|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
17 TIEDJOP, Adiel......  4|  8   9  23 -.043|  2|  0   3|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  1|   8.5
19 CHURCH, Adam........  4|  8   2  14  .429|  1|  0   4|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0|   9.0
23 VETTER, Romain......  4|  5   0  11  .455|  1|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  1  1|  0|   6.5
99 MENDOZA, David......  1|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
2  ANDERS, Bryan.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  SPENCE, Corey.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  MACNEIL, Mike.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
6  SUN, Yukai..........  4| 12   3  20  .450|  2|  1   3|  2|  1| 0  1  1|  0|  13.5
7  PENNER, Blair.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 60  25 119  .294| 58|  1  20|  4| 28| 1  6  3|  1|  65.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  16  8  34  .235  22-30  73%   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  1  26  .692  21-23  91%   Cal Baptist......... (1) 25 30 19 25  2-2;0-0; NAIA
   3  11  8  27  .111  15-30  50%   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 23 30 30  6-0;2-0; MPSF
   4  14  8  32  .188  18-29  62%
   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  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  1   1   2  .000| 48|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  0  1|  1|   2.0
7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  4| 12   2  19  .526|  1|  0   6|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  14.0
8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 20   4  32  .500|  2|  1   3|  0|  8| 0  2  1|  0|  22.0
11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4|  8   2  15  .400|  0|  1   6|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|  10.5
13 CHARETTE, Jonathan..  4| 10   4  17  .353|  2|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  12.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 10   3  19  .368|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  3  1|  0|  12.5
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  1   0   4  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
2  SAGERS, Kevin.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  2|  0   0   0  .000|  6|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
6  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
16 JUSTEN, Leandro.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 62  16 108  .426| 59|  4  21|  1| 29| 1 15  3|  1|  74.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  16  3  26  .500  22-25  87%   Site: Provo, BYU, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  17  5  27  .444  21-30  69%   Date: Jan 25, 2008   Attend: 3566   Time: 2H 9M
   3  15  3  24  .500  15-19  78%   Referees: Tom Given, Les Calles
   4  14  5  31  .290  19-26  73%
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       6  13   1   2    22
                        Lead changes     1   2   0   0     3

PROVO -- The No. 1 ranked BYU men's volleyball team will put its perfect 5-0 record on the line at home for the first time in 2008 on Friday and Saturday against the No. 1 team in the NAIA, Cal Baptist, in the Smith Fieldhouse. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. MT.

BYU finished its 2007 regular season with an 11-1 (.917) record at the Smith Fieldhouse. The record was the fifth best mark in Cougar history behind the 1998 (11-0, 1.000), 2004 (16-1, .941), 1999 (15-1, .938), and 2006 (13-1, .929) seasons. BYU started 2007 with five consecutive home wins before losing to No. 2 UC Irvine when the two teams split two matches in Provo. The Cougars then ran off six straight wins to finish the season.

Cal Baptist is a perennial NAIA power and is currently ranked No. 1 in the NAIA. After winning its first nine matches in 2007, the Cougars lost four in a row with one of those losses coming at the hands of the Lancers in three games. However, the two teams met three times in 2007, and BYU won the first two contests in seven games (3-0, 3-1) in its first two matches of the season. The last and only time Cal Baptist won in Provo was in five games on Jan. 14, 2005.

Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on BYU-TV. Live stats and live streaming video will also be available on the men's volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com/volleyball_m/. For more information, see the attached PDF notes.