PROVO -- Earning his first BYU start, redshirt freshman Jeff Robinson led the No. 4 Cougars as they swept No. 14 UC Santa Barbara 30-20, 30-28, 30-28 on Saturday night. With the win BYU improves to 19-4 on the season.

Robinson recorded a match-high18 kills hitting .517 on the night. Seniors Ivan Perez and Jonathan Charette had 12 and 11 kills, respectively. As a whole, the team recorded a .396 attack percentage.

"Jeff had a pretty nice line," said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "He led our team. Over the last month he's been proving himself in practice and it's fun to see his confidence build."

BYU came out quick in its 30-20 first game win. Robinson put BYU on the scoreboard with a kill to start things off for the Cougars and sparked a four-point BYU run. The Cougars continued to dominate throughout the game, as Ivan Perez went 6-for-6 for a 1.000 attack percentage. With game point on the line, Robinson closed the game just as he started it, recording his third kill of the night.

"We came out with a lot of energy," said Robinson. "I'm just happy to help the team out."

The Cougars battled through a tight 30-28 win in the second game. In a set in which the score was tied 14 times, USCB recorded six team blocks compared to BYU's one. Jonathan Charette's kill with the score tied at 21-21 put the Cougars up for good and BYU clinched the second game on a Gaucho service error.

The third game played out much like the first, with UCSB keeping it close towards the end of the match. UCSB's Jeff Menzel, who ranks fifth in the nation with 4.84 kills per set, recorded four kills in the final game tying the score at 27-27. BYU clinched the match on a UCSB attack error.

BYU will travel to take on the University of Hawaii next Thursday and Friday with start times scheduled at 7 p.m. HST.

Volleyball Box Score
                             BYU  Cougar VolleyBall
                    #14 UC Santa Barbara vs #4 Brigham Young
                      (Mar 29, 2008 at BYU PROVO UT 84602)
   UC Santa Barbara       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Menzel, Jeff........  3|  8   4  14  .286|  0|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  0
4  Runkle, Mike........  3|  8   1  17  .412|  0|  1   4|  2|  6| 0  1  0|  0
6  Devany, Vince.......  3|  1   0   2  .500| 40|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  1  2|  0
8  Fisher, Michael.....  3|  7   4  18  .167|  0|  0   3|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0
19 Slaughter, Scott....  2|  2   0   6  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  3  1|  0
21 Brunner, Theo.......  3|  6   2  15  .267|  0|  0   3|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0
2  Brockman, Ben.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
9  Mathews, Phil.......  1|  1   2   3 -.333|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
12 Irons, Cullen.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
14 Thobe, Matt.........  2|  6   0   6 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
15 Rosener, Jake.......  2|  2   1   6  .167|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
20 McGuire, Andy.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 41  14  87  .310| 41|  1  16|  4| 25| 2 16  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  5  21  .429   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  3  32  .281   UC Santa Barbara.... (0) 20 28 28  9-14; 6-12; MPSF
   3  15  6  34  .265   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  19-4; 14-4; 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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  0   0   0  .000| 44|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  0
7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  3|  7   1  11  .545|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3| 12   3  24  .375|  2|  0   3|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
9  ROBINSON, Jeff......  3| 18   3  29  .517|  0|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  8   2  15  .400|  2|  1   4|  0|  1| 1  4  1|  0
13 CHARETTE, Jonathan..  3| 11   7  22  .182|  0|  1   5|  0|  6| 0  0  1|  0
6  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 56  16 101  .396| 49|  4  18|  1| 27| 1 10  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  2  21  .667   Site: BYU PROVO UT 84602 (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  21  9  43  .279   Date: Mar 29, 2008   Attend: 1792   Time: 1H 44M
   3  19  5  37  .378   Referees: LES CALLES, DAPHNE NELSON, TRENT MANO

PROVO -- Men's volleyball returns to the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend as No. 4 BYU hosts No. 14 UC Santa Barbara in matches Friday and Saturday with each starting at 7 p.m. as the Cougars look to break a three-match losing streak.

Senior All-Americans Russell Holmes and Ivan Perez lead the BYU contingent. Holmes is tied for first in the country with an average of 1.60 blocks per game and seventh in the country with a .457 attack percentage on the year. Perez is 11th in the nation with an average of 4.45 kills per game, 12th in the nation with an average of 5.02 points per game, and 17th in the nation averaging 2.26 digs per game. As a team, the Cougars have the fourth best hitting percentage in the country.

UC Santa Barbara has lost five of its last seven matches, but has won two of its last three in three-set sweeps over USC and Cal-Baptist. Freshman Jeff Menzel leads the attack for the Gauchos ranking fourth in the nation with an average of 4.84 kills per game. Senior Theo Brunner also averages 3.60 kills per game with a .382 attack percentage. Sophomore Sam Moisenco averages 1.27 blocks per game, which is 16th best in the country.

The Cougars have beaten the Gauchos in the last four meetings between the two schools and swept them in the last three. In total, 23 of the 37 decisions between the two have ended in sweeps while only twice has the competition gone to five sets. BYU has also won 17 of the last 20 meetings between the Cougars and the Gauchos, and 12 of those wins were sweeps.

See the attached PDF document for more information.