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PROVO -- After losing its first set the No. 10 BYU men’s volleyball team rallied to win three-straight and defeat No. 11 Lewis, 3-1, on Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win comes just two days after losing to Cal Baptist, a team Lewis swept on Friday. With the win the Cougars improve to 2-3 on the season.

“We finished well tonight,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “Lewis is a really good finishing team, so to be able to keep up with them and overcome our loss on Thursday shows we’re making strides. There’s something really special about this team—blue-collar work ethic.”

Cougars Kevin Sagers and Mat Taylor both recorded a match-high 16 kills, breaking both of their previous career highs. Junior Andrew Stewart contributed 15 kills of his own, along with 11 from redshirt freshman Futi Tavana. Setter Yamil Perez led the match with 12 digs.

The Flyers jumped out to an early 16-9 lead in the first set before the first timeout of the night. Back in play, the Cougars went on a 7-1 run, clawing back to within one point. Tanava recorded three kills and one block during that span, contributing four points. Stewart’s three kills also helped keep the score close, but BYU couldn’t close the gap as Lewis went on to win the first set, 30-26.

The teams kept the score close to start the second set, with neither side gaining more than a two-point advantage. A kill by Drew Pickering gave Lewis the 20-19 advantage, before BYU’s Sagers answered with a kill of his own on the ensuing play. Stewart contributed a trio of kills once again, to give BYU a three-point lead at 25-22. A kill by Sagers sealed the 30-27 win for the Cougars and tied the match.

Set three began much like the first two, with close and frequently tied scores. Setter Reed Chilton came in to serve late in the game, sparking a 7-1 BYU run, including an ace and several Flyer attack errors, including one to give the Cougars the 30-22 win.

“Even though he didn’t start tonight, Reed came off the bench and served well for us,” said Patchell. “He showed signs of a great team captain.”

Both Sagers and Taylor dominated offensively during the fourth match, contributing to BYU’s largest lead of seven points at 28-21. The duo combined for 12 kills in the fourth set alone. A Lewis blocking error after a kill by Perez on match point clinched the overall win for the Cougars.

The Cougars will remain in Provo next weekend and open MPSF play hosting the Warriors of Hawaii on Jan. 22-23. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
            LEWIS vs BYU Cougars (Jan 17, 2009 at BYU, PROVO, UTAH)
   LEWIS                  |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Vigansky, Alex......  4| 12   0  22  .545|  1|  0   4|  0|  0| 2  5  0|  0
10 Kelnhofer, David....  4|  6   3  18  .167|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
11 Iandolo, Mike.......  4|  3   2   6  .167| 51|  0   4|  0|  6| 0  2  2|  0
14 Sahagian, Billy.....  4|  9   1  21  .381|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 2  2  1|  0
15 Klaas, Nathan.......  4| 16   8  35  .229|  1|  0   2|  1|  5| 0  3  0|  0
22 Pickering, Drew.....  4| 11   8  32  .094|  0|  1   3|  1|  7| 0  3  0|  0
1  Perakes, Nick.......  4|  1   0   1 1.000|  3|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0
8  Muesenfechter, Brian  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
12 Boller, Craig.......  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
17 Cintron, Gustavo....  2|  5   1   7  .571|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
18 Flick, Aaron........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 63  23 144  .278| 57|  1  20|  3| 32| 4 15  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  37  .270   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  5  37  .351   LEWIS............... (1) 30 27 22 25  1-1
   3  13  9  34  .118   BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 30 30 30  2-3
   4  16  3  36  .361
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  3   3  11  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  2|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  4|  7   1  11  .545|  5|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  1   1   3  .000| 58|  0   4|  0| 12| 1  1  0|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 15   9  33  .182|  1|  1   1|  1|  6| 0  0  1|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4| 11   2  19  .474|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  2  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3| 16   5  28  .393|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  4| 16   6  29  .345|  1|  0   3|  0|  8| 0  2  1|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 69  28 135  .304| 65|  3  12|  1| 46| 2 11  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12 11  35  .029   Site: BYU, PROVO, UTAH (E M COURT)
   2  20  6  36  .389   Date: Jan 17, 2009   Attend: 2729   Time: 2H 26M
   3  16  7  29  .310   Referees: MIKE FARISH, BURT FULLER, TRENT MANO
   4  21  4  35  .486

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Coming off an appearance at the UC Santa Barbara Elephant Bar Collegiate Invitational, BYU will open its regular season with two home matches against Cal-Baptist and Lewis on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. It marks the third time in four seasons the Cougars will open their season against the Lancers at home. The Cougars are on a three-match win streak in home openers dating back to 2006.

Series Information

The Cougars and Lancers will be playing for the 11th and 12th time with BYU holding a 6-4 advantage in the previous 10 match ups. The last time Cal-Baptist beat BYU was Feb. 13, 2007 when the Lancers swept the Cougars in Riverside, Calif.

Cal-Baptist is traditionally one of the best NAIA schools. The Lancers are six-time NAIA Champions, with their only two losses this season coming against No. 6 UC Irvine and No. 3 Pepperdine. The Lancers forced a five-set match against the Waves, the 2008 NCAA runners-up, on Jan. 9.

Lewis opens the 2009 season in Provo, playing Cal Baptist on Friday at 2 p.m. MT in the Smith Fieldhouse before facing BYU on Saturday. The Flyers finished the 2008 season with a 21-10 overall record, falling to No. 10 Ball State, 3-1, in the MIVA Tournament’s semifinal match.

Match Coverage

Both matches will be televised live on BYU-TV with Jarom Jordan calling play-by-play, Steve Vail offering analysis and Robby Bullough as sideline reporter.

Every home match will have a free live stats feed option. The live stats feed can be accessed by visiting the men’s volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com. The live stats can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game.

Returning Team

The Cougars return two starters for 2009 in junior outside hitter Andrew Stewart and junior libero Joel Silva. With the loss of two All-Americans and five contributing seniors in 2008, this year’s team has six newcomers and no seniors. The Cougars also have two recently returned missionaries--Futi Tavana and Quentin Smith.

Coaches or Players?

BYU’s entire coaching staff is coaching at its alma mater. Head coach Shawn Patchell starred for the Cougars in his playing days (1990-93) while assistant coach Rob Neilson earned All-MPSF honors for BYU in 2006.

20-Win Seasons

After finishing the 2006 season with an 18-9 record, BYU was held without 20 wins for the first time since the 2000 season. With 2008’s 25-5 finish, the Cougars have recorded 10 total 20-win seasons. The first BYU team to record 20 wins was the 1994 team. The 1994 team finished its season with a 21-6 record and advanced to the final of the MPSF Tournament, losing to Stanford in four games.

BYU in the MPSF Tournament

Since 1993, BYU has qualified for the MPSF postseason tournament in 13 of 14 seasons including 12 consecutive trips. The Cougars all-time record in the MPSF tournament is 19-12. BYU has won the MPSF tournament three times and holds an 11-5 record in the first round, 5-5 record in the semifinals and 3-2 record in tournament finals. The Cougars won consecutive MPSF tournament championships in 2003 and 2004.

BYU in the NCAA Tournament

The Cougars have made four NCAA tournament appearances in the program’s history. Impressively, BYU has brought home the hardware in three of its four NCAA tournament appearances. The Cougars boast a 7-1 overall record in NCAA tournament play and a perfect 4-0 record in national semifinal matches. The Cougars only loss in the NCAA tournament was in 2003 when they lost to Lewis in a five-game thriller. BYU has earned automatic bids to the Final Four by winning the MPSF tournament three times: 1999, 2003 and 2004.

This year the Smith Fieldhouse will serve as host to the 2009 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships on May 7-9, 2009.

All-Americans

With Russell Holmes (first team) and Ivan Perez (second team) being named AVCA All-Americans last year, it marked the 15th consecutive season the Cougars have had an All-American. Since 1993, 20 different players have earned 38 citations, 14 of which are first-team honors and 13 of which are second-team honors.

Preseason Exhibition

BYU finished its exhibition schedule having won nine of 12 matches. The Cougars played against USC and Hawaii at the Warrior Fall Tournament in Honolulu, going 5-3 and finishing with the best record in the tournament.

The Cougars then returned home to host the BYU Tournament, going undefeated against teams from Utah Valley University, UC Irvine and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Redshirt freshman Futi Tavana was named tournament MVP and joined junior Kent Tuttle on the all-tournament team.

Home Court Advantage

BYU finished its 2008 season with a 14-1(.933) record at the Smith Fieldhouse, facing teams like No. 1 NAIA team Cal Baptist, No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 6 Cal State Northridge and No. 8 UC Irvine. The record was the fourth best mark in Cougar history behind the 1998 (11-0, 1.000), 2004 (16-1, .941) and 1999 (15-1, .938) seasons.

Where Are You From?

Players come from all over the world to play with BYU’s volleyball team. The Cougars have players from Brazil, Puerto Rico and Venezuela on their roster. Eight states are also represented on this year’s team: Arizona, California, Ohio, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Utah and Wisconsin. California leads the way with 4 players hailing from the Golden State.

Summer in Beijing

Junior libero Joel Silva was one of several current BYU athletes who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing this summer. Silva played with his national team of Venezuela in the Olympics. In a match against the United States, Silva was pitted against his former BYU coach Ryan Millar and former BYU outside hitter Rich Lambourne. The U.S. went on to win the gold medal, thanks in part to their head coach, and former BYU player and assistant coach, Hugh McCutcheon.

Up Next

Next week the Cougars will invite No. 11 Hawaii to the Smith Fieldhouse on Jan. 22-23. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. and both will be televised by BYU-TV.