SANTA BARBARA -- Despite claiming the first two sets, the No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball team could not overcome its struggles at the service line, falling in five sets to No. 10 UC Santa Barbara on Friday night (27-30, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 15-12). The Cougars totaled 26 service errors compared to the Gauchos’ 18. With the loss the Cougars fall to 4-4 on the season and 2-1 in MPSF play.

Juniors Andrew Stewart and Mat Taylor led the Cougars with 17 and 16 kills, respectively, while freshman Futi Tavana followed with 15. Tavana led the team with his .583 attack percentage. Junior libero Joel Silva recorded 10 digs on the night.

The Cougars built a 12-6 lead early in the first set thanks in part to back-to-back kills by Tavana and several UCSB attack errors. Four BYU service errors brought the Gauchos back, allowing them to take the 22-21 lead. Both Yamil Perez and Otavio Souza recorded blocks down the stretch allowing BYU to claim the first set, 30-27.

Set two was close from the beginning with neither team gaining more than a one-point lead until the Cougars pulled ahead 21-19. Tanava and Jeff Robinson knocked down kills to put BYU up by six points but the Gauchos continued to make plays and came back to within one before the Cougars called a timeout. Reed Chilton’s service ace after the break, combined with Taylor’s seventh kill of the set, brought up game point. A costly service error by UCSB gave BYU the 30-27 win.

The outcomes alternated in the third and fourth set as the Gauchos claimed consecutive 30-27, 30-27 wins of their own as BYU struggled from the service line, recording 14 service errors in those two games alone.

Team captain Stewart recorded back-to-back kills to begin the final set as the teams continued trading points. UCSB pulled ahead 8-5 before a kill by Taylor and Gaucho attack error forced a timeout. Despite finding themselves within one point at 9-8, the Cougars eventually fell 15-12.

The Cougars and Gauchos face off again on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. Live stats are available at www.byucougars.com and live radio streaming can be found at http://www.kcsb.org/.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
   #9 BYU Cougars vs #10 UC Santa Barbara (Jan 30, 2009 at Santa Barbara, CA)
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  2|  1   0   7  .143|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  5| 16  12  39  .103|  0|  1   2|  0|  5| 1  2  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  4|  6   1  11  .455|  0|  0   6|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  5|  0   0   3  .000| 56|  1   7|  0|  2| 1  3  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  5| 17   7  41  .244|  1|  1   3|  0|  7| 1  1  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  5| 15   1  24  .583|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  2| 10| 0  0  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  5   2   9  .333|  0|  0   3|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  1
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  4|  7   4  13  .231|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  3|  0   1   7 -.143|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 67  28 154  .253| 62|  5  26|  3| 29| 6 15  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  3  33  .364   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  8  39  .256   BYU Cougars......... (2) 30 30 27 27 12  4-4, 2-1 MPSF
   3  15  8  31  .226   UC Santa Barbara.... (3) 27 27 30 30 15  3-4, 1-3 MPSF
   4  11  6  33  .152
   5   8  3  18  .278
   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........  5| 25  15  51  .196|  0|  0   3|  1|  9| 1  1  2|  0
8  Devany, Vince.......  5|  1   0   1 1.000| 60|  1   0|  0| 11| 1  0  0|  0
12 Irons, Cullen.......  5| 16   7  30  .300|  1|  0   1|  2|  7| 0  4  0|  0
15 Rosener, Jake.......  3|  7   3  14  .286|  0|  1   3|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
17 Moisenco, Sam.......  5|  4   2   9  .222|  1|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
19 Slaughter, Scott....  5|  9   2  14  .500|  1|  0   5|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0
3  Valbuena, Trey......  3|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1
20 McGuire, Andy.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0
22 Nielsen, Blaine.....  4|  7   5  19  .105|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 71  35 141  .255| 66|  3  18|  5| 48| 3 15  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17 11  34  .176   Site: Santa Barbara, CA (Robertson Gymnasium)
   2  15  5  31  .323   Date: Jan 30, 2009   Attend: 315   Time: 2:25
   3  11  7  24  .167   Referees: Tony Chan, Rick Olmstead
   4  19 10  35  .257
   5   9  2  17  .412

Cougars Hit the Road--Visit UC Santa Barbara

BYU (4-3, 2-0 MPSF) hits the road to take on MPSF foe UC Santa Barbara (2-4, 0-3 MPSF) on Jan. 30-31 after winning three-straight at home in Provo. The Cougars look to remain undefeated in conference play against a Gauncho team which is winless in MPSF play.

Series Information

BYU holds a 24-15 series advantage over the Gauchos thanks mostly to a 10-match winning streak between 1998 and 2003. The Cougars have beaten the Gauchos in the last six meetings between the two schools and swept them in four of the last five. In total, 24 of the 39 decisions between the two have ended in sweeps while only twice has the competition gone to five sets. BYU has also won 19 of the last 22 meetings between the Cougars and the Gauchos--13 of those ending in sweeps.

Match Coverage

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.

BYU Hosts 2009 NCAA Championship

BYU will host the 2009 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship in the Smith Fieldhouse May 7-9, 2009. Both semifinal matches will be played on Thursday, May 7, with the national championship match held on Saturday, May 9. All session tickets are available at the Marriott Center Ticket Office. The ticket office may be reached at (801) 422-BYU1 or toll-free at (800) 322-BYU1. Tickets may also be purchased at byutickets.com.

BYU will host its first national championship event since hosting the 1989 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Three other outdoor track championships were held at BYU in 1967, 1975 and 1982. BYU also hosted the NCAA Wrestling Championship in 1969.

Last Year Against UC Santa Barbara

March 28, 2008

Senior Ivan Perez earned his eighth double-double of the season and second in a row in a five-set win (25-30, 30-25, 29-31, 30-24, 15-11) as the No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball team hosted No. 14 UC Santa Barbara Friday at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Perez led all hitters with 27 kills and 12 digs hitting .444 on the night. Jonathan Charette, Trent Sorensen, and Russell Holmes also had 16, 15, and 14 kills, respectively, as well.

As a team the Cougars got off to a slow start, but UCSB controlled most of the first set and won 30-25. The Cougars hit well with a .343 attack percentage, but the Gauchos hit better at .485. BYU did its best to build momentum, including switching setters mid-set, but were slowed by seven service errors. Neither team was strong defensively at the net as no one recorded a block in the set. Gaucho outside hitter Jeff Menzel, who ranks fifth in the nation with 4.84 kills per set, had eight kills in the set to lead all hitters. He finished the night with 19 kills and a .088 attack percentage.

In the second set it was BYU that built an early lead that it would not relinquish and took the set 30-25. Perez came out swinging and recorded a set leading five kills with a .500 hitting percentage. However, it was the Cougar defense that dominated the set. After recording none in the first set, BYU tallied 4.0 total team blocks in the set and held UCSB to nine kills and nine attack errors for a .000 attack percentage.

The defense was lacking on both sides of the net again as UCSB won the third set 31-29. The Gauchos rolled out of the locker room to an 18-10 lead after the break, but the Cougars rallied to tie the score at 28-28. The 2,060 fans in attendance roared as BYU completed the comeback, but Patchell’s squad could not muster enough to take the lead and fell in the narrow loss. BYU hit .189 and recorded 1.0 total team block in the set to UCSB’s .256 performance and 2.0 total team blocks.

Down, but not out, the Cougars forced a fifth set with a 30-24 win in the fourth. Sophomore Reed Chilton returned to set BYU to a .441 attack percentage in the fourth set after being taken out mid-way through the first. Perez racked up seven kills on 11 swings with only one error in the set. The Cougar defense also got back on track with 5.0 total team blocks in the set.

5-0 on the year in the fifth set, BYU finished the come-from behind victory with a 15-11 win in the deciding set. The Cougars scored the first three points of the set and never lost the lead. Perez added five kills in the set to his already impressive performance, and the team hit .556 in the set.

March 29, 2008

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.

Robinson recorded a match-high 18 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.

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.

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.