STOCKTON -- The No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball team recorded its second consecutive undefeated weekend after a 3-0 sweep over the Pacific Tigers on Saturday night (30-22, 30-27, 30-28). With the win the Cougars improve to 9-6 overall, 7-3 in MPSF play and now have five sweeps on the season.

“This weekend was really important for us,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “These were two important matches for us. I challenged the team to get better and we did. This puts us in a great situation to go to Northridge next weekend.”

Andrew Stewart recorded 17 kills on the night, a match-high for the second night in a row. Sophomore Alex Da Pron finished with 10 kills, marking the second consecutive night he has knocked down double-digit kills.

“I thought Andrew had a nice weekend, not only playing but also as a leader on the court,” said Patchell. “Alex [Da Pron] has been working hard all season . He got his shot this weekend and did a really nice job, especially with passing.”

The Cougars picked up where they left off on Friday, starting the match with a strong offensive showing. Da Pron, Mat Taylor and Stewart all recorded two kills to put BYU up 7-4 in the first set. Redshirt freshman Futi Tavana got into the action as well, helping the Cougars maintain a .381 hitting percentage. Leading the entire set, BYU held an eight-point advantage at set point after a Tiger attack error. Tavana secured the 30-22 win with his fourth kill of the night.

The second set remained close throughout, with neither team building more than a two-point lead before back-to-back Da Pron kills gave BYU a 12-8 advantage. A 4-0 run set the Cougars ahead by seven points, but the Tigers returned the favor with a 6-1 run of their own. Pacific came back to tie the score at 25-25 but a kill by Taylor, followed by several Tiger errors gave BYU the lift it needed to claim the 30-27 win.

It was an equal battle between BYU and Pacific in the third set, which saw seven lead changes, with both teams recording similar attack and blocking numbers. Tied 27-27, a Tiger service error and kill by Tuttle forced match point for BYU. Sophomore Jeff Robinson clinched the overall win with his fifth kill of the set.

Up next the Cougars travel for two matches against Cal State Northridge on March 5-6 at 7 p.m. PT.

Volleyball Box Score
                         2009 Pacific Men's Volleyball
            #8 BYU vs Pacific Tigers (Feb 28, 2009 at Stockton, CA)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  7   0  11  .636|  1|  0   3|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  1|   9.5
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  2|  3   5  17 -.118|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   3.5
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   1  .000| 46|  1   4|  0|  8| 0  1  1|  0|   1.5
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  2| 17   2  24  .625|  1|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  1  1|  0|  17.5
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  9   1  19  .421|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  2  1|  0|  11.0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  3| 10   3  19  .368|  1|  1   1|  0|  3| 1  2  1|  0|  13.0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  5   4  12  .083|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   6.5
2  GUILLAUME, Max......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  5   0  11  .455|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  1|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  1   1|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 58  16 119  .353| 54|  3  12|  3| 39| 2 15  4|  1|  70.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  4  42  .381   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  23  5  39  .462   BYU................. (3) 30 30 30  9-6, 7-3 MPSF
   3  15  7  38  .211   Pacific Tigers...... (0) 22 27 28  2-16, 0-13 MPSF
   Pacific Tigers         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Jason Borchin.......  3|  4   6  20 -.100|  1|  0   3|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
6  Kevin Pratte........  3|  8   5  22  .136|  0|  0   1|  2|  4| 0  2  0|  0|   9.0
10 Chaz Hindsley.......  3|  6   2  12  .333|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  2  2|  0|   8.0
13 Sean Daley..........  3|  9   1  15  .533|  2|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|  10.5
15 Jeff Hendershot.....  3| 16   6  34  .294|  0|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  1  2|  0|  16.5
18 Eric Fuchino........  3|  2   0   3  .667| 39|  1   1|  0|  3| 1  0  1|  0|   4.0
4  Mark Bauhs..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
11 Clay Ostrander......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 45  20 106  .236| 44|  3   8|  3| 33| 1 10  5|  0|  54.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  9  39  .103   Site: Stockton, CA (Alex Spanos Center)
   2  18  4  35  .400   Date: Feb 28, 2009   Attend: 302   Time: 1:35
   3  14  7  32  .219   Referees: Brig Beatie, Kent Kitade, Meredith & Tarin
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       2   8  16    26
                        Lead changes     0   3   7    10

First of Three Weekends in California

BYU’s eighth-ranked men’s volleyball team (7-6, 5-3 MPSF) travels to Stockton, Calif. this week for two matches against Pacific (2-14, 0-11 MPSF) at 7:30 p.m. PT on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. The Cougars and Tigers met earlier this season on Jan. 10 at the UC Santa Barbara Elephant Bar Tournament. BYU defeated Pacific 3-0 in that meeting.

The Cougars are coming off back-to-back sweeps as they hosted No. 10 UC San Diego last weekend. This trip to California marks the first of three consecutive weekends BYU will spend in the Golden State before returning home to play Long Beach State on March 20.

The Tigers of the University of the Pacific recently suffered losses to No. 4 Cal State Northridge and No. 13 UC Santa Barbara, both sweeps. The Tiger, currently on a 10-match losing streak, have recorded two wins on the season, both against UC Santa Cruz.

Series Information

BYU holds a 21-5 lead in the series between these two teams dating back to Feb. 6, 1993. Despite holding an undefeated 13-0 record against the Tigers in Provo, the Cougars have only a slight 7-5 series advantage in Stockton. BYU has won the last seven meetings and 11 of the last 12. Three of the five wins Pacific has over BYU have come in five sets, while 14 of the Cougars’ wins have been sweeps. Most recently, BYU defeated Pacific 3-0 in its final match of the 45th Annual UC Santa Barbara/Elephant Bar Collegiate Invitational.

Match Coverage

Live stats can be accessed by visiting Pacific’s men’s volleyball schedule page at www.pacifictigers.com. The live stats can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule page.

Coming Off...Back-to-Back Sweeps Over UC San Diego

BYU’s ninth-ranked men’s volleyball team recorded its second sweep in as many nights with a 3-0 win over No. 10 UC San Diego on Feb. 21 (30-28, 30-18, 30-17). With the win the Cougars improved to 7-6 on the season and 5-3 in MPSF play.

Junior outside hitter Andrew Stewart recorded a match-high 12 kills on the night, marking his 11th consecutive night with double-digit kills this season. Redshirt freshman Futi Tavana added 10 kills and seven blocks. Also at middle blocker, freshman Russell Lavaja sparked in the second and third games, contributing nine kills and five blocks.

Up Next

The Cougars stay on the road, visiting Cal State Northridge for two matches on March 5 & 6. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. PT at the Matadome.