IRVINE -- One night removed from a close five-set victory over the reigning national champions, the No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss (34-32, 30-26, 30-23) at the hands of No. 11 UC Irvine Friday night. With the loss the Cougars fall to 7-4 on the season and 5-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

Despite the sweep two Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Andrew Stewart with a match-high 15 and Robb Stowell with 12. Stowell also added a career-high three service aces.

Both teams picked up where they left off on Thursday, alternating points scored in the first set. Russell Lavaja recorded his second service ace of the night, capping a 3-0 BYU run, to give his team the 15-12 lead. Stewart, Stowell and Kevin Sagers provided kills, but the Anteaters fought back to tie the score at 27-27. UCI pulled ahead after a kill by All-American Carson Clark. It took both teams a combined five set-point attempts before the Anteaters claimed the 34-32 win.

UCI’s momentum continued in the second set as it led by as many as eight points. Coming out of a BYU timeout, Stewart knocked down back-to-back kills, followed by attacks from Kent Tuttle and Futi Tavana, allowing the Cougars to climb back to within four at 20-16. Another kill by UCI’s Clark brought up set point for the Anteaters, while the Cougars attempted a late comeback. Stowell hit an ace, which capped a 3-0 run, but it was too late as Clark converted his 10th attack of the night allowing UCI to go up two sets to zero.

The third set started nearly identical to the second, as the Cougars found themselves trailing early. Stowell recorded back-to-back aces tie the score 13-13, but the Anteaters capitalized on several BYU errors to go back up 20-17. Lavaja and Stewart added kills in an effort to create some momentum, but additional service errors halted their efforts. Down 23-20, Stowell and Tavana knocked down consecutive kills, narrowing the Anteater lead to one point. UCI scored the next five points, however, securing the sweep after Clark’s solo block.

The Cougars have a week off before returning to action on Feb. 19 and 20 for a two-match weekend series at No. 13 UC San Diego.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
               #3 BYU vs #11 UCI (Feb 5, 2010 at Irvine, Calif.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  3   0   4  .750| 33|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  2|   5.0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  5   1  10  .400|  0|  2   5|  0|  1| 2  2  0|  0|  10.0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  2|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  4   9  19 -.263|  1|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  3| 12   7  24  .208|  1|  3   0|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 15   5  30  .333|  2|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  15.0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  3   0   3 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  9|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  2|  8   0  11  .727|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   8.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 51  24 106  .255| 46|  6  15|  3| 33| 3  7  0|  2|  63.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  17  7  39  .256  23-33  69%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  8  36  .306  18-30  60%   BYU................. (0) 32 26 23  7-4, 5-3
   3  15  9  31  .194  15-29  51%   UCI................. (3) 34 30 30  6-7, 2-6
   UCI                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4  Anthony Spittle.....  3|  0   0   2  .000| 44|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  2  0|  0|   2.0
7  Jordan DuFault......  3| 15   4  29  .379|  0|  1   3|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  0|  17.0
9  Carson Clark........  3| 14   4  32  .312|  0|  1   2|  0|  2| 1  2  1|  0|  17.0
12 Austin D'Amore......  3|  8   1  10  .700|  3|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0|  10.5
15 Cory Yoder..........  3|  6   3  19  .158|  0|  1   0|  1|  3| 0  3  1|  0|   8.5
19 Kevin Wynne.........  3|  7   3  13  .308|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  4  0|  0|  10.0
1  Kevin Carroll.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
3  Kenny Webster.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  4|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  Cole Reinholm.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
18 Will Montgomery.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 50  15 105  .333| 47|  3   9|  6| 23| 3 18  2|  0|  65.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  22  7  45  .333  24-33  72%   Site: Irvine, Calif. (Bren Center)
   2  15  3  31  .387  18-26  69%   Date: Feb 5, 2010    Attend: 1458   Time: 1:42
   3  13  5  29  .276  16-24  66%   Referees: Scott Hogue, Kim Pickering
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores      22   1   2    25
                        Lead changes     7   1   0     8

Match Outlook

The No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team (6-3, 4-2 MPSF) stays on the road this week as it plays at No. 11 UC Irvine (5-6, 1-5 MPSF) for a two-match series. The Cougars already defeated the reigning national champions in their season-opening match on Jan. 7. That day BYU handed the Anteaters a 3-1 loss at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational.

The Anteaters are coming off back-to-back five-set losses at then-No. 9 Hawaii. UCI out-hit (.356-.237), out-blocked (15.5-12.0) and out-dug (55-50) Hawaii in Saturday’s loss.

Series Info

The Cougars are 17-6 against the Anteaters since 2001, but only 6-6 against them since the 2006 season. BYU defeated UCI in three matchups in 2008, including two in Irvine, Calif. and one at the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals. Last season UCI claimed an early-season match in Santa Barbara, while the two teams split matches later in Provo.

BYU and UCI met earlier this season in the opening round of the UC Santa Barbara Invitational. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 19 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Kevin Sagers and Robb Stowell contributed 17 kills apiece. Both Stewart and Sagers recorded double-doubles with 15 and 10 digs, respectively.

Match Coverage

Live stats are available at the UC Irvine men’s volleyball schedule page at www.ucirvinesports.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the link next to the appropriate game on the schedule.

Coming Off...

The Cougars are coming off a weekend split at No. 6 UCLA. Kevin Sagers had 14 kills to pace BYU on Friday, with Robb Stowell and Andrew Stewart adding 12 and 11, respectively. Each of the three Cougar attackers hit over .300—led by Stowell’s .370 success rate—but the nearly flawless performance on the other side of the net proved too much for BYU on this particular night. Stewart matched his career high with 22 kills in a five-set win on Saturday. Other Cougars with double-digit kills were Sagers and Kent Tuttle with 14 and 11, respectively. Sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja contributed a match-high 11 blocks, marking a new career high.