LA JOLLA -- The No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team completed a weekend sweep of No. 14 UC San Diego with a 30-27, 30-23, 30-25 victory Saturday night.

With the win the Cougars improve to 9-4 on the season and 7-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, tying with Pepperdine for first-place in the conference standings.

"Every match is as important as the next," said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "These were two huge matches for us to sweep, especially on the road. UC San Diego is a very, very good team and we're off to a good start after our bye week."

Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart led all players with 14 kills, hitting .619 on the night. He also added 10 digs, marking his fifth double-double this season. Junior Kevin Sagers recorded 11 kills, while sophomore middle blocker Futi Tavana’s 10 blocks helped BYU out-block the Titans 14-to-4.

"Futi blocked really well tonight," said Patchell. "That was something we talked about after last night's match. He's very coachable and responded well."

The competition picked up where it left off on Friday, with even play by both teams. With 18 tied scores and four lead changes in the first set alone, the Cougars recorded 18 kills compared to UCSD’s 12.

Set two saw BYU jump out to an 11-6 lead with kills from Stewart, Sagers, Kent Tuttle and Russell Lavaja. Despite several BYU service errors and back-to-back UCSD aces, the Cougars built a five-point lead at 23-18. Three Titan mistakes from the service line down the stretch favored BYU as Sagers and Stewart knocked down kills to claim the second set 30-23.

Tavana’s kill and service ace early in the third set sparked a four-point BYU run. Stewart had consecutive kills to put the Cougars up 9-4, while Tavana continued to produce points for BYU, including a kill and solo bock at 15-7. The middle blocker started another 4-0 Cougar run late in the set, capped by an ace from Yamil Perez. Tuttle’s eighth kill of the night clinched the 30-25 win and overall victory.

The Cougars will travel for a weekend series against Hawaii on Feb. 26-27 for the final two matches of their four-week road trip.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
         #5 BYU vs #14 UC San Diego (Feb 20, 2010 at La Jolla, 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.......  1|  0   0   0  .000| 13|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  6   3  12  .250|  1|  1   5|  0|  1| 0  3  1|  0|   8.5
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3| 11   4  18  .389|  0|  0   3|  1|  1| 0  2  0|  0|  12.0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  1|  2   4  11 -.182|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 14   1  21  .619|  0|  1   0|  1| 10| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  6   2  11  .364|  0|  1   3|  0|  4| 3  7  1|  0|  13.5
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  8   2  15  .400|  0|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0|   9.5
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000| 32|  1   2|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|   3.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 47  16  88  .352| 47|  4  17|  6| 35| 3 22  2|  0|  65.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  18  8  35  .286  22-28  78%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  1  20  .700  20-23  86%   BYU................. (3) 30 30 30  9-4, 7-3 MPSF
   3  14  7  33  .212  17-26  65%   UC San Diego........ (0) 27 23 25  4-11, 1-9 MPSF
   UC San Diego           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6  DAVIDSON, Joel......  2|  1   2   8 -.125|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
8  BANNAN, Phil........  3|  0   0   0  .000| 33|  0   5|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
11 GUTHALS, Adrian.....  3|  6   2  10  .400|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   6.5
12 SPANGLER, Jason.....  3| 10   8  24  .083|  0|  4   2|  2|  1| 0  2  0|  0|  15.0
13 FRITSCH, Frank......  3|  5   3  26  .077|  0|  1   3|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
24 KIANI, Cyrus........  3|  8   2  13  .462|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   8.5
1  SIMON, Alex.........  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  KABAN, Andrew.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  FRISHMAN, Chase.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  EBERTS, Carl........  2|  4   3  13  .077|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 1  0  0|  0|   6.0
10 SIERKS, Erik........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
22 VEIGA, Shane........  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 35  20  97  .155| 35|  6  18|  4| 22| 1  6  1|  0|  45.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  12  6  34  .176  21-29  72%   Site: La Jolla, Calif. (RIMAC Arena)
   2  13  6  30  .233  20-30  66%   Date: Feb 20, 2010   Attend: 469   Time: 1:30
   3  10  8  33  .061  16-29  55%   Referees: Jesse Martinez, Patsy Malta
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores      18   4   1    23
                        Lead changes     4   1   0     5

Following a bye week, the No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team (7-4, 5-3 MPSF) continues its road swing at No. 14 UC San Diego (4-9, 1-7 MPSF) for a two-match series this weekend. The Cougars had a week to rest after splitting two matches at No. 11 UC Irvine on Feb. 4 and 5. Last week the Tritons lost to No.1 Cal State Northridge and fell in five sets to No. 10 UC Santa Barbara and will be looking for their first program win over BYU.

Series Info

The Cougars boast an undefeated, 26-0 record against UCSD, dating back to 1993. Of those 26 meetings, 20 resulted in sweeps, with the Tritons claiming a total of only five games. No matchup between these two teams has ever gone to a fifth set.

Last season BYU recorded a pair of sweeps over UCSD at home in the Smith Fieldhouse. Andrew Stewart knocked down double-digit kills both nights, while the team put up a combined 35 blocks on the weekend.

Match Coverage

Live stats are available at the UCSD men’s volleyball schedule page at www.ucsdtritons.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. 11 UC Irvine on Feb. 4-5. Sophomore Robb Stowell knocked down a career-high 26 kills with a .413 attack percentage as BYU pulled out a nail-biting five-set win on Thursday. Besides Stowell, three other Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Kevin Sagers with 14, Andrew Stewart with 12 and Otavio Souza adding 11. Stewart also completed a double-double night with a career-high 17 digs, giving him four double-doubles on the season. Despite suffering a sweep on Friday night, two Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Stewart with a match-high 15 and Stowell with 12. Stowell also added a career-high three service aces.