PROVO, Utah – Pushing its win streak to six straight, the No. 1 BYU men’s volleyball team defeated No. 5 USC 3-2 (25-22, 26-28, 25-15, 19-25, 15-13) in the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday in front of 4,261 fans.

Taylor Sander provided the winning kill, his seventh the fifth set and 25th of the game, to give BYU the win. His 25 kills were a team high to go with two aces and nine digs.

Robb Stowell tacked on 21 kills, 11 digs, three blocks and an ace for BYU while Joe Kauliakamoa had 62 assists.

"It was pretty nerve-wrecking but we definitely had some help from the crowd that was unbelieveable," said BYU coach Chris McGown. "You could just see the boys feeding off of the energy and it really pulled us through in the fifth set. They really worked hard for this win and it shows."

After the first four sets resulted in a 2-2 tie, BYU and USC put on an entertaining fifth and deciding set for the match. With BYU leading, 6-5, Kauliakamoa hurdled the chairs that comprised the BYU bench, hitting the ball and sending it back into play to ignite the Cougar crowd.

BYU eventually lost the point, but the hustle play inspired BYU. Setter Kauliakamoa kept feeding the bread and butter of Stowell and Sander as the Cougars went to match point on a Stowell kill before finishing off the Trojans at 15-13 with a spike down the middle from Sander.

"It was a battle for sure and the crowd helped us along," Sander said. "We work really hard during the week and it was good to come out of this weekend with two wins. We dont like to go five, but I think it was a good learning experience for us and it feels great to come out on top."

The Cougars dominated the third set, taking over after another hustle play, this time by Stowell. After reaching into the crowd to save a deep ball, the senior then ran back to dive for the dig on the Trojans’ ensuing spike to again keep the point alive. Stowell’s save went to Kauliakamoa who set up Sander for a kill off the USC wall to pull BYU ahead, 14-8.

The point sparked the Cougars and put USC on its heels. Sander’s kill was the last point in a 6-0 run for BYU, who later scored six of the final eight points of the set to take the game by 10 points, 25-15.

Four different Cougars served up aces in the set as the team hit a match high .478, led by six more kills from Sander.

In the first set on fourth game point, USC committed a service error to give BYU the 25-22 win. BYU started to pull away early in the set, taking an 11-7 lead after a service rocket by Taylor Sander down the middle of the Spartan side. 16-11 lead after back-to-back kills by Robb Stowell who led the Cougars with six kills in the set.

With set two tied at 10-10, the Cougars took control after claiming three-straight points to take a 13-10 lead. BYU held off the Trojans, but never had more than a four-point lead throughout.

The lack of a major run by the Cougars enabled USC to tie the game at 23-23. BYU had two set points, but couldn’t finish, allowing the Trojans to take the second set for the second time in as many nights.

In set four, USC turned an 11-10 deficit into a 15-11 lead, sparked by back-to-back aces from Micah Christenson. The Trojans cruised from there, taking the set by six, 25-19.

The top-ranked Cougars will test its win streak next on Friday, Feb. 3, with a weekend homestand at the Fieldhouse against Stanford.

After playing five matches on the road, the No. 1 BYU men's volleyball team will finally play its first home matches of the 2012 season on Friday & Saturday, Jan. 20 & 21, against No. 5 USC at 7 p.m. MT both nights.

The Cougars and Trojans clash in Provo with identical conference records and rankings opposite to what they were last season. When the two teams met in 2011, it was USC with the No. 1 ranking and it was USC that took the weekend sweep.

Sophomore All-American Taylor Sander leads the Cougars outright with 94 kills and 12 aces. Sander is contributing stats in almost every category, and was recently named Conference and National Player of the Week. Four other Cougars join him in double-figure kills so far this season while Russ Lavaja is leading in the blocking category with 31 total.

BYU is coming off, most recently, two wins at then-No. 1 UC Irvine where they came away with 3-0 and 3-2 final match scores. 

Five Trojans have already recorded double-figure kills, led by Tony Ciarellie with 32. Robert Feathers leads the team in total blocks with 20 and Micah Christenson has 114 assists in the books. USC most recently defeated No. 11 Cal State Northridge at home in three sets.

BYUtv will be broadcasting Friday’s match live on national television with play-by-play from Jarom Jordan and color commentary from Steve Vail. Fans can watch Friday's broadcast for free online here by simply signing up for a free account. Fans can listen to USC radio on both nights at this link for a fee.

Fans can also follow the BYU team on Twitter for live updates.

Click here for a behind the scenes look at the team and be sure to check back throughout the season for more videos.

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