Cougars Blank Hawaii; Claim Home Court
Honolulu (April 13, 2002) -- BYU All-American Mike Wall recorded his eighth 20-kill performance of the season as the fourth-ranked BYU men's volleyball team blanked No. 2 Hawaii in Honolulu on Saturday, 30-27, 30-28, 30-27. With the Cougars' shutout victory over the Warriors, and Stanford's loss at Pepperdine, BYU will host the Cardinal on Saturday, April 20 at the Smith Fieldhouse in first-round action of the 2002 MPSF Tournament.
The win marks the Cougars' 11th in the past 12 matches, improving their record to 22-6, 16-6 on the season. With the shutout, BYU has won 11 three-game matches this season, including eight 3-0 victories in the last 12 matches. The Cougars have posted an impressive 33-6 (.846) single-game record over the last 12 matches. The win over No. 2 Hawaii on Saturday also marks the Cougars' 12th victory over a top-10 opponent on the season, including their fifth win over a top-five opponent. However, perhaps even more impressive, BYU completed its regular-season-ending road trip registering a 3-1 mark over a five day span.
With the loss, the Warriors fall to 20-7, 15-5 on the year, suffering their first 3-0 defeat at home since Jan. 19, 2002.
"We didn't have it," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "It wasn't happening. Who knows what the reasons were. We were a step slow. We knew (the Cougars) were going to play better because their backs were against the wall. It was huge for them. We just struggled."
Along with Wall's 20 kills, senior Joaquin Acosta and sophomore Chris Gorny each added 12 kills in the winning effort. Gory registered 12 kills on 18 swings with just two errors, recording a team-leading .556 average at the net. The 6-foot-7 middle blocker also registered a team-high five blocks on the night. Acosta committed just one error on the night, hitting and impressive .478 at the net. Rafael Paal chipped in a team-best nine digs, followed by super freshman setter Carlos Moreno, who added seven. Moreno also recorded 50 assists, one ace and four blocks on the night.
In game one, the Warriors seemed to have things under control with a 27-25 lead. However, the Cougars tied things up after Wall nailed a cross-court shot, followed by a back-row attack error on Hawaii. Then, a net violation gave the Cougars the lead at 28-27. BYU finished its 5-0 run with back-to-back blocks to end the game -- and essentially the match.
"The first game was the whole match," Hawaii All-American and 2001 National Player of the Year Costas Theocharidis said. "We seemed to be really flat and really tired. We owe them one. I guess next week will be 'Senior Night' for them."
Teammate Juni Tuyay added, "That sucks the air out of you when people come back like that. Usually, we want to do that. The did it to us. They played harder than we did."
MPSF TOURNAMENT SEEDINGS:
No. 8 CS Northridge at No. 1 Pepperdine
No. 7 Long Beach State at No. 2 Hawaii
No. 6 UC Santa Barbara at No. 3 UCLA
No. 5 Stanford at No. 4 BYU
The Cougars and Cardinals will meet in Provo on Saturday, April 20, for the first round of the MPSF Tournament. Match time has yet to be determined. Ticket information and times will be released by Tuesday, April 16.
Brigham Young vs No. 2 Hawai'i (Apr 13, 2002 at Honolulu, Hawaii)Brigham Young | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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2 WALL, Mike.......... 3| 20 6 37 .378| 1| 1 1| 0| 6| 0 1 0| 0
4 ACOSTA, Joaquin..... 3| 12 1 23 .478| 4| 0 2| 0| 6| 0 1 0| 0
6 GORNY, Chris........ 3| 12 2 18 .556| 0| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 5 0| 0
9 PAAL, Rafael........ 3| 3 2 12 .083| 3| 1 4| 0| 9| 0 1 1| 0
11 MORENO, Carlos...... 3| 3 1 4 .500| 50| 1 1| 0| 7| 0 4 0| 1
18 SLABE, Luka......... 3| 5 3 11 .182| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 0
7 MAYOL, Jaime........ 2| 3 5 10 -.200| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 1| 2 1 4 .250| 1| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0
Team................ | | | | 0| | |
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Totals.............. 3| 60 21 119 .328| 59| 3 11| 0| 41| 0 13 1| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 20 7 41 .317 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 18 9 41 .220 Brigham Young....... 30 30 30 22-6, 16-6 MPSF
3 22 5 37 .459 No. 2 Hawai'i....... 27 28 27 20-7, 15-5 MPSF
No. 2 Hawai'i | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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1 Miladinovic, Dejan.. 3| 14 1 22 .591| 2| 0 3| 0| 2| 0 8 0| 0
4 Tuyay, Kimo......... 3| 1 1 3 .000| 41| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 4 0| 1
6 Zimet, Eyal......... 3| 6 2 18 .222| 0| 0 2| 0| 3| 0 3 1| 0
9 Theocharidis, Costas 3| 15 5 37 .270| 1| 0 2| 0| 7| 0 1 2| 0
15 Ching, Tony......... 3| 10 5 20 .250| 1| 0 0| 3| 6| 0 4 1| 0
17 Thomas, Delano...... 3| 3 1 13 .154| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 1 3 0| 0
2 Chala, Geronimo..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
7 Podlewski, Vernon... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 9| 0 0 0| 0
10 Delgado, Jose....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 1| 0
16 Nordberg, Brian..... 1| 0 0 3 .000| 1| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
TEAM................ | | | | 0| | |
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Totals.............. 3| 49 15 116 .293| 48| 0 11| 3| 31| 1 23 5| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 14 7 40 .175 Site: Honolulu, Hawaii (Stan Sheriff Center)
2 16 6 38 .263 Date: Apr 13, 2002 Attend: 7720 Time: 1:47
3 19 2 38 .447 Referees: Dan Hironaka, Wayne Lee
