No. 8 Cougars Set to Battle Eleventh-Ranked Lewis in Weekend Series
PROVO, Utah -- The BYU men's volleyball team (1-0) will put its Smith Fieldhouse win streak on the line this weekend, hosting No. 11 Lewis on both Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14-15 in Provo. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. (MST).
The Cougars are coming off a 3-1 victory over Loyola-Chicago on Saturday, marking BYU's 30th straight victory in the Smith Fieldhouse (5,000) and its 13th straight overall victory. The Cougars overall win streak dates back to last season, while the Smith Fieldhouse record spans nearly three years, dating back to March 28, 1997 (vs. UCLA).
Friday's match will be the first of the season for the Flyers, who finished the 1999 season ranked eighth in the nation and posted a 23-8 record. Lewis placed third in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association last season, recording a 10-4 conference record. The Flyers return four starters from last season, including 6-3 senior Eduardo Quinones who ranked second on the Lewis roster with 199 digs and 395 kills, averaging 4.1 kills per game.
"Over the years, Lewis has developed a solid volleyball tradition and has become one of the nation's top programs," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "They are a team that is consistently in the top-10 every year. We have our work cut out for us against Lewis."
BYU is led by 6-5 sophomore Joaquin Acosta who picked up 25 kills in his Cougar debut against Loyola-Chicago on Saturday. The transfer from UC Santa Barbara hit 25-of-39 at the net (.487), picked up 11 digs and tallied five blocks. Sophomore Mike Wall ranks second on the BYU roster with 23 kills, while junior Scott Bunker leads the team with a .625 hitting percentage. The 6-5 native of Escondido, California paced BYU with 15 kills on 24 attempts without committing a single hitting error against the Ramblers.
Saturday's match will mark the Cougars' last home match before taking off for a three-match conference road trip next week. BYU will travel to No. 13 Pacific on Jan. 18, No. 14 Stanford on Jan. 19 and No. 6 Hawai'i on Jan. 21.
