Revenge is ... a 3-1 Win Over Lewis

PROVO -- The Cougars have been waiting for this night for 10 months, a rematch against Lewis University. The Flyers upset the top-seeded Cougars, 3-2, in the NCAA National Championship match last May in Long Beach, Calif. Tonight however, the top-ranked Cougars put together a 3-1 victory over Lewis to notch their nation's leading 17th straight victory and improve to 18-3 on the season.

"We try not to think about winning streaks, rankings or revenge," Peterson said. "What we're concerned about is how well we perform each night, one match at a time. Everything else will just take care of itself."

After dropping the first game, 28-30, the Cougars put together three straight wins, 30-25, 30-28, 30-20 to dash the un-ranked Flyers' hopes of another upset in front of a season-high 4,342 fans in the Smith Fieldhouse.

"The crowd was fabulous," Peterson said. "Especially since the match started so late, the fans deserve a lot of credit for coming out and really helping us."

National Player-of-the-Year candidate Fernando Pessoa led the Cougars with a match-leading 21 kills, including a team-high six kills in the fourth and decisive game. Pessoa's kill total marks the 18th double-digit tally of the season, including his 11th straight match with 10 or more kills. Tonight's match also marks the fifth time this season Pessoa has racked up 20 or more kills. Defensively, Pessoa was credited with six digs and two blocks.

Three other BYU players posted double-digit kills, including Joe Hillman (11), Jonathan Alleman (12) and Victor Batista (10). Carlos Moreno has 41 assists.

Despite being out-blocked 12-11, the Cougars came up with big blocks at the right times. Batista led all defenders with six blocks, while Alleman added five.

In game one, the Flyers jumped out to a four-point lead before the Cougars came clawing back to tie things up at 12-12 after an Alleman ace. The two teams traded serves through a 24-24 tie when Lewis mounted another 3-0 run. James Elsea blocked Michael Burke to extend the Flyers' lead to 24-27. After a BYU timeout, the Cougars scored two straight points to cut the LU lead to 26-27. However, Lewis outlasted the Cougars to take a 30-28 victory in game one after Enrique Escalante picked up his third kill of the game.

"We weren't moving the ball very well in the first game," Peterson said. "We're still not satisfied with some things. We still have areas we need to work on."

In game two, Lewis jumped out to another quick lead, posting an 11-7 advantage. Behind back-to-back Lewis hitting errors, a Burke ace and a Batista kill, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run to take a 16-14 lead. After BYU took a 20-17 lead on a Lewis attack error, the Flyers went on a 4-1 run of their own to even things up at 21-21. Alleman, who had a game-high five kills, fueled another run for the Cougars to take a 25-22 lead. After the Flyers got within two points, 25-23, BYU poured on the offense and took a 28-24 lead before a Fabiano Barreto attack error gave the Cougars a game-high five-point lead at 29-24. Batista ended game two with his second kill of the game to give BYU the 30-25 win.

In game three, the Flyers took a commanding six-point lead. The Cougars, however, slowly chipped away at the Flyers' advantage with outstanding defense, eventually tying things up at 16-16 on the first of four-and-a-half blocks in the game. The Lewis offense got back on track behind Barreto, as the Flyers climbed back to a 25-21 lead. Trailing by three, 24-27, the Cougars went on a 3-0 run to tie things up on a Burke kill. Even at 28-28, Moreno and Burke stuffed Jeff Soler to take a 29-28 lead. After a Lewis timeout, the BYU defense came up big again. Pessoa, Burke and Moreno teamed up to block Soler for a second straight play for the 30-28, come-from-behind victory.

In the final game of the match, it was all BYU. The Cougars cruised to a 10-point lead at 25-15 and held that advantage through match point. Alleman clinched the contest with his 12th kill of the night.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday as they play host to George Mason. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. (MT) in the Smith Fieldhouse.

For detailed boxscore, click the pdf version link above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
          Lewis vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mar 26, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    Lewis                  |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  ESCALANTE, Enrique..  4| 10   4  17  .353|  0|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 4  DAYTON, Jared.......  4|  4   6  15 -.133|  1|  0   0|  2|  4| 0  1  0|  1|   4.5
 7  SOLER, Jeff.........  4| 16   9  34  .206|  2|  4   3|  0|  3| 2  1  0|  0|  22.5
 10 BARRETO, Fabiano....  4| 18  11  39  .179|  2|  0   3|  0|  4| 2  2  0|  0|  21.0
 14 SISK, Brandon.......  4|  4   1   7  .429| 46|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  2  1|  1|   6.0
 17 ELSEA, James........  4|  4   0   7  .571|  1|  0   4|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  1|   6.5
 3  CASTELLANO, JJ......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  STUNTZ, Ryan........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 POCHOPIEN, Greg.....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 56  32 121  .198| 54|  4  14|  4| 26| 6 12  2|  3|  72.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  6  29  .448   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  9  31  .129   Lewis............... 30 25 28 20  13-11,8-3 MIVA
   3  14  8  35  .171   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 28 30 30 30  18-3,15-1 MPFS
   4  10  9  26  .038
    BRIGHAM YOUNG          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BURKE, Michael......  4|  8   3  16  .312|  0|  1   3|  1|  2| 0  3  1|  0|  10.5
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  4| 11   7  26  .154|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  4  1|  0|  14.0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  4| 12   3  19  .474|  1|  3   5|  2|  3| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  1   0   2  .500| 11|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4| 21   7  34  .412|  1|  0   8|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  22.0
 18 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 10   3  19  .368|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  6  1|  0|  13.0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  4|  1   0   2  .500| 41|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0|   2.5
 8  HYTE, David.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 64  23 118  .347| 56|  4  20|  4| 23| 1 20  3|  0|  79.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  26  .308   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  17  7  32  .312   Date: Mar 26, 2004   Attend: 4342   Time: 2H 5M
   3  16  6  33  .303   Referees: BURT FULLER, MAILIE JEWKES
   4  17  4  27  .481