Perez Leads BYU to Victory

PROVO -- With Ivan Perez leading the attack, No. 4 BYU completed a weekend sweep of No. 5 Cal State Northridge Saturday with another four-game win (30-28, 30-25, 26-30, 30-25) to improve to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The 4-0 start is the Cougars' best since 2001 when they began the season with 10-consecutive wins. The Matadors fell to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the league. It was BYU's first sweep of Northridge since coach Peterson took over the program in 2003.

"I don't think coaches are ever satisfied with just winning. It's great to win though but we have to learn that we can't relax against any team in our league."

Perez tied a season-high with 21 kills while hitting a season-best .421 and recovering from a poor hitting match from the night before. Batista had a strong match, registering 18 kills and hitting .464. Russell Holmes continued his strong play, recording eight blocks and nine kills while hitting .692.

As a team, BYU hit .300 (68-26-140) and had 15.5 blocks and 44 digs. Brian Rowley had a match-high 11 digs while Rob Neilson added 10.

Brian Waite led the way for Northridge with 16 kills and Eric Vance came off the bench to add 15 kills while hitting .414. The Matadors had 14.0 blocks and 33 digs.

The crowd was once again a factor as 4,337 fans came out after 4,386 came the night before. Peterson added that the crowd and the altitude of Provo are advantages for the Cougars.

"Home court is huge," Peterson said. "Our fans help us keep the momentum and maintain rallies. Serving here is very difficult. The ball goes out long here because the air is thinner. It's a tough place to serve."

BYU started the match with a 30-28 win in game one. The Cougars led most of the way and had their biggest lead at 16-11. The Matadors fought to the end, cutting the lead to 29-28 after BYU led 29-26 thanks to a kill by Waite and a Cougar hitting error. Following a BYU timeout, Batista finished things off with a kill. Batista was 4-of-4 hitting the ball during the game while Perez had six kills.

Game two was more competitive early on as both teams held the lead before the Cougars took control for good at 19-18. BYU outscored the Matadors 6-2 to build a five-point lead and coasted to a 30-25 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. Batista continued his hot hitting, getting seven kills on nine attempts to lead BYU in the second game.

The third game was close throughout, with Northridge going on runs to take the lead several times but BYU responding to stay within striking distance. A Batista kill tied the game at 26 but the Matadors scored the last four points to take the game and force a fourth. Vance led Northridge with 10 kills during the game while Perez had six to lead BYU.

The Cougars took care of business in the fourth, clinching the match and the 4-0 start with a 30-25 win. BYU took the lead at 19-18 on a kill by Perez and led the rest of the way. Perez had six kills while Batista and Jonathan Charette added five apiece.

The Cougars will stay in Provo next weekend and play two against UC Santa Barbara Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Both matches can be seen live on CougarTV while Friday's match will also be aired on BYUTV. Visit BYUCougars.com for more information regarding CougarTV.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
    #5 CSN Matadors vs #4 BYU Cougars (Jan 14, 2006 at Smith Fieldhouse BYU)
    CSN Matadors           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Kneubuhl, Isaac.....  4| 10   5  19  .263|  0|  0   1|  0|  7| 1  3  0|  0
 3  Lischer, James......  2|  7   1  13  .462|  1|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 4  Waite, Brian........  4| 16   6  30  .333|  1|  0   2|  0|  1| 2  3  1|  0
 7  Rhodes, Dan.........  2|  2   7  13 -.385|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 8  Hanson, Cary........  4|  7   4  24  .125|  0|  1   6|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 9  Bluemling, Travis...  4|  2   3   5 -.200| 60|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  1  1|  0
 10 Bellante, Matt......  4|  7   0  10  .700|  0|  1   0|  1|  4| 1  5  1|  0
 11 Pedraza, Sebastian..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 14 Vance, Eric.........  4| 15   3  29  .414|  0|  1   2|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 17 Schneider, Aaron....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 66  29 143  .259| 64|  5  13|  4| 33| 4 20  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16 10  36  .167   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  9  35  .171   CSN Matadors........ (1) 28 25 30 25  2-3; 0-2 MPFS
   3  21  7  36  .389   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 26 30  4-0; 2-0 MPFS
   4  14  3  36  .306
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  CHARETTE, Jonathan..  4|  9   6  26  .115|  0|  1   2|  0|  7| 0  6  1|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 21   5  38  .421|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4|  9   0  13  .692|  0|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  8  0|  0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  0   1   4 -.250| 65|  0   1|  0| 10| 1  4  0|  0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 18   5  28  .464|  1|  1   3|  0|  1| 1  4  3|  0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  4| 11   7  29  .138|  0|  1   3|  1|  8| 1  2  1|  0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  4|  0   2   2-1.000|  1|  0   0|  4| 11| 0  0  0|  0
 10 COX, Scott..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 19 SORENSEN, Trent.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 68  26 140  .300| 67|  4  10|  5| 44| 3 25  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  7  32  .312   Site: Smith Fieldhouse BYU
   2  17  6  35  .314   Date: Jan 14, 2006   Attend: 4337   Time: 2H 7M
   3  15  7  32  .250   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Burt Fuller, Maetani
   4  19  6  41  .317