Trojans Knock Down Cougars

LOS -- Junior opposite Mat Taylor once again led the No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball team in kills as it dropped a tough 3-1 (30-21, 25-30, 30-27, 30-27) match to No. 5 USC on Friday. With the loss the Cougars fall to 5-5 on the season and 3-2 in MPSF play. The loss also marks the Trojans’ first victory over BYU since the 2001 season.

Taylor’s 18 kills on the night marked the fifth time in six matches he has led the Cougars in that category. Junior outside hitter Andrew Stewart added 16 kills of his own, his eighth consecutive match recording double-digit kills.

Despite strong performances by both juniors, BYU’s 51 overall kills could not compare to the Trojans’ 75. Murphy Troy led all attackers with 28 kills, a new career high.

The Cougars dropped the first set 30-21 with a .367 hitting percentage, but rebounded in the second set thanks to eight USC service errors.

Down 26-20 in the third set, the Cougars rallied to score five-straight points, a run built on kills by Taylor and sophomore outside hitter Jeff Robinson. Narrowing the Trojans’ lead to only one point, BYU was unable to complete the comeback, falling 30-27.

USC started the final game with a 4-0 run before Taylor answered with a kill putting the Cougars on the board. A low .094 attack percentage held BYU to at least a two-point disadvantage the entire set. Down 29-26 the Cougars forced two match-points attempts before Murphy’s final kill closed out USC's 30-27 win.

The Cougars and Trojans meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. PT.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
         #9 BYU Cougars vs #5 USC (Feb 06, 2009 at Los Angeles, Calif.)
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  4| 18   4  32  .438|  0|  1   4|  1|  4| 0  4  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  0   0   0  .000| 48|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  0  3|  1
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 16   6  38  .263|  0|  1   0|  1|  4| 0  3  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4|  4   2   9  .222|  0|  1   2|  0|  2| 2  2  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  1|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   0|  3|  0| 0  1  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4|  2   2   9  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  3  2|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  2   2   9  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  5   0  11  .455|  0|  0   5|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 51  17 116  .293| 50|  4  16|  6| 29| 2 16  6|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  4  30  .367   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  5  24  .333   BYU Cougars......... (1) 21 30 27 27  5-5, 3-2 MPSF
   3  15  3  30  .400   USC................. (3) 30 25 30 30  6-2, 3-1 MPSF
   4   8  5  32  .094
   USC                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 Riley McKibbin......  4|  2   0   2 1.000| 63|  0   2|  0|  1| 2  1  2|  0
11 Murphy Troy.........  4| 28   3  41  .610|  0|  2   3|  1|  9| 0  2  1|  0
12 Sean Dennis.........  4|  9   3  21  .286|  2|  0   5|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0
14 Tony Ciarelli.......  4| 18  10  40  .200|  1|  2   5|  2|  4| 0  2  0|  0
16 Austin Zahn.........  4|  9   3  18  .333|  0|  1   6|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0
19 Hunter Current......  4|  9   3  15  .400|  0|  1   5|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0
3  Brad Keenan.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
6  Matt Pavlovich......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
7  Luke Morris.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  0   0|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0
17 Tri Bourne..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 75  22 137  .387| 70|  6  28|  4| 39| 2 13  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  3  29  .552   Site: Los Angeles, Calif. (Galen Center)
   2  15  7  34  .235   Date: Feb 06, 2009   Attend: 400   Time: 1:57
   3  20  5  33  .455   Referees: Kim Pickering, Marvin Hall
   4  21  7  41  .341