Top-Ranked Matadors Sweep BYU

NORTHRIDGE -- BYU’s four-match win streak was snapped as the No. 8 men’s volleyball team dropped a 3-0 contest to No. 1 Cal State Northridge on Thursday night, 30-24, 30-28, 30-25. With the loss the Cougars drop to 9-7 on the season and 7-4 in MPSF play.

Junior opposite Mat Taylor recorded 11 kills in the loss, the lone Cougar to reach double-digit kills as BYU hit .089 on the night. Freshman middle blocker Russell Lavaja’s seven blocks led both teams as BYU outblocked CSUN 13 to 10.5.

BYU found itself trailing 7-5 early in the first set, with three of its points coming off CSUN service errors. The Matadors struggled from the service line all night, recording 24 total service errors. Seven blocks by BYU could not compete with CSUN’s 17 kills, five of which came from Tanner Nua. A kill by the Matadors’ Mike Gaudino ended the 30-24 set.

The Cougars came out stronger in the second set, maintaining a steady lead nearly the entire game. They held as much as a five-point advantage late in the set before the Matadors regained momentum and built a 4-0 run to come within one at 25-24. Both teams traded several service errors and kills back-and-forth, enabling CSUN to come back and lead 29-28. The Matadors secured the 2-0 match lead off a BYU attack error.

Unable to get its offense rolling, BYU continued to struggle in the third set, hitting -.029. The Matadors hit only .088, but still managed to clinch the match with a 30-25 win.

The Cougars and Matadors meet again on Friday at 7 p.m. PT in the Matadome.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
                   #8 BYU Cougars vs #1 Cal State Northridge
                      (Mar 05, 2009 at Northridge, 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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  3   4   7 -.143|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3| 11   2  23  .391|  0|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  1   5  12 -.333|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  2  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   1   1-1.000| 21|  1   5|  0|  4| 0  0  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3|  8   6  21  .095|  0|  0   0|  1|  9| 0  4  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  4   1   7  .429|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 1  3  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  2   0   3  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  5|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  5| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  1   2   4 -.250|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  1|  3   4  12 -.083|  0|  0   0|  3|  1| 0  1  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 33  25  90  .089| 28|  2  12|  8| 29| 2 22  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   7  6  26  .038   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  7  29  .276   BYU Cougars......... (0) 24 28 25  9-7, 7-4 MPSF
   3  11 12  35 -.029   Cal State Northridge (3) 30 30 30  14-2, 10-2 MPSF
   Cal State Northridge   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Nua, Tanner.........  3|  8   7  22  .045|  0|  1   4|  0|  1| 0  3  1|  0
10 McKniff, Kevin......  3|  7   3  14  .286|  0|  3   3|  0|  2| 2  3  0|  0
11 Gaudino, Mike.......  3|  6   3  19  .158|  1|  1   4|  1|  6| 0  3  0|  0
12 Stork, Matt.........  3|  2   0   2 1.000| 35|  0   4|  0|  1| 0  3  1|  0
14 Vance, Eric.........  3| 15   2  29  .448|  1|  2   4|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0
17 Ratajczak, Jacek....  3|  7   1  12  .500|  0|  1   5|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0
2  Baxter, Jeff........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  Edwards, Theo.......  2|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
7  Keohohou, Ali'i.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 45  17 100  .280| 39|  8  24|  2| 27| 2 17  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  7  35  .286   Site: Northridge, Calif. (The Matadome)
   2  17  2  31  .484   Date: Mar 05, 2009   Attend: 515   Time: 1:35
   3  11  8  34  .088   Referees: Marvin Hall, John Martin