Stewart Leads Upset Win Over No. 4 Penn State
LONG BEACH -- Andrew Stewart led the No. 9 men’s volleyball team to a 3-2 victory over reigning national champions and fourth-ranked Penn State Friday night. The matchup was the first of the Long Beach State Active Ankle Tournament. With the win the Cougars improve to 10-8 on the season and 2-3 in five-set matches.
"This was a big win for us tonight," said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "It was a long time coming. The guys trained very hard this week and did a nice job learning from their mistakes. We played with poise and responded well."
Stewart recorded a match-high 20 kills against the Nittany Lions, his fourth 20-plus kill night of the season.
"Andrew played like a captain tonight," said Patchell. "He was a little under the weather last week, but came back strong tonight. He played very well and got big swings for us."
Sophomore outside hitter Kevin Sagers also knocked down double-digit kills for BYU, contributing 14. Sagers also set a new career high with three service aces on the night.
The Cougars kept it close to begin the first set, tying the score 8-8 off a kill by Stewart. Penn State score four-straight points to pull ahead 12-8 and give the Nittany Lions a permanent advantage. The reigning national champions continued to extend their lead en route to an early 30-20 win, hitting .483 percent.
Mat Taylor opened a close second set with a kill, a set which boasted 12 tied scores. Sagers recorded back-to-back service aces to give BYU an early two-point advantage. Tied 13-13, the Cougars went on a 7-1 run, with Penn State’s only point coming off a BYU service error. Another kill by Taylor put the Cougars up 21-17 before the Nittany Lions scored three straight to get within one, forcing BYU to take a timeout. Taylor was clutch once again, recording his sixth kill of the set, giving the Cougars the momentum necessary to retake the lead once and for all, 26-25, and tie the match one-game-all.
BYU continued its strong offensive play in the third set, capitalizing on several Penn State service errors and getting kills from Stewart, Russell Lavaja and Futi Tavana. The Cougars maintained a steady lead through the majority of the set, with Sagers’ three consecutive kills giving them a 24-19 advantage. Kent Tuttle’s service ace setup a game-point scenario for BYU, which Stewart took care of with his 13th kill of the night, securing the 30-24 win.
It was the same story in the fourth set, with a mixture of Cougars continuing to contribute. The set opened with a joint block by Tavana and Stewart, and kills by Sagers, Tavana, Tuttle and Lavaja. After being tied 17-17, Penn State staged a comeback, holding as much as a three-point advantage at 26-23. BYU clawed its way back, however, tying the score again at 28-28 after a Nittany Lion service error and Tuttle kill. Penn State came out on top with the 30-28 win, tying the match and forcing a fifth set.
The Cougars scored three of the first four points in the final set with kills by the tandem of Sagers and Stewart. As a team BYU hit .333 in the fifth game. With neither team managing to build much of a lead, another kill by Stewart and a Nittany Lion attack error put BYU up 12-10. The Cougars called one final timeout up 13-11, after which Stewart finished off Penn State with back-to-back kills.
The Cougars continue play at the Active Ankle Tournament on Saturday, playing IPFW at 5 p.m. PT.
"We're playing a team a lot like us tomorrow," said Patchell. "[IPFW's] young and they're getting better. We need to move on and make sure we take care of our side of the net."
Volleyball Box Score2009 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball
#4 Penn State vs #9 BYU (Mar 13, 2009 at Long Beach, Calif.)
Penn State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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7 Goas, Edgardo....... 5| 4 2 7 .286| 55| 1 2| 0| 5| 0 1 0| 0| 5.5
9 Lipsitz, Max........ 5| 12 1 25 .440| 0| 0 5| 0| 0| 1 6 1| 0| 16.0
11 Price, Will......... 5| 16 6 39 .256| 2| 1 3| 1| 10| 0 4 0| 0| 19.0
12 Holt, Max........... 5| 13 5 22 .364| 0| 2 9| 0| 1| 0 2 3| 0| 16.0
13 Sweitzer, Ryan...... 5| 10 5 25 .200| 3| 1 5| 0| 7| 0 2 1| 0| 12.0
17 Sunder, Joe......... 5| 11 7 27 .148| 0| 0 3| 1| 4| 0 2 0| 0| 12.0
6 Del Valle, Dennis... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 4| 9| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
10 Sherrick, Jon....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 Stauffer, Jay....... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 5| 66 26 145 .276| 62| 5 27| 6| 40| 1 17 5| 0| 80.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
Game K E TA Pct Sideout Pct
1 16 2 31 .452 19-21 90% GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 14 9 33 .152 18-30 60% Penn State.......... (2) 30 27 24 30 11 15-2
3 12 5 27 .259 18-29 62% BYU................. (3) 21 30 30 28 15 10-8
4 17 5 33 .364 23-29 79%
5 7 5 21 .095 7-15 46%
BYU | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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5 LAVAJA, Russell..... 5| 6 2 13 .308| 1| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 5 0| 0| 8.5
10 TAYLOR, Mat......... 3| 8 8 21 .000| 0| 1 4| 1| 2| 0 2 0| 0| 10.0
11 SAGERS, Kevin....... 5| 14 7 27 .259| 0| 3 6| 2| 2| 0 1 0| 0| 17.5
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 5| 0 0 1 .000| 52| 0 3| 0| 9| 0 2 0| 0| 1.0
15 STEWART, Andrew..... 5| 20 6 42 .333| 0| 1 2| 1| 5| 0 4 0| 0| 23.0
17 TAVANA, Futi........ 5| 7 2 18 .278| 2| 0 2| 0| 6| 0 3 0| 0| 8.5
1 TUTTLE, Kent........ 5| 9 2 19 .368| 0| 1 3| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 10.0
3 CHILTON, Reed....... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
4 SILVA, Joel......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 15| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
7 ROBINSON, Jeff...... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
8 KAULIAKAMOA, Joe.... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
TEAM................ | | | | 1| | | | 0.0
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Totals.............. 5| 64 27 141 .262| 57| 6 23| 5| 44| 0 17 0| 0| 78.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
Game K E TA Pct Sideout Pct
1 12 8 30 .133 19-30 63% Site: Long Beach, Calif. (Walter Pyramid)
2 14 6 32 .250 18-27 66% Date: Mar 13, 2009 Attend: Time: 2:19
3 13 6 26 .269 19-25 75% Referees: Larry Schwartz, Jessie Martinez
4 16 5 32 .344 22-29 75% Triple blocks: Penn State 1, BYU 1
5 9 2 21 .333 7-11 63% Active Ankle Tournament presented by Hampton Inn
1 2 3 4 5 Total
Tie scores 5 12 0 8 5 30
Lead changes 0 4 0 4 1 9