MPSF Season Opens With Back-to-Back Sweeps

PROVO -- The No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team secured an undefeated weekend after sweeping Pacific (30-21, 30-26, 30-23) Saturday night. With the win the Cougars improve to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

“It’s nice to play at home in the Smith Fieldhouse in front of our large crowds,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “A lot of good teams in our conference have dropped one match to start. These two wins over a good Pacific team will help prepare us for the remainder of the season.”

Robb Stowell and Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Stewart has recorded double-digit kills in four of five matches this season, while Stowell also did so in the season opener against No. 2 UC Irvine.

The two attackers led BYU offensively in the first set, knocking down a combined 11 kills. Tied 5-5, the pair accounted for the Cougars’ next six points. Solo blocks by Russell Lavaja and Futi Tavana extended the BYU lead to eight, keeping the momentum in its favor. Just as he did the night before, senior Mat Taylor subbed in late to knock down the set-winning kill.

Trailing 19-16 in the second set, Sagers recorded back-to-back kills as the Cougars put together a crucial four-point run to tie things up 20-20. Strong offensive play from Stowell gave BYU the lead for good, while consecutive Tiger errors clinched the 30-26 win.

“After our big win in the first set we lost some of our intensity and focus to start the second,” said Patchell. “It was good to see us climb back in and win it.”

The Cougars never trailed in the final set, leading by as many as seven points. Lavaja notched his second ace of the night at 4-1. The sophomore middle blocker has recorded two aces in three matches so far this season. After a block by setter Yamil Perez gave BYU a 24-19 advantage, Taylor followed with a kill, which came by way of a low dig from libero Joel Silva. Stewart finished the match how he started with one final kill to secure the overall win.

Up next the Cougars host No. 3 Stanford for two matches on Jan. 22 and 23.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                PACIFIC vs #5 BYU (Jan 16, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
   PACIFIC                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Jason Borchin.......  3|  8   5  20  .150|  0|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  0
3  Nikola Vukicevic....  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
6  Patrick Tunnell.....  2|  1   0   2  .500| 12|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  1|  0
12 Taylor Hughes.......  3|  3   6  13 -.231|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
13 Sean Daley..........  3|  5   1   9  .444|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  4  0|  0
15 Florian Gornik......  3| 10   6  29  .138|  1|  0   4|  2|  2| 0  3  0|  0
2  Kevin Downing.......  2|  0   1   2 -.500| 21|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
4  Mark Bauhs..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
5  Matthew Houlihan....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
8  Dylan Walker........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 Chaz Hindsley.......  3|  5   3  10  .200|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  1|  0
11 Clay Ostrander......  3|  2   2  10  .000|  0|  0   4|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0
17 Kevin Pratte........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 34  25  96  .094| 34|  1  18|  3| 21| 0 12  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11 10  32  .031   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  7  32  .094   PACIFIC............. (0) 21 26 23  4-2,0-2 MPSF
   3  13  8  32  .156   BYU................. (3) 30 30 30  4-1,2-0 MPSF
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  2|  1   0   2  .500| 28|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  4   2   8  .250|  0|  2   4|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  5   4  13  .077|  0|  0   4|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  2| 13   6  21  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 10   3  18  .389|  2|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  4  1|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  5   2  11  .273|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  0   0   5  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  2|  5   3   9  .222|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  2|  0   0   0  .000| 12|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  0  0|  0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
21 MAYER, Erik.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 43  20  87  .264| 43|  3  14|  1| 27| 3 20  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  29  .345   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  15 10  32  .156   Date: Jan 16, 2010   Attend: 2742   Time: 1h 28m
   3  12  4  26  .308   Referees: Les Calles, Mike Farrish, Trent Mano