PROVO -- Junior outside hitter Jonathan Alleman recorded a personal-best 30 kills in BYU's first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match of the season, leading the Cougars to a close 3-2 win over Stanford at Burnham Pavilion. The win over Stanford gives BYU a 2003 starting record of 1-0, while the Cardinal falls 2-3 on the season.
"It was a tight match and Stanford is a tall team," Peterson said. "It helped to have good fan support, though. I think half the crowd was Cougar fans."
The Cougars, ranked No. 5 in the AVCA polls, hit over .450 as a team in three of the five games, finishing 33-31, 23-30, 30-26, 29-31, 15-11. Besides recording a match-high 30 kills, Alleman was fairly consistent with a .458 percentage (30-8-48).
"They were using a system where they trapped a bunch and left the D set open," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "Alleman got good at that and caught on fire. He was hitting all over the net and they couldn't stop him."
Senior Rafael Paal recorded a double-double with 15 digs and 20 kills, hitting a .485 (20-4-33) on the night. Paal also hit 4 service aces against the Cardinal, tying a BYU single-match record.
Junior middle blocker Chris Gorny led the Cougars in hitting percentage, hitting a .545 with 7 kills on 11 attempts and only one error. Sophomore Michael Burke also recorded an impressive .533 percentage, hitting 10 kills on 15 attempts and only 2 errors.
The Cougars recorded a total of 10 service aces on the night, but also had 24 service errors and were outblocked by the Cardinal eight to six. Curt Toppel led the Cardinal with 22 kills and 2 service aces on the night.
"I think we were up and down," Peterson said. "We still saw too many service errors and need to improve on that, but it was great that we happened to be up at the end."
BYU and Stanford face each other again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Stanford's Burnham Pavilion.
Volleyball Box Score2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
Brigham Young vs Stanford Cardinal (Jan 17, 2003 at Stanford, Calif.)
Brigham Young | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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3 BURKE, Michael...... 5| 10 2 15 .533| 0| 1 2| 0| 0| 0 4 1| 0
5 MORENO, Carlos...... 5| 4 2 8 .250| 72| 3 3| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 3
6 GORNY, Chris........ 5| 7 1 11 .545| 0| 1 5| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
7 MAYOL, Jaime........ 4| 1 1 8 .000| 0| 0 2| 1| 3| 0 1 1| 0
9 PAAL, Rafael........ 5| 20 4 33 .485| 3| 4 6| 1| 15| 0 1 2| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 5| 30 8 48 .458| 1| 0 2| 0| 7| 0 2 0| 1
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 2| 10| 0 0 0| 0
18 SLABE, Luka......... 4| 8 3 16 .312| 0| 1 4| 4| 1| 1 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 80 21 139 .424| 77| 10 24| 8| 40| 1 10 4| 4
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 24 4 39 .513 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 10 6 25 .160 Brigham Young....... 33 23 30 29 15 1-0, 1-0
3 22 4 34 .529 Stanford Cardinal... 31 30 26 31 11 2-3, 0-1
4 13 5 21 .381
5 11 2 20 .450
Stanford Cardinal | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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1 BOCAGE, Paul........ 5| 9 3 20 .300| 2| 2 4| 0| 1| 0 1 1| 0
2 AHLFELDT, Chris..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
4 CURTIS, William..... 5| 12 4 21 .381| 0| 2 5| 0| 4| 0 0 2| 0
5 VOGEL, David........ 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 4| 7| 0 0 0| 0
6 REDDY, Ben.......... 2| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
7 SANDMAN, Christopher 4| 8 4 17 .235| 0| 1 1| 0| 1| 1 3 0| 0
10 STRICKLAND, William. 5| 12 3 25 .360| 0| 0 1| 2| 7| 0 3 0| 0
12 BUELL, Craig........ 2| 4 1 8 .375| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0
15 TOPPEL, Curt........ 5| 22 7 45 .333| 1| 2 5| 4| 4| 0 2 1| 0
17 HANSEN, Kevin....... 5| 3 0 5 .600| 58| 1 0| 0| 8| 1 1 2| 1
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Totals.............. 5| 70 23 142 .331| 63| 8 16| 10| 33| 2 12 6| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 4 36 .361 Site: Stanford, Calif. (Burnham Pavilion)
2 17 6 32 .344 Date: Jan 17, 2003 Attend: 389 Time: 2:11
3 14 4 26 .385 Referees: Gary Wakai, Bill Forrester
4 17 6 34 .324
5 5 3 14 .143
PROVO -- The fifth-ranked BYU men's volleyball team will travel to California this week to play back-to-back matches against conference foes Stanford and University of the Pacific in five days. The Cougars face the Cardinal Friday and Saturday, January 17-18, then travel to Stockton to play the Tigers Monday and Tuesday, January 20-21.
"We're going to have to play our best, and for a long time with four matches in five days," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "But if we do play well, it is a huge opportunity for us to get a step-up on the other teams in the conference."
Friday night's match at No. 12 Stanford (2-2) marks the first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match of the season for the Cougars (0-0), who split exhibition matches last week with Red Deer College. BYU leads the overall series record with Stanford 12-8, with a 5-6 record at Stanford. The matches Friday and Saturday will begin at 7 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion.
BYU also leads the series with No. 15 Pacific (1-3) 10-2 overall and 3-2 in Stockton.
"Pacific has perhaps the best team they've ever had," Peterson said. "Two years ago they were one of the only teams to beat BYU when BYU won the national championship." The matches Monday and Tuesday will begin at 7 p.m. at the Spanos Center in Stockton.
