Cougars Surprise Warriors, 3-0

PROVO -- The Cougars came from behind in three straight games to surprise the Hawaii Warriors with a 30-24, 31-29, 30-27 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win in the Smith Fieldhouse Thursday night. With the win, the Cougars improve their record to 9-2, 9-2 MPSF, while the Warriors fall 9-4, 5-4 MPSF.

"We came back from a trip to California where we played really bad the second match. We had a really good week in practice and we knew we could beat (Hawaii), but tonight was amazing," said senior outside hitter Rafael Paal, a key player in Thursday's win. "We weren't expecting to play that well."

The Cougars barely out-hit the Warriors .398 to .378, but were able to play flawlessly at crucial times to be able to come back and win each of the three games. Paal was on fire tonight, hitting .607 average while leading the team with 20 kills, two aces, five digs and three blocks.

Setter Carlos Moreno also played a crucial part, guiding the team with 48 assists and hitting a match-high .750 percentage with six kills on eight errorless attempts. In game three, Moreno scored four of the Cougars' final five points to take home the match.

With score tied at 25 in game three , Moreno practiced his signature tip-over-the-net surprise kill twice after Hawaii points to give the Cougars a two-point advantage. On the next play, Moreno took the set from Paal and slammed the ball down with full force for a three-point advantage. Paal added the next kill from a Moreno assist, and Delano Thomas scored for Hawaii to make it 29-27 in favor of BYU. For the win, Luka Slabe set to Moreno, who again tipped it over the net to a surprised Hawaii team to win the match for the Cougars.

"Just playing the game without errors at that particular time, then the emotion of the crowd and of the situation gets to us and we're probably pumped up a little bit more and jumping a little bit higher, but if we miss a serve that's match, or if we hit one out, that's match," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "The key to making big comebacks is not making errors and getting the emotion going."

BYU started behind in game one, but with Paal hitting over .700 and the team playing flawlessly at crucial times, the Cougars were able to go on some scoring runs and come out ahead. Hawaii actually hit better than BYU in the first game, a .636 compared to BYU's .586, but it wasn't enough.

Game two followed a similar trend. BYU was behind 22-26 but went on a 8-2 run that tied the score at 29. Unfortunately for the Warriors, the Cougars gained their final two points from Hawaii errors, giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead in the match.

"I don't want to say that we (come from behind) all the time. I think that's a rarity against a good team, of course that just hardly ever happens," Peterson said. "It's fun to be a part of that. To be able to come back from behind like we did tonight was amazing."

BYU will play Hawaii again Friday night in the Marriott Center as the Cougars attempt to re-break the NCAA single-match attendance record for the second time in four years. The match begins at 7 p.m.; tickets will be available at the doors an hour and a half before game time, or fans can obtain vouchers for $1 general admission at all Utah County Hogi Yogi and Ken Garff locations.

Volleyball Box Score
                        2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
             No. 2 Hawaii vs Brigham Young (Feb. 20 2003 at Provo)
    No. 2 Hawaii           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  TUYAY, Kimo.........  3|  1   0   3  .333| 40|  1   0|  0|  4| 1  0  1|  0
 9  THECHARIDIS, Costas.  3| 12   5  26  .269|  0|  0   4|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 12 AZENHA, Pedro.......  3| 11   5  24  .250|  2|  0   4|  0|  2| 2  2  0|  0
 15 CHING, Tony.........  3| 13   3  22  .455|  1|  2   2|  4|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 17 THOMAS, Delano......  3|  7   0  12  .583|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 22 STANHISER,Joshua....  3|  2   1   4  .250|  2|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  2  0|  0
 6  ZIMET, Eyal.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 16 NORDBERG, Brian.....  3|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  15  94  .340| 47|  3  12|  6| 20| 4  8  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  3  25  .480   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  6  40  .325   No. 2 Hawaii........ 24 29 27  5-4, 9-4
   3  13  6  29  .241   Brigham Young....... 30 31 30  9-2, 9-2
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BURKE, Michael......  3|  5   0   9  .556|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  3|  6   0   7  .857| 45|  1   4|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  1
 6  GORNY, Chris........  3|  7   4  14  .214|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  5  2|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  2|  4   4   8  .000|  0|  0   1|  2|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 9  PAAL, Rafael........  3| 19   3  25  .640|  1|  2   3|  1|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3| 11   1  21  .476|  2|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  4  1|  0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  2|  4   3  11  .091|  2|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 56  15  95  .432| 53|  6  13|  3| 24| 0 20  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  1  24  .708   Site: Provo (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  18  7  38  .289   Date: Feb. 20 2003   Attend: 1988   Time: 1:45
   3  20  7  33  .394   Referees: Les Calles, Tom Given, Erin Yamashita

PROVO -- In what could be their biggest matches of the season, the fourth-ranked BYU Cougars (8-2, 8-2 MPSF) will take on the top-ranked Hawaii Warriors (9-3, 5-3 MPSF) Feb. 20 and 21 in two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contests in Provo.

"Hawaii is probably the most talented team we'll play. They are the defending national champions, and when they play well they are the team to beat," said BYU head coach Tom Peterson. "We have to beat that team to have a shot at the national championship this year."

Both teams are coming off of weekend splits with other MPSF opponents, BYU with UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii with Cal State Northridge. In the BYU-Hawaii series, BYU leads 14-11 overall and has a 9-2 advantage at home. Last year, the teams split two matches in Honolulu.

Besides the big competition, this week the Cougars are hoping to draw a big crowd. On Friday night the teams will play in the Marriott Center and attempt to re-break the NCAA single-match attendance record, which was set in 1999 in a match between the same two teams. Interestingly, when the teams played in 1999, it was the first-ever men's volleyball match to be held in the Marriott Center, and the NCAA attendance record, set at 14, 156 on Feb. 19, was taken from Hawaii. The Cougars beat the Warriors 3-1 that night, and went on to win their first National Championship that season.

"Fan support is huge," Peterson said. "We need people to come out and support us and give us that home court advantage."

Thursday's match begins at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Tickets will be available at the door starting an hour and a half prior to game time, or through the Marriott Center Ticket Office, 801-378-BYU1.

Friday's match in the Marriott Center also begins at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door and the Marriott Center Ticket Office, or fans can pick up vouchers from Utah County Hogi Yogi and Ken Garff locations good for $1 general admission to the match. Friday's match will also be broadcast live on BYUTV, available on local cable networks and through select satellite systems.