PROVO, Utah (Jan. 16, 2003) Despite back-to-back losses last weekend, the No. 8 BYU men's volleyball team brought the 4,151 fans to their feet at the Smith Fieldhouse as the Cougars swept No. 5 Cal State Northridge 3-0 (30-24, 30-27, 30-28) in the conference opener.

BYU improves to 1-2, 1-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while CS Northridge drops 3-2, 0-1 in conference.

"For being just the first home game of the season, we were good enough to beat a very good team tonight," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said.

With three players hitting double-digit kills, BYU left the Matadors confused with the majority of attacks coming from the outside and opposite side. Left-handed opposite hitter Joe Hillman led the Cougars with a career-high 21 kills and All-American Jonathan Alleman contributed 13 kills.

"Joe [Hillman] hit well for us tonight," Peterson said. "He was the guy they couldn't figure out tonight. I'm not taking anything away from Joe, but we have to be able to spread it out a little more."

Senior Fernando Pessoa posted a career-high performance with 11 kills and a team-high eight digs. Although moving to the outside from libero, he gave the Cougars the defensive lift they needed with his experience. Junior Carlos Moreno commanded the BYU offense with 42 assists, which is eight more than CSUN's combined assists.

In game one, BYU jumped ahead 6-2 off a Pessoa kill and held the lead with consistent

blocking from newcomer middle Cory Carpenter. With the loss of All-MPSF Michael Burke to a preseason injury, Carpenter and freshman Aaron Ferre have taken on the starting middle roles and are learning fast in the Cougar offense. The duo combined for six kills and nine blocks.

Matador freshman Dan Rhodes and junior Jeff Taylor recorded kills to pull CSUN within two points in the first game, 26-24. BYU prevailed with the help of Hillman and Alleman. The Cougars hit .467 compared to CS Northridge's .231 in the first game.

The Matadors opened the second game with increased intensity, taking the lead, 7-4, after a block. The Matadors held the lead until BYU formed a determined comeback, with three straight kills by Hillman to tie the game at 14. From then on, both teams traded points until Hillman and Carpenter came up with a block at 27-24, and the Cougars closed game two at 30-27.

After the break, Northridge staged another strong start with kills by senior middle Stan Douglas. He finished with 10 kills, the only Matador to finish with double-digit kills.

Alleman and Hillman then went to work again, as Carpenter and Pessoa formed a solid block against Cal State's outside hitters. The Cougars took the lead 27-23 and held out to win game three despite the Matadors' late run.

"They [CSUN] will not play like that tomorrow night," Peterson said. "They will come out, and I expect them to be on fire."

To view the detailed box score, click the pdf version above.

BYU will take on Cal State Northridge for another MPSF match-up at 8:30 p.m. (MT) in the Smith Fieldhouse. The first 200 fans with Basketball ticket stubs with get free pizza.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
  Cal State Northridge vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Jan 16, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  NIELSEN, Nils.......  3|  7   4  17  .176|  1|  0   4|  0|  2| 0  5  0|  0
 4  WAITE, Brian........  3|  6   3  10  .300|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  5  0|  0
 5  DOUGLAS, Stan.......  3| 10   0  15  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 6  TRAMBLIE, Ty........  2|  1   0   2  .500| 21|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 7  RHODES, Dan.........  2|  6   2  13  .308|  1|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 10 TAYLOR, Jeff........  2|  3   5  18 -.111|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 3  LISCHER, James......  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 8  HANSON, Cary........  3|  1   1   5  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 11 ALLEN, Nate.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 ENGLISH, Doug.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 15 ALLEN, Billy........  1|  0   0   0  .000| 10|  1   2|  0|  2| 0  0  1|  0
 16 AMESON, Scott.......  1|  0   4   8 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 34  19  90  .167| 34|  1  13|  1| 23| 1 13  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  5  26  .231   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  4  28  .321   Cal State Northridge 24 27 28  3 - 2
   3  10 10  36  .000   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 30 30 30  1 - 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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  3|  4   0   7  .571| 42|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  1
 6  FERRE, Aaron........  3|  3   3   9  .000|  1|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0
 10 CARPENTER, Cory.....  3|  3   1   6  .333|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  6  1|  0
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  3| 21  11  37  .270|  1|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  3  1|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3| 13   4  27  .333|  5|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  3| 11   4  21  .333|  3|  0   5|  0|  8| 0  4  1|  0
 2  RANGEL, Steffin.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 55  23 107  .299| 53|  1  17|  1| 30| 0 20  3|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  30  .467   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  20  9  40  .275   Date: Jan 16, 2004   Attend: 4151   Time: 1h 30m
   3  17 10  37  .189   Referees: LES CALLES, BURT FULLER, KAREN MARSHALL

PROVO -- The BYU men's volleyball team begins conference play against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent Cal State Northridge Friday and Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. Friday's match will begin at 7 p.m., while Saturday's match starts at 8:30 p.m.

With four starters and 10 players returning from last year's squad, the Cougars hope to start off strong and continue the success they had from last season. USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top-15 Poll ranked BYU as the No. 8 team in the country, and the Cougars look to move up as Northridge is currently ranked ahead at No. 5.

The match-up this weekend will be the 28th meeting between the two teams, as BYU leads the series 16-12 against the Matadors and 9-6 at home. The Cougars met Northridge in the first round of the MPSF Tournament last season, defeating the Matadors 3-1 at the Smith Fieldhouse.

"Northridge took second place at a prestigious tournament last week," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "They only lost two starters from last year, so they should be a tough team in the league."

BYU's trip to Pepperdine for the Warner Center Marriott Tournament was disappointing, as the Waves swept the Cougars in three games both nights. Even with returning All-Americans Carlos Moreno and Jon Alleman, the Cougars are experiencing a little growing pains with players moving positions and top returners Mike Burke and Chris Gorny out with injuries.

"It's always nice to play at home while we are trying to get better," Peterson said. "We need to work on our offensive threat in the middle, which was a strength for us last year."

With players still competing for starting positions, the team's depth will help Peterson find the right combination of players. As an opposite side hitter, senior Joe Hillman led BYU against Pepperdine with 28 kills in two matches and registered a .373 hitting percentage. Moreno returns as the Cougars' setter and the only starter playing in the same position as last season. Alleman and senior Fernando Pessoa have both switched positions to the outside and are adjusting to their new responsibilities.

The Matadors started the 2004 season with a win last week against Quincy University and now has a 3-1 record after playing in the 40th Annual UCSB/Elephant Bar Collegiate Invitational. Northridge defeated host Santa Barbara in four games on Friday and went five games to beat Long Beach State on Saturday morning, earning a trip to the tournament championship against UCLA.

In Peterson's first season with the Cougars in 2003, the team finished with a 23-7 overall record and 17-5 in the MPSF. BYU closed the 2003 season as the NCAA Runner-up to Lewis University, after defeating Penn State in the NCAA Semi-Finals.