LONG BEACH -- In a five-game thriller, the No. 7 BYU men's volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit to upset No. 2-ranked Long Beach State at the Pyramid 3-2 (25-30, 28-30, 32-30, 30-25, 16-14). BYU improves to 4-3 (2-1) while LSBU drops to 7-2 (3-1). The two teams square off for another conference match-up on Friday, starting at 7:30 p.m. (PST).
"This was a big win for us," head coach Tom Peterson. "We kept playing hard and didn't give up. We just gutted it out and ran on emotion. I think we're a good team when we eliminate errors at the right time."
With five players in double-digit kills, BYU outlasted the 49er lead with a power-charged comeback led by senior Fernando Pessoa at 20 kills and newcomer Victor Batista at 18 kills. Both performances by Pessoa and Batista marked career-highs in kills and a high in hitting percentage, .588, for Batista. Pessoa also recorded a match-high nine digs.
All-American Jonathan Alleman, senior opposite Joe Hillman and senior Chris Gorny also posted solid showings, giving the Cougars a spark on the offensive front. Alleman finished with a season-high 17 kills and seven digs. Hillman added 14 kills, two aces and five digs for the win, as Gorny chipped in 12 kills. As Gorny's first game back from injury, he immediately contributed for the team, hitting a team-high .588 percentage from the middle.
Junior setter Carlos Moreno commanded BYU's offense with a season-high 71 assists, also adding five blocks and three digs. Moreno guided the team to a .379 percentage, compared to LBSU's .349 for the match. The Cougars came up big in blocking, leading 14 to the 49ers' nine total team blocks
"The momentum was up and down, but when we got a roll we were able to make the right plays," Peterson said. "It was nice to see Chris (Gorny) come in after being injured; he was a big help for us. We'll have to play even better on Friday to beat Long Beach again."
The last time the Cougars won after being down two games was against No.1 Pepperdine in the championship match last season at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, where BYU earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In game one the Cougars tied the score, 10-10, after a kill by senior Cory Carpenter, but LBSU capitalized on BYU serving errors to take the lead at 17-15. The 49ers increased the lead to seven, 23-16, after one of 17 kills by LBSU's Scott Touzinsky. The 49ers never looked back to end game one at 30-25.
BYU came out with more energy in game two with a 9-4 lead off a Hillman kill. The Cougars kept the lead until LBSU's David Lee tied the score at 20 off a set by Tyler Hildebrand. A kill by Yassir Sliti gave the 49ers the lead and the momentum they needed to hold out 30-28.
In an emotionally charged third game, the score tied 19 times as both teams switched off points. BYU captured the lead at 25-23 after an Alleman kill, holding on again with a kill by Gorny to make it 28-25. LBSU Jeff Wootton tied the score at 29, but Pessoa and Batista came through for the Cougars on two of the last three points, 32-30.
The 49ers took command from the beginning of game four, leading as much as three, 12-9. The Cougars then began a 3-0 run after two LBSU's attack errors at 20-16, taking command of the game after back-to-back kills by Pessoa and another by Batista. A combination block by Alleman, Batista and Moreno held off a LBSU attack and BYU finished strong at 30-25.
From the momentum gained in games three and four, the Cougars came back in the fifth game from 8-10 to tie the game three different times and finish 16-14 with kills by Gorny and Batista.
To view the detailed box score, click the pdf version above.
Volleyball Box Score
2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
BRIGHAM YOUNG vs LBSU (Jan 28, 2004 at Long Beach State)
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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5 MORENO, Carlos...... 5| 2 1 7 .143| 71| 0 3| 0| 3| 0 5 1| 1
10 CARPENTER, Cory..... 3| 1 1 3 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0
11 HILLMAN, Joe........ 5| 14 4 29 .345| 1| 2 1| 0| 5| 0 3 0| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 5| 17 7 32 .312| 3| 1 1| 0| 7| 0 5 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 5| 20 8 39 .308| 1| 2 7| 2| 9| 2 2 0| 0
18 BATISTA, Victor..... 5| 18 3 26 .577| 0| 1 6| 0| 2| 0 5 1| 0
7 GORNY, Chris........ 5| 12 2 17 .588| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 3 0| 0
14 NEILSON, Rob........ 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 4| 7| 0 0 0| 0
20 EVANS, TAYLOR....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 84 26 153 .379| 77| 6 19| 6| 34| 2 24 3| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 14 7 28 .250 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 20 4 38 .421 BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 25 28 32 30 16 4-3 (2-1)
3 21 7 34 .412 LBSU................ 30 30 30 25 14 7-2 (3-1)
4 18 5 33 .394
5 11 3 20 .400
LBSU | 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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2 Wootton, Jeff....... 5| 18 8 35 .286| 1| 2 2| 1| 8| 0 0 2| 0
4 Coe, Clint.......... 5| 2 2 6 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 2| 0 0 0| 0
5 Hildebrand, Tyler... 5| 2 1 6 .167| 63| 2 3| 0| 6| 0 0 1| 0
9 Touzinsky, Scott.... 5| 17 5 38 .316| 2| 0 4| 0| 7| 0 4 1| 0
14 Sliti, Yassir....... 4| 9 2 18 .389| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 4 5| 0
21 Lee, David.......... 5| 18 2 26 .615| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0
1 Caldwell, Tyler..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
8 Hagstrom, Nathan.... 5| 6 2 11 .364| 0| 2 3| 1| 1| 1 2 1| 0
11 Kijewski, Robert.... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
17 Budinger, Duncan.... 1| 3 1 5 .400| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0
20 Munoz, Paul......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 5| 0 0 0| 0
24 Tarr, Robert........ 1| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 1| 0| 0 1 0| 0
TEAM................ | | | | 1| | |
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Totals.............. 5| 75 24 146 .349| 70| 6 14| 6| 33| 2 14 11| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 6 33 .303 Site: Long Beach State (The Pyramid)
2 20 3 34 .500 Date: Jan 28, 2004 Attend: 726 Time: 2:29
3 18 5 32 .406 Referees: Scott Hogue, Mike Farish
4 14 6 29 .276
5 7 4 18 .167
PROVO -- After completing a weekend sweep over Ohio State, the BYU men's volleyball team (3-3, 1-1) goes back to the road for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match up with Long Beach State (7-1, 3-0) at the Pyramid. The matches are set for 7:30 p.m. (PST) on Wednesday and Friday night.
"This week's matches are going to be big," head coach Tom Peterson said. "Long Beach State is a very good team, they're ranked second in the nation. We will need to be at our best in order for us to win those matches. We're going to have to serve well and play good defense. We're going to have to show some consistency."
With three players recording double-digit kills, the Cougars trampled the Buckeyes on Saturday, led by seniors Joe Hillman, Jon Alleman and Fernando Pessoa. The team gained valuable experience from its non-conference match up with OSU, as 12 different players saw action in the Cougars' four-game win. This marked the first appearance of the season for some of the younger players.
Fernando Pessoa broke his career high with 19 kills in Friday's match against OSU and then followed up with his fourth double-digit kill performance (15) on Saturday. He led BYU in kills last week at 5.67 per game, while hitting .458.
Newcomer Victor Batista, a transfer from the Dominican Republic, had a strong showing in the middle position at nine kills for each match. He also posted a team-high 12 blocks over the weekend and no hitting errors for Friday's match.
This meeting marks the 20th meeting between the two teams, as LBSU holds the all-time series record over BYU, 12-8, and 6-3 at the 49ers' gym.
Peterson hopes these matches will set a definite line-up for the rest of the season, especially against top-ranked opponents like No. 2 Long Beach State and No. 1 Pepperdine.
The Cougar defense will be tested as the 49ers feature senior outside hitters Scott Touzinsky and Jeff Wootton, who led LBSU over Stanford last week with 20 and 21 kills respectively. Middle David Lee and outside Robert Tarr also caused trouble for the Cardinal with 11 and 10 kills, a piece.
LBSU remains undefeated so far in MPSF matches, with wins over USC, Pacific and Stanford. The Cougars stand 1-1 in conference, splitting against Cal State Northridge earlier this season.
The Cougars return home Feb. 6-7 to take on Pacific for a pair of matches at the Smith Fieldhouse.
