Blocking Key to Cougar Sweep Over Pacifc

PROVO -- After sweeping the Tigers the night before, the fourth-ranked men's volleyball team blocked 12th-ranked Pacific 3-0 (30-27, 30-22, 30-27) in a match lasting only an hour and a half. The Cougars move ahead 7-3 overall (5-1 MPSF), while the Tigers drop 3-9 (2-6 MPSF).

With the win, BYU extends its winning streak to six and overall record over Pacific to 13-4 and 9-0 at home. The Cougars had the advantage over the Tigers, with 10 blocks to four and hitting .386 to Pacific's .196 percentage.

BYU only had one player in double-digit kills, but the team spread the offense around with four players recording eight kills each.

"Offensively we ran some nice plays, and we were able to take advantage of their [Pacific's] inexperienced blockers," head coach Tom Peterson said.

Leading the Cougars was All-American Jonathan Alleman with 11 kills, hitting .562 and committing only two errors. Alleman recorded five kills in game one, hitting a strong .714 percentage and committing no errors. He also led the team with five digs and 11.5 points for the night.

Chris Gorny, Joe Hillman, Fernando Pessoa and Victor Batista contributed eight kills apiece, while Gorny and Hillman controlled the net with 8 and 5 blocks respectively.

Peterson attributes BYU's improvement in the last few matches to the strong play from the middle position, filled by Chris Gorny, who has returned from injury, and newcomer Victor Batista.

"I think players coming back from injuries have helped," Peterson said. "The players we had in the middle before lacked the experience the players in there now."

In game one, the Cougars came out strong offensively, with help from Batista and Alleman to take the lead, 8-5. A solo block by Gorny, one of BYU's 10 blocks on the night, gave BYU a lift 12-7 and Hillman pounded a kill to increase the lead to 14-8. The Cougars did not let down, keeping the lead for the entire game. Pacific rallied back from 29-25 with two consecutive points, but a Tiger service error ended game one at 30-27.

The second game looked positive for the Cougars, as Gorny blasted two back-to-back kills and an assisted block with Hillman. A service error by the Tigers helped BYU to a 12-9 lead, but a kill by Pacific's Mauricio Brizuela again brought the Tigers within three, 15-12. The Cougars then went on a 6-0 scoring run, making it hard for Pacific to come back from 21-15. Batista finished off game one with a kill, 30-22.

In the final game of the match, Pacific took an early lead, but surrendered the momentum when BYU grabbed the lead at 8-7. A few points later, Hillman and Gorny combined for another block over the Tigers, and Hillman came back with a kill to make it 12-8. Alleman recorded three kills, giving the Cougars a significant lead at 17-11.

Peterson then rotated players off the bench, who contributed to the lead. Sophomore Taylor Evans added four kills to the BYU offense in the last game, helping the Cougars close the weekend with a sweep over Pacific. Brian Zudrow led the Tigers with 11 kills and also adding three assists and three digs.

After a week off, BYU is back in action during Feb. 20-21 against currently ranked No.7 Stanford at home, starting at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday night.

For detailed box score, click the pdf link above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
         Pacific vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Feb 07, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    Pacific                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6  ZODROW, Brian.......  3| 11  10  28  .036|  3|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  11.0
 8  EDWARDS, Brian......  3|  2   0   2 1.000| 17|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 9  ADAMSON, Brian......  1|  1   1   5  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 13 DAUBURS, Nils.......  3|  9   4  20  .250|  1|  0   5|  0|  3| 2  0  1|  0|  11.0
 14 CANTANIA, Adam......  1|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 18 RODGERS, Sean.......  3|  5   1   9  .444|  2|  0   4|  0|  0| 1  1  0|  0|   6.5
 1  GAWLIK, Mike........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 2  HAZELETT, Mitch.....  3|  1   0   2  .500| 16|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 3  BRIZUELA, Mauricio..  3|  6   3  14  .214|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
 7  ALEXANDER, Brad.....  3|  2   2   5  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   2.0
 10 HAMMER, Dan.........  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 METZ, Bryson........  1|  2   0   3  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 39  21  92  .196| 39|  0  19|  1| 13| 3  2  2|  0|  43.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  5  35  .257   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  8  32  .219   Pacific............. 27 22 27  3-9, 2-6MPSF
   3  10  8  25  .080   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 30 30 30  7-3, 5-1MPSF
    BRIGHAM YOUNG          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  3|  2   1   3  .333| 41|  1   4|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  1|   4.0
 7  GORNY, Chris........  3|  8   1  15  .467|  0|  0   3|  0|  0| 2  6  0|  1|  13.0
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  3|  8   4  17  .235|  2|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  4  1|  0|  11.0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3| 11   2  16  .562|  0|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|  11.5
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  3|  8   4  13  .308|  0|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  0  2|  0|   8.0
 18 BATISTA, Victor.....  3|  8   3  12  .417|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  1|  0|   8.5
 2  RANGEL, Steffin.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 CARPENTER, Cory.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 20 EVANS, TAYLOR.......  3|  4   2   7  .286|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  17  83  .386| 46|  1  17|  0| 20| 3 14  4|  2|  60.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  5  28  .357   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  15  5  24  .417   Date: Feb 07, 2004   Attend: 2074   Time: 1 H 30 M
   3  19  7  31  .387   Referees: LES CALLES, TOM GIVEN

PROVO -- After a successful road trip that moved the team up three rankings, the No. 4 BYU men's volleyball team (5-3, 3-1) returns home to face No. 12 Pacific (3-7, 2-2) in a conference match-up, starting at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse.

"Pacific is a good team," head coach Tom Peterson said. "We can't afford to think about last week's matches because we have to win these at home. We have seen what we can do on the road, and hopefully all of the guys are ready to contribute at any give moment."

The match up with Pacific will be the 16th meeting between the two teams, as BYU leads the series 11-4 overall, including 7-0 in Provo. Last season, the Cougars split 1-1 while playing at Pacific, taking both matches to five games. After the loss to the Tigers in 2003, BYU went on a six-match winning streak, the longest of the season.

Lasting almost three hours, BYU and LBSU battled through Friday's match until the end. Winning the first two games, the Cougars had the advantage going into the third game after finishing the second at 39-37. But LBSU didn't give up too easily, coming back from a 2-0 deficit and taking the match to five games.

Leading the BYU squad was senior Fernando Pessoa, breaking his career-high with 22 kills. Senior Jonathan Alleman posted another double-double performance with his highest kills for the season and 11 digs. Newcomer Victor Batista came up big for the Cougars again in the middle, tying his career-best 18 kills in 36 attempts and adding eight blocks.

With five players in double-digit kills during Wednesday's match, BYU outlasted the 49er lead on Wednesday with a power-charged comeback from a 2-0 deficit led by Pessoa at 20 kills and Batista at 18 kills.

Batista's performance marked a career-high in hitting percentage, .588. Pessoa also recorded a match-high nine digs. As senior Chris Gorny's first game back from injury, he immediately contributed for the team, hitting 12 kills and a team-high .588 percentage from the middle.

AVCA Player of the Week Brian Zodrow led all attackers in the loss to CS Northridge last week with a career-high 24 kills, while junior Mauricio Brizuela finished with 11 kills and junior Nils Dauburs had 10 kills for Pacific.

The Cougars continue its home stand in two weeks against Stanford, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Saturday's match will be broadcast on College Sports Television.