PROVO -- A dominating defensive performance was the key factor in BYU's sweep (30-28, 30-19, 30-26) of the University of Hawai'i Friday in the Smith Fieldhouse as the Cougars moved within one match of the Warriors in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings. BYU is now 13-7 overall and 8-5 in the MPSF while Hawai'i is 13-5 and 9-4.

"Hawai'i is a great defensive team but being able to out-block and out-dig them is something," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "We've been working hard at a high level the last week and that has helped us rebound from last Saturday."

The Cougars were coming off a tough loss to the University of Pacific last Saturday but did not let that play a factor as BYU controlled the momentum throughout the match. The Cougars had 17.0 team blocks compared to 10.5 for the Warriors and won the digging battle 25-19. BYU's 25 digs included numerous hustle plays that allowed the Cougars to earn several points.

The strong defensive effort limited the Warriors to a .082 (30-23-85) hitting percentage. Hawai'i served up a goose egg in the third, hitting .000 (10-10-33).

Ivan Perez led the BYU attack with 18 kills with a .400 (18-6-30) percentage and four blocks. Michael Burke was a presence at the net with a season-high 11 blocks, two solo and nine assists. Rob Neilson had a solid overall match dishing out 37 assists, getting two kills and eight digs. The Cougars also out-served the Warriors four aces to none. Taylor Evans had two for BYU.

Pedro Azenha led Hawai'i with 10 kills while Matt Bender and Dio Dante added six each. Dante led his team with four blocks.

The Cougars struggled early in game one, missing serves and getting blocked, allowing the Warriors to jump out to a 13-8 lead. After a timeout, the Cougars returned to the court and got back-to-back kills from Batista and Patterson and a Batista ace to cut the lead to 13-11. The game remained close as BYU continued to fight its way back into the match, eventually tying the score at 24 on an Evans kill and taking the lead at 25-24 on a Hawai'i hitting error. With the game all squared at 27, the Cougars turned it up a notch as they scored three of the next four on a kill by Patterson and two by Burke to win 30-28. Perez led the attack with seven kills and a .750 hitting percentage (7-1-8) while the team hit .364 (19-7-33). Hawai'i had just nine team kills and hit .208 (9-4-24).

BYU threw up a stonewall in the second, getting seven team blocks and limiting the Warriors to a .071 (11-9-28) hitting percentage. Burke led the effort with one block solo and four assists. The strong defensive effort allowed the Cougars to control the momentum throughout except for a few points early in the game. BYU jumped out to a 7-4 lead but faltered, allowing Hawai'i to keep it close and tie the score at 12. The Cougars then took control, reeling off five straight, including three blocks, all assisted by Burke. With the score at 17-12, BYU outscored the Warriors 13-5 the rest of the way to win the game 30-19. Perez again punished the Warriors, getting six kills on eight errorless swings, making his contribution to BYU's .414 (15-3-29) hitting percentage.

Despite struggling with their hitting, the Cougars held the lead for much of the third. Kills by Evans, Neilson and Batista helped BYU stretch the lead to 16-12 before Hawai'i rallied to tie the game at 16. Consecutive kills by Perez put the Cougars back on top at 18-16. The Warriors managed to tie the game again at 22 but BYU scored eight of the next 12 points to win the game, 30-26.

The Cougars and Warriors will go at it again Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. A win for BYU would pull the Cougars into a tie with Hawai'i in the MPSF standings.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
         #3 Hawai`i vs #6 Brigham Young (Mar 18, 2005 at BYU Provo, UT)
    Hawai`i                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Delgado, Jose.......  2|  2   4  12 -.167|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 10 Beckwith, Brian.....  3|  0   0   0  .000| 27|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  1|   2.0
 12 Azenha, Pedro.......  3| 10   7  26  .115|  1|  0   5|  2|  4| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 13 Bender, Matt........  3|  6   4  18  .111|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  0|   7.0
 16 La Barre, Maulia....  2|  1   2   3 -.333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   2.0
 19 Dante, Dio..........  3|  6   0  12  .500|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|   8.0
 5  Klinger, Kyle.......  2|  2   2   5  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 9  Carere, Matt........  2|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   2.0
 11 Reft, Alfred........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 Schkud, Jacob.......  2|  2   3   7 -.143|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 18 Rasay, Daniel.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 30  23  85  .082| 30|  0  13|  4| 19| 2 17  0|  1|  40.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   9  4  24  .208   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  9  28  .071   Hawai`i............. (0) 28 19 26  13-5, 9-4 MPSF
   3  10 10  33  .000   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  13-7, 8-5 MPSF
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BURKE, Michael......  3|  4   0   9  .444|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 2  9  0|  0|  10.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3| 18   6  30  .400|  2|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  21.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  3|  8   3  15  .333|  3|  0   6|  0|  4| 0  1  1|  0|   8.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  2   0   3  .667| 37|  0   3|  0|  8| 0  7  0|  0|   5.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  3|  8   5  22  .136|  2|  1   5|  0|  1| 1  4  0|  0|  12.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3|  9   6  19  .158|  1|  2   2|  0|  5| 0  2  1|  0|  12.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  20  98  .296| 47|  4  22|  0| 25| 3 28  2|  0|  70.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  7  33  .364   Site: BYU Provo, UT (Smith Field house)
   2  15  3  29  .414   Date: Mar 18, 2005   Attend: 3030   Time: 1H 40M
   3  15 10  36  .139   Referees: TOM GIVEN, LES CALLES, MAETANI
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       7   7  10    24
                        Lead changes     2   2   3     7

PROVO -- The No. 6 BYU Cougars will play two of the most important matches of their season against the No. 3 University of Hawai'i Warriors Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. BYU is 7-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while Hawai'i is 9-3. Two wins for the Cougars would make both teams 9-5 and give BYU the edge over the Warriors in the standings.

"We have a chance to really help ourselves in the standings," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "It doesn't look like we'll be able to host the MPSF tournament but our goal is to finish second or third. This would allow us to play the top seed in the final. We still have to play much better to finish third."

The winner of the MPSF tournament receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Final Four. The regular season champion hosts the tournament.

BYU split two matches with the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. March 11 and 12 and are now 12-7 overall and 7-5 in the MPSF. The Cougars are No. 6 in the Volleyball Magazine and the CSTV/USA Today Coaches Polls.

The matches with Hawai'i are the second and third of the season between the teams. On Jan. 7, BYU defeated the Warriors in Honolulu in the championship match of the Outrigger Tournament, 3-1. Peterson said a lot has changed since that meeting.

"That win doesn't mean much," he said. "They're a much better team now. They're in a groove and are one of the top-three teams to beat."

Hawai'i is coming off two wins over Ball State and has been solid all season. In matches against top-15 teams, the Warriors are 7-3, including a win over then-No. 1 UCLA. One of their losses was to the Bruins while the other two were against No. 1 Pepperdine. Of Hawai'i's 13 wins, eight have been sweeps.

The Warriors have four players averaging over two kills per game but Pedro Azenha and Matt Bender carry the bulk of the load. Azenha leads the way with a 4.44 average while Bender is close behind at 3.73. Maulia Le Barre leads the team in blocks and hitting percentage at 1.39 and .438. The top back-row player for Hawai'i is Alfred Reft, who averages 2.67 digs per game.

Peterson said that the Warriors are one of the most athletic teams BYU will face all season.

"This is a very athletic and tall team," he said. "They're emotional too. When they get on a roll they're really hard to stop. A large crowd in the Fieldhouse will help us keep the momentum on our side."

Not only would a large crowd help the Cougars with the momentum but it would also aide in the race for the top attendance in the nation. Through six matches, BYU is averaging 4,191 fans while Hawai'i averages 4,256 through 13 home contests.

Including this season's win, the Cougars have won four straight over the Warriors and own a 19-12 advantage in the all-time series. Last season BYU took two in Honolulu and in 2003 knocked Hawai'i out of the MPSF Tournament with a sweep in the semifinals. In Provo, the Cougars are 10-3 against the Warriors.

Michael Burke continues to lead BYU with a .486 hitting percentage. Despite hitting below his average against Pacific, he is still among the national and league leaders. Ivan Perez came on strong against the Tigers in Saturday's loss, contributing a career-best 24 kills and tying a career-high with two aces. He also raised his hitting percentage to the highest it has been all season, .301.

The Cougars have also added a new weapon to their repertoire, the service ace. In the last four matches, a span of 14 games, BYU has totaled 35 for an average of 2.5 per game. Prior to those four matches, the Cougars were averaging 1.28 aces per game.

After two matches with Hawai'i, the Cougars will have two with league-rival Long Beach State in the Fieldhouse. BYU defeated the 49ers four times in 2004, including wins in the MPSF and NCAA tournament finals.

Friday's match can be seen on BYU-TV and KBYU-TV. To view the broadcast online, visit www.byutv.org/streaming/ or click here. Both matches will also be broadcast on BYU radio. To listen, visit http://www.byuradio.org/ or click here. To follow the matches online, visit http://www.byucougars.com/ or click here.