NORTHRIDGE -- After winning the first in commanding fashion, the Cougars overcame a tough second game to defeat the Cal State Northridge Matadors, 3-1 (30-21, 25-30, 30-20, 30-28) Friday at the Matadome. With the win, BYU improved to 16-8 overall and 11-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while the Matadors fell to 14-11 and 7-10.

"We played really well in the first game," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "Our serving was on and we passed. We relaxed in the second and they took advantage. There were too many ebbs and flows. The positive side is that we recovered and won the next two."

Victor Batista led the Cougars with 19 kills and a .680 (19-2-25) hitting percentage. Ivan Perez added 16 kills while Casey Patterson contributed 10.

"It was nice to see Rob (Neilson) and Victor connect tonight," Peterson said. "Victor hit very well tonight."

BYU's season-high 13 service aces were a big part of the victory. Patterson set a career high with four while Perez tied his career high with three. Rob Neilson and Casey Patterson added two apiece.

The 13 aces put the Cougar season total at 140, the second highest mark in BYU history since the beginning of rally scoring. The current record is 154, held by the 2003 squad.

As a team, the Cougars hit .277 (59-26-119), had 32 digs and 11.5 team blocks. BYU was strong defensively, limiting Northridge to a .239 (49-23-109) percentage. Nils Nielsen led the Matadors with 19 kills while Cary Hanson added 12.

The Cougars came out strong in the first game, serving and hitting well on their way to a 30-21 win. For the game, BYU hit .500 (17-3-28) and limited Northridge to a .226 (12-5-31) percentage.

It was like night and day between the first to the second for the Cougars as errors plagued them and their hitting percentage fell off to .148 (13-9-27). The Matadors took full advantage, hitting .391 (13-4-23) and winning, 30-25.

Game two was just a blip on the radar as BYU regained control, breezing through the third game, 30-20 to take the 2-1 advantage going into the fourth. The fourth game was more of a challenge as Northridge kept the score close throughout before the Cougars finished it off at 30-28.

BYU and the Matadors will complete the season series, Saturday at Northridge. Peterson said his team will need to come out fighting to be able to earn another victory.

"We've got to do it again," he added. "All of these are big-big matches for our seeding in the MPSF tournament. We've got to be tougher."

Saturday's match is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Matadome.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
   Brigham Young vs Cal State Northridge (Apr 01, 2005 at Northridge, Calif.)
    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......  4|  7   2  14  .357|  0|  1   1|  0|  5| 0  6  0|  0|  11.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 16   8  32  .250|  0|  3   2|  1|  2| 1  4  0|  0|  22.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  4| 10   7  22  .136|  1|  4   4|  1|  4| 0  2  1|  0|  15.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  0   0   1  .000| 52|  2   4|  0|  6| 0  5  0|  1|   4.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 19   2  25  .680|  0|  1   4|  0|  3| 0  4  1|  0|  22.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  4|  6   7  24 -.042|  0|  2   4|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  1|   8.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  2|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 19 Sorensen, Trent.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 59  26 119  .277| 53| 13  19|  3| 32| 1 21  2|  2|  83.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  3  28  .500   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  9  27  .148   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 25 30 30  16-8, 11-6
   3  12  4  24  .333   Cal State Northridge (1) 21 30 20 28  14-11, 7-10
   4  17 10  40  .175
    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|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Kneubuhl, Isaac.....  4|  5   4  18  .056|  1|  0   2|  4|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 2  Nielsen, Nils.......  4| 19   8  38  .289|  0|  1   6|  0|  5| 0  3  1|  0|  21.5
 3  Lischer, James......  4|  7   1  11  .545|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  4  1|  0|   9.0
 4  Waite, Brian........  4|  6   3  13  .231|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  7  2|  0|   9.5
 6  Conover, Jeff.......  4|  0   0   2  .000| 41|  2   0|  0|  5| 0  5  0|  1|   4.5
 8  Hanson, Cary........  4| 12   7  27  .185|  1|  0   3|  6|  5| 0  5  0|  0|  14.5
 10 Bellante, Matt......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Pedraza, Sebastian..  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 13 Bluemling, Travis...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 Levoe, Matt.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 49  23 109  .239| 46|  3  17| 13| 28| 0 25  4|  1|  64.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  5  31  .226   Site: Northridge, Calif. (Wells Fargo Court)
   2  13  4  23  .391   Date: Apr 01, 2005   Attend: 621   Time: 1:51
   3  12  9  27  .111   Referees: Marvin Hall, John Martin
   4  12  5  28  .250

PROVO -- Looking to improve their position in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the No. 4 BYU Cougars will play two matches against league foe Cal State Northridge, ranked No. 8, Friday and Saturday (April 1 and 2) in the Matadome.

The Cougars (15-8 overall, 10-6 MPSF) are fifth in the MPSF standings while Hawai'i and UC Santa Barbara are tied for third at 11-5 in league play. Those two teams will play two matches in Honolulu this weekend. A combination of two BYU wins and a split between Hawai'i and UCSB would create a three-way tie for third.

A fourth-place finish would guarantee the Cougars a home match in the first round of the MPSF tournament but would likely result in a second round match on the road against the top seed. Coach Tom Peterson said the team's goal is to finish third, giving BYU the chance to play the top seed in the tournament final.

For the second-consecutive weekend, the Cougars will face a team riding a five-match winning streak. Cal State is coming off back-to-back road wins over IPFW, two of the Matadors strongest offensive showings of the season. In those matches, Cal State hit .418 and .364. The Matadors' record is 14-10 overall and 7-9 in the MPSF.

"They've got good middles," Peterson said. "Everybody says how good they are at their place. They've defeated a lot of good teams there."

Cal State is a tough team to play at home where the Matadors are 7-3. Their only home losses have come at the hands of Long Beach State, UCLA and Stanford.

Cal State features a trio of dangerous middles, Brian Waite, James Lischer and Matt Bellante. Waite is second on the team in kills and blocks per game at 3.11 and 1.17. Lischer is not far behind at 2.70 kills and 0.93 blocks and leads the team in hitting percentage at .509. Bellante is second in hitting percentage at .445 and blocking average, 1.07.

Nils Nielson is the top kill producer for the Matadors, averaging 3.53 kills per game while adding 1.54 digs. Pedraza Sebastian's 2.25 digs per game lead the team. The quarterback of the offense is setter Jeff Conover, who averages 12.62 assists and has set the team to a .309 hitting percentage.

One of the keys to the team's success has been the service game. Cal State averages 1.43 per game with Cary Hanson leading with a 0.41 average. Waite and Neilson each average 0.28 per game.

The Cougars own a 17-13 advantage over the Matadors and have dominated the series since 1997. CS Northridge won the first seven matches of the series before BYU earned its first win February 22, 1993. From 1997 to 2003, the Cougars won 12 consecutive over the Matadors. The teams have split the last four meetings. BYU owns a slight edge in Northridge, leading 7-6.

The Cougars are coming off a weekend split with the Long Beach State 49ers in the Smith Fieldhouse. BYU struggled to find consistency and played tentatively in Friday night's 3-0 loss. On Saturday, the Cougars showed much more poise, winning a close five-game match to earn the split. BYU lost the first game but won two of the next three to tie the match at 2-2. In the fifth, the teams played to a 10-10 tie before the Cougars caught fire, scoring the last five to win the match.

Ivan Perez has been BYU's go-to-guy in the month of March, averaging 5.04 kills per game while hitting .416 (141-40-243). He has also averaged 1.46 digs, 0.71 blocks and 0.32 aces during the stretch. Against Long Beach, Perez registered 47 kills in two matches, the highest two-day total of his career. The 25 kills he tallied in Saturday's 3-2 win were a career high. For the season, Perez is averaging 3.69 kills and hitting .335.

Not only has Perez increased his hitting efficiency during March, the team's blocking has improved as well. Michael Burke is averaging 1.57 per game while Rob Neilson is at 1.11 and Victor Batista is at 1.04. As a team, the Cougars are averaging 3.23 blocks during March compared to 2.89 on the season.

After this weekend's matches with Cal State Northridge, BYU will be back home for the final home matches of the regular season. The Cougars will host the UC San Diego Tritons for a pair of matches Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9 at 7 p.m.