LONG BEACH -- Behind a strong overall performance by Ivan Perez, BYU defeated Ohio State 3-1 (27-30, 30-24, 30-21, 32-30) in the first match of the Long Beach State Active Ankle Classic Friday night at the Pyramid. With the win, the Cougars are 15-4 overall and 12-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while the Buckeyes are 15-5 overall and 3-2 in the MIVA.

Perez led BYU with match highs of 18 kills and 10 digs while adding a team-high five blocks. He also hit .375 for the match. Rodrigo Gomes was second on the team with a career-high 13 kills and Victor Batista and Russell Holmes added 10 kills apiece. Taylor Evans, filling in for an injured Brian Rowley at libero, tied Perez for the match lead in digs with 10.

The Cougars won despite being out-hit .300 (55-19-120) to .266 (66-32-128). BYU did win the defensive battle, recording 39 digs to 23 for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes had three players with double-digit kill totals, including John Albertson (13), Stuart Katz (11) and Layne Dreven (10). Albertson also added eight blocks while Robbie Klein had three aces.

BYU lost the first game 30-27 while being out-hit .471 to .200. The Cougars took the lead at 1-0 on a kill by Jonathan Charette but the quickly fell behind 4-1 and trailed by as many as five before fighting back to lead at 22-21. The Buckeyes got back in control, though, scoring the next three points, two on BYU errors, and leading the rest of the way, securing the win on a Klein kill.

The Cougars bounced back in game two, winning 30-24 while hitting .296 compared to .240 for Ohio State. BYU built a big lead early at 9-3 with three Cougar points coming on kills and the rest on Buckeye errors. BYU coasted from there, leading by at least five the rest of the way.

Ohio State was in control early in game three, scoring the first four points before the Cougars clawed back to tie the game at seven. With the score knotted at nine apiece, BYU scored five of the next seven points to go up by three and controlled the game the rest of the way, gradually increasing the lead and going on to win 30-21. The Cougars hit .333 while the Buckeyes hit just .120.

Game four was a back and forth battle with Ohio State taking a big lead at 16-9 only to see it slip away. The Cougars went on a 11-5 run to get within one at 21-20 but let the Buckeyes get back up by three on a kill by Dreven and a Charette hitting error. BYU again came back, tying the score at 24 on a kill by Batista. The score was tied six more times, the last at 30. Then Perez recorded a kill to give the Cougars their third match-point opportunity and Gomes finished things off with an ace, his second of the night.

BYU will play against Rutgers-Newark in its second and final match of the Active Ankle Classic, Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pyramid.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
      #11 Ohio State vs #2 BYU Cougars (Mar 17, 2006 at Long Beach State)
    Ohio State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Katz, Stuart........  4| 11   6  27  .185|  1|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  0  1|  0|  11.0
 4  Mathews, Daniel.....  4|  4   0   7  .571| 46|  1   2|  0|  4| 1  1  1|  2|   6.5
 5  Albertson, John.....  4| 13   1  21  .571|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  7  0|  0|  17.5
 13 Klein, Robert.......  4|  8   7  25  .040|  2|  3   3|  2|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  11.0
 14 Dreven, Layne.......  4| 10   1  15  .600|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|  10.0
 16 Hankey, Matt........  3|  5   3  14  .143|  1|  0   5|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0|   7.5
 1  Meske, Dan..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Bersen, Brett.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  Stevens, Sam........  4|  4   0  10  .400|  1|  0   1|  1|  2| 0  3  0|  0|   5.5
 12 Cole, Andy..........  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 15 Martin, Conor.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  4|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 55  19 120  .300| 52|  4  20|  8| 23| 3 15  2|  2|  69.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  4  34  .471   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  5  25  .240   Ohio State.......... (1) 30 24 21 30  15-5
   3   8  5  25  .120   BYU Cougars......... (3) 27 30 30 32  15-4
   4  16  5  36  .306
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  2|  4   4  13  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
 3  CHARETTE, Jonathan..  4|  7   7  18  .000|  1|  3   2|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0|  11.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 18   6  32  .375|  3|  1   2|  2| 10| 0  5  1|  0|  21.5
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4| 10   3  15  .467|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  4  1|  0|  12.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  2   1   3  .333| 39|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 10   5  20  .250|  3|  2   5|  0|  2| 0  4  2|  0|  14.0
 5  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  2|  0   0   1  .000| 14|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 10 COX, Scott..........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 18 GOMES, Rodrigo......  4| 13   6  24  .292|  0|  2   2|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|  15.5
 19 SORENSEN, Trent.....  3|  2   0   2 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 66  32 128  .266| 61|  8  13|  4| 39| 0 19  5|  1|  83.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  8  35  .200   Site: Long Beach State (Walter Pyramid)
   2  14  6  27  .296   Date: Mar 17, 2006   Attend:     Time: 1:55
   3  18  8  30  .333   Referees: Kevin Cull, Ron Stahl
   4  19 10  36  .250   Active Ankle Classic Match #1
                        Triple blocks: Ohio State 1, BYU 1

COUGARS HEAD TO LONG BEACH TOURNAMENT

After losing back-to-back matches for the first time this season, the Cougars will look to get back on track when the play in the Long Beach State Active Ankle Tournament this Friday and Saturday. BYU dropped to No. 2 in the nation and 14-4 overall and 12-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after losing two matches to UC Irvine.

In the Long Beach tournament, the Cougars will play Ohio State (15-4 overall, 3-2 MIVA) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and then Rutgers-Newark (7-10 overall, 3-3 EIVA) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. BYU coach Tom Peterson said he hopes the Cougars will bounce back from last weekend's losses this weekend.

"More than anything we just need to get better at being consistent," he said. "We're going to work on being a little more mentally tough and serving and passing better."

BYU is 10-4 against Ohio State and 4-2 against Rutgers-Newark. The Cougars have won the last four meetings of each series. BYU last played Ohio State in 2004 and won two matches on the road. The Cougars last played Rutgers-Newark in 2000 and won 3-0 at home.

Stuart Katz leads Ohio State, averaging 3.31 kills per game and 2.05 digs per game. Daniel Matthews is the Buckeyes' setter and averages 12.65 assists per game along with 1.38 digs and 0.84 blocks. Matthews was the starting setter as a freshman during Ohio State's Final Four run in 2005.

"Ohio State is a tough team," Peterson said. "They are very experienced. A lot of their guys played on last year's Final Four team."

Rutgers-Newark enters the weekend at 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the EIVA. The Scarlet Knights are led by the Honsberger brothers, Brian and Eric. Brian leads the team in hitting percentage and blocks at .388 and 1.27 per game, while Eric is first in kills per game at 3.68.

Yosleyder Cala leads BYU in kills at 4.29 per game and is hitting .430. On Friday against Irvine he had 32 kills, the second highest single match total in BYU rally scoring history and a career and team-season high. Russell Holmes leads the team in hitting percentage (.449) and blocks per game (1.49).

The Cougars will have a week off following the Long Beach Tournament.

MATCH NOTES

NO. 2 BYU COUGARS (14-4, 12-4 MPSF) vs. NO. 11 OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (15-4, 3-2 MIVA)

Friday March 17, 2006 - 5:30 p.m. PST - The Pyramid (5,000) - Long Beach, Calif.

Coaches: BYU, Tom Peterson (at BYU: 86-25 in fourth year, career: 338-155)

Ohio State, Pete Hanson (at Ohio State: 429-243 in 22nd year, career: 433-252 in 23rd year)

Series: BYU leads, 10-4

NO. 2 BYU COUGARS (14-4, 12-4 MPSF) vs. RUTGERS-NEWARK (7-10, 3-3 EIVA Tait)

Saturday, March 18, 2006 • 5:30 p.m. PST • The Pyramid (5,000) • Long Beach, Calif.

Coaches: BYU, Tom Peterson (at BYU: 86-25 in fourth year, career: 338-155)

Rutgers-Newark, Sean Byron (at R-N: 91-97 in fourth year, career: 129-128 in 10th year)

Series: BYU leads, 4-2

LAST MATCHES - BYU vs. UC IRVINE

The Cougars fell to 14-4 overall and 12-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with two five-game losses to then No. 2 UC Irvine. In both matches, BYU lost game one and then came back to take games two and three to lead 2-1. In the first match, the Anteaters won a back-and-forth game four, 36-34, to tie the match. In game five, BYU held a 10-6 lead before Irvine scored three-straight to pull within one. Down 11-9, the Anteaters scored on a kill and then back-to-back service aces to take the lead at 12-11. Irvine went on to win the game 15-13 to take the match. In the second match, the Anteaters beat BYU 30-24 to force a fifth game, where Irvine won easily, 15-10. Yosleyder Cala led the Cougars in the first match with 32 kills and 14 digs. In the second match, he had 18 kills and Ivan Perez added 17.

THE POLLS

BYU dropped to No. 2 in the CSTV/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll and the Molten/Volleyball poll after back-to-back five-game losses to then No. 2 and current No. 1 UC Irvine. The Cougars held the top spot for four-straight weeks, starting Feb. 13 after two wins over USC.

A LOOK AT OHIO STATE AND RUTGERS-NEWARK

Ohio State is 15-4 overall and 3-2 in the MIVA. The Buckeyes are currently on a four-match win streak, including a 3-0 win over then No. 10 Ball State on Feb. 25. Ohio State is 3-1 again MPSF teams, including two wins over UC San Diego and one over UCLA and a loss to Hawai`i. Stuart Katz leads the Buckeyes in kills at 3.31 while Robbie Klein is second at 2.94. Rutgers-Newark enters the weekend at 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the EIVA. The Scarlet Knights are led by the Honsberger brothers, Brian and Eric. Brian leads the team in hitting percentage and blocks at .388 and 1.27 per game while Eric is first in kills per game at 3.68.

LAST TIME VS. OHIO STATE AND RUTGERS-NEWARK

BYU last played Ohio State in 2004, when the teams played back-to-back matches, Jan. 23 and 24. The wins started the Cougars' 21-match win streak, a school record. BYU won the first meeting in a sweep and was led by Fernando Pessoa's 19 kills. In the second match, the Cougars won 3-1 and were led by Jonathan Alleman, who had 16 kills. BYU last played Rutgers-Newark in 2000. The Cougars won the match 3-0 with Mike Wall leadin the way with 22 kills.