PROVO -- Freshmen Robby Stowell and Andrew Stewart paced a balanced BYU attack as the Cougars cruised to a 3-1 victory over Cal-Baptist 30-24, 30-20, 24-30, 30-21.

BYU (2-0) hit over .400 in the first two games before struggling in game three and only hitting .105. The Cougars finished the match hitting at a .338 mark.

"We didn't play as well as we would have liked," co-head coach Ryan Millar said. "We struggled serving and receiving at times."

BYU's answer to its 22 service errors was strong play from its attack. Stowell led four Cougars in double figures with 17 kills. Stewart added 16. Stowell picked up his first career double-double by adding 10 digs.

"Robby was a stud this weekend," Millar said. "He is extremely physical and passes well tonight. I can't say enough about how he performed in both matches this weekend."

Unlike Friday night, BYU had no problem getting off to a hot start early on as the Cougars jumped to an early 17-10 lead in game one. The Cougars used hot hitting in the early going by Stowell and Ivan Perez. After a 3-1 Cal-Baptist run, BYU came back with another big run, this time outscoring the Lancers 7-1 to jump ahead 25-14. The Lancers went on a 10-4 run to cut the Cougars lead to 29-24. Yukai Sun's serve went into the net to finish game one.

Overall, the Cougars hit .459 in game one. Perez led the way with six kills while hitting .750. Stowell added five kills and five digs.

With the game tied at six in game two, Perez stepped back to the service line and led BYU to five consecutive points and a big lead. Moments later Mat Taylor's first career kill gave the Cougars a 19-11 lead. BYU's offense stayed hot as the Cougars maintained a large lead in the second game. Andrew Stewart's kill gave BYU 30-19 win. Stewart led BYU in game two with five kills while Russell Holmes added four.

After the Cougars jumped to a 3-0 lead in game three, Cal-Baptist fought back with a 6-1 run to take its first lead of the match. Unfazed, BYU came back with a 5-1 run of its own to regain a 9-7 advantage. The Lancers tilted the see-saw their direction getting a pair of blocks by Romain Vetter to build a 17-15 lead.

With the game tied at 20, Cal-Baptist scored five unanswered points to build a 25-20 lead. The Lancers held the lead, winning game three 30-24. BYU had 11 hitting errors in game three compared to a combined eight in the first two games. Perez spent most of game three on the bench with cramps.

In a tightly contested fourth game, BYU began to pull away late in the game. The Cougars had a 5-1 run capped by a Stewart kill to give the Cougars a 22-16 lead. Stowell added a big block and a kill to further extend BYU's lead. Holmes finished the match with a kill off a dig set up by a powerful Perez serve.

BYU plays next weekend against defending national champion and No. 3 UCLA on Friday and Saturday. Match times are at 7 p.m.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
      Cal-Baptist vs #2 Brigham Young Univ. (Jan 06, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Cal-Baptist            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  GUNTHOR, Urs........  4|  3   0   9  .333|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0
 4  SPENCE, Corey.......  4|  7   9  26 -.077|  0|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  2  0|  0
 5  AWUDU, Shamsu.......  4| 19   5  35  .400|  0|  1   3|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  0
 9  BUEHRING, Dan.......  4|  0   1   5 -.200| 41|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  1
 23 VETTER, Romain......  4|  3   6  15 -.200|  1|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  4  0|  0
 99 MENDOZA, David......  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 2  ANDERS, Bryan.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SUN, Yukai..........  4| 12   5  32  .219|  0|  1   4|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 12 HAGSTROM, Tyler.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 17 CAYLAR, Clement.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 44  26 123  .146| 43|  3  12|  3| 34| 1 14  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  41  .195   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  6  30  .133   Cal-Baptist......... (1) 24 20 30 21  0-3
   3  11  6  26  .192   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 24 30  2-0
   4   9  8  26  .038
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  4|  7   2  13  .385|  1|  0   5|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 13   3  23  .435|  1|  1   1|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4| 11   4  20  .350|  0|  1   5|  0|  1| 2  2  0|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  4| 17   5  28  .429|  0|  0   1|  0| 10| 0  2  0|  0
 14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  2   2   5  .000| 59|  0   3|  0|  4| 1  1  1|  0
 17 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 16   7  33  .273|  0|  0   2|  1|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 10 STEWART, Bryan......  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 POMPEI, Andy........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 15 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3|  4   2  11  .182|  1|  1   4|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  25 136  .338| 67|  3  22|  3| 41| 3  8  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  3  37  .459   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  5  32  .438   Date: Jan 06, 2007   Attend: 1825   Time: 1H 58M
   3  15 11  38  .105   Referees: DAPHNE NELSON, TOM GIVEN, MAETINI
   4  17  6  29  .379

PROVO -- BYU will open its regular season with two home matches against Cal-Baptist this weekend. It will mark the second consecutive year the Cougars will open their season against the Lancers at home. Last year, BYU won both matches in impressive fashion (3- 0 and 3-1) on its way to a 7-0 start.

SERIES INFORMATION

The Cougars and Lancers will be playing for the fifth and sixth time with BYU holding a 4-1 advantage in the previous five matchups. The last time Cal-Baptist beat BYU was Jan. 14, 2005 when the Lancers edged the Cougars in five games.

Cal-Baptist is traditionally one of the best NAIA schools. The Lancers are the three-time defending NAIA National Champion. CBU dropped its season opener against No. 1 UC Irvine on Wednesday.

MATCH COVERAGE

Every home match will have a free live stats feed option. The live stats feed can be accessed by visiting the men's volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com. The direct link is http://www.byucougars.com/Schedule.jsp?SP=201&YR=2006. The live stats can be launched by clicking on the "Live Stats" link for the appropriate game.

Also available for the second season in a row is a live video feed through CSTV All-Access. Users must subscribe to this service. More information, such as cost and direct links to the CSTV All-Access page can be found by visiting the the schedule page and cliking on the "Live Video" link.

Jarom Jordan will provide the play-by-play coverage for this week's matches with Jordan Feinauer offering commentary.

"ALL-RETURNING" TEAM

Last season BYU had one All American and five All-MPSF performers. Three of the five return this season including second team AVCA All American Russell Holmes. Holmes was also second team All-MPSF. Ivan Perez earned an MPSF honorable mention citation last season and was the first BYU player to be named to an All America team as a freshman two seasons ago. Yosleyder Cala was named to the All-MPSF third team last year.

COACHES AND PLAYERS

BYU's entire coaching staff is coaching at its alma mater. Co-interim head coaches Ryan Millar and Shawn Patchell both starred for the Cougars in their playing days while assistant coach Rob Neilson played for earned All-MPSF honors for BYU just last season.

COUGARS IN PRESEASON RANKINGS

For the second consecutive season, BYU has made an appearance in the preseason top-5. Last season the Cougars were ranked preseason No. 1. This year, BYU starts the season ranked second behind reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season champion UC Irvine.

EVERY THREE YEARS...

Since BYU's first national championship in 1999, the Cougars have won the NCAA tournament a total of three times (1999, 2001 and 2004). Since the '99 season, BYU has won the NCAA Championship at least once every three years.

UP NEXT

Next week the Cougars will invite defending National Champion and third-ranked UCLA to the Smith Fieldhouse. BYU expects the Fieldhouse to be filled to capacity as it will be the students' first week back from the Christmas Holiday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. and both will be televised by BYU-TV.