MALIBU -- No. 2 BYU's MPSF tournament run came to an end at the hands of an experienced No. 3 UC Irvine 30-19, 28-30, 27-30, 30-27, 15-10.

The Anteaters (26-5) held the Cougars (23-6) to just .189 hitting, including a respective .171 and -.167. in the fourth and fifth games.

UC Irvine took advantage of a slow BYU offensive start, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 9-4 advantage courtesy of an 8-1 run. The Cougars' first kill cut the Anteaters' lead to 10-6 as most of BYU's early points came on UCI service errors. The Anteaters further extended their lead to 20-11 behind back-to-back blocks. UCI picked up two additional service points before the teams traded side outs to finish the set with an Anteater 30-19 win.

The Cougars got off to a hot start in the second set jumping out to an early 7-3 lead and forcing a UCI time out. The Anteaters came out of the time out on a small run, cutting BYU's lead to 7-6 before the Cougars recorded a side out. BYU held onto the two-point advantage throughout the middle of the set. A David Smith net-aided ace tied the match at 15. The Cougars came right back with two in a row to re-gain a two-point advantage. Matt Webber hit an ace to turn the lead to the Anteaters at 21-20. BYU had an answer, scoring two in a row capped by a Cala straight-down slam of an overpass to give the Cougars a 23-22 lead. Cala came up with a huge solo block and service lead to give to give BYU a 29-26 lead. The Anteaters came back with two in a row to make the game interesting but Webber's serve on the Cougars' third game point sailed long as BYU took the second set.

With the Cougars trailing 6-5 in the third set, they scored three in a row to take an 8-6 and force UCI to take an early time out. The Anteaters came out of the break with three straight to re-take the side out advantage. The two teams traded throughout the middle of the set before BYU scored three consecutive points, the final two coming off back-to-back blocks by Yamil Perez and Russell Holmes. The Cougars then caught fire, putting up an impenetrable block and winning the hustle points. BYU jumped to a 22-17 lead when Webber couldn't penetrate a triple block. UCI put together a 6-3 run of its own to cut the lead to 25-23 and force the Cougars to take a time out. Out of the break, BYU scored two straight, followed by two straight from the Anteaters. BYU finished the set with a Rodnei Santos/Robby Stowell combo block.

The Anteaters got out of the gate quick in the fourth set, jumping to a 9-6 lead early. A Webber solo block gave UCI a 12-7 lead. The Anteaters extended their lead to 20-13 after a series of BYU hitting errors. The Cougars came back with three straight points, the last an ace off the hand of Ivan Perez to cut the lead to four. BYU kept the pressure on, adding a three-point burst to cut UCI's lead to 22-20, forcing the Anteaters to take their final time out. The Cougars were done as they added two more to tie the score on a Santos/Stowell rejection. UCI surged ahead to grab a 26-24 lead when Cole Reinholm's hit slid inside the BYU block. The Anteaters added another two service points to go ahead 29-25. UCI put the set away on the third game point.

Behind Reinholm's serve, UCI jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the decisive game, as the Cougars had trouble passing in the early stages of the set. Out of a BYU time out, the Anteaters added to the lead on a hitting error. BYU got one back before UCI scored three straight to jump to an 8-3 lead. After Irvine extended its lead to six, the Cougars put together a small run to cut the Anteaters' lead to 11-7. BYU added another service point before UCI took a long rally for a side out. The Cougars added another service point before UCI took the match on a Webber block.

#3 UC Irvine vs #2 BYU Cougars (Apr 26, 2007 at Malibu, Calif.)
    UC Irvine              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Wilson, Taylor......  3|  5   3  19  .105|  0|  0   4|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 7  Thornton, Brian.....  5|  0   0   0  .000| 63|  1   3|  0|  8| 0  5  0|  1
 11 Jablonsky, Jayson...  5| 24   7  48  .354|  1|  1   4|  3|  6| 1  2  0|  0
 13 Webber, Matt........  5| 21   7  39  .359|  0|  3   7|  0|  6| 3  0  1|  0
 15 Smith, David........  5|  9   0  19  .474|  0|  1   4|  0|  1| 0  6  1|  0
 21 Harrell, Aaron......  5|  6   2  15  .267|  1|  1   6|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0
 1  Steller, Jon........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  Reinholm, Cole......  3|  8   2  12  .500|  0|  1   4|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 8  Asuka, Brent........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Simpson, Brett......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 73  21 152  .342| 67|  9  32|  7| 38| 4 16  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  1  28  .536   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  5  35  .314   UC Irvine........... (3) 30 28 27 30 15  25-5
   3  17  7  36  .278   BYU Cougars......... (2) 19 30 30 27 10  23-5
   4  18  5  37  .351
   5   6  3  16  .188
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  5| 14  11  44  .068|  1|  1   2|  2|  4| 1  1  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  4|  5   1   7  .571|  1|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  5| 12   4  27  .296|  1|  3   1|  3| 13| 0  0  0|  1
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  5|  8   3  16  .312|  2|  1   4|  1|  4| 1  4  0|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  5| 12   9  29  .103|  1|  2   0|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0
 14 PEREZ, Yamil........  5|  1   1   3  .000| 46|  0   4|  0|  7| 0  4  3|  0
 2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  4|  3   0   5  .600|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  4  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3| 14| 0  0  0|  0
 17 STEWART, Andrew.....  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 55  30 132  .189| 53|  7  14|  9| 49| 2 16  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   8  8  28  .000   Site: Malibu, Calif. (Firestone Fieldhouse)
   2  18  4  31  .452   Date: Apr 26, 2007   Attend: 1275   Time: 2:33
   3  12  5  26  .269   Referees: Tony Chan, Marvin Hall
   4  14  8  35  .171  
   5   3  5  12 -.167

MALIBU -- After picking up its first playoff win since winning the 2004 National Championship, BYU will look to repeat history as the Cougars face UC Irvine in the MPSF semifinals at Pepperdine's Firestone Fieldhouse, the same venue where it won the 2004 MPSF Championship.

The match will follow the UC Santa Barbara/Pepperdine match which starts at 5:30 p.m. (PDT) Thursday evening. Live audio, stats and pay-per-view video are available for the matches. Links are available at www.byucougars.com. Approximate start time is 8 p.m.

The No. 2 Cougars (23-5) and No. 3 Anteaters (25-5) will meet for the third time this season. Each team won a match earlier this year in the regular-season series played at the Smith Fieldhouse.

BYU advances to the MPSF semifinals after having swept Cal-State Northridge last Saturday. UCI overcame a 2-0 deficit to win a five-set thriller over Hawaii to earn its trip to Malibu. The Cougars enter the match having one eight consecutive matches and 14 of their last 15. The Anteaters have won three straight after losing their previous two matches.

Early in the season BYU and UCI faced off as the respective No. 1 and 2 teams in the nation. The Cougars swept the Anteaters in the first match before falling in five in the Saturday match.

The winner of the match will face UC Santa Barbara or Pepperdine in Saturday's MPSF final with a trip to the Final Four at stake. The final match will be televised nationally on CSTV at 7 p.m. (PDT)