PROVO -- A return home was all No. 9 BYU needed to return to .500 on the season as the men’s volleyball team swept No. 10 UC San Diego 30-24, 30-22, 30-21 Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. With the win the Cougars improve to an even 6-6 on the season and 4-3 in MPSF play.

Junior opposite Kent Tuttle led BYU with 12 kills on the night and an impressive .526 attack percentage. Tuttle started the match in place of fellow junior Mat Taylor who sat out of the match due to illness. Also recording double-digit kills for the Cougars was outside hitter Andrew Stewart with 11.

Defensively the Cougars had 19.5 team blocks, a new season high. UCSD’s .071 hitting percentage also marked a season-low by a BYU opponent this season.

“Our guys worked really hard this week in practice,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “They were really resilient in the blocking drills, which is why we did so well blocking tonight.”

Tuttle started strong, recording five kills and helping the Cougars to a .562 hitting percentage. As a team BYU accumulated eight blocks compared to UCSD’s zero, holding the Tritons to a .154 percentage. The Cougars jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, a lead which they maintained the entire set. Up 26-24, BYU rallied to score four consecutive points for the win with back-to-back kills by Stewart and Russell Lavaja.

The second set went along much like the first, as BYU never trailed UCSD. Up by only one point at 5-4, blocks by Futi Tavana and Kevin Sagers helped the Cougars win four-straight points. BYU found itself up by as many as nine points after the Tritons’ eight service errors. Another kill by Stewart secured the 30-22 win.

It was a close third set as the Tritons’ earned their first lead of the night at 15-14. Coming out of a timeout, another UCSD service error helped shift the momentum into the Cougars’ favor as they went on a short 3-0 run to pull ahead. Seven consecutive BYU points late in the game was broken after a service error, but a kill by Tavana and subsequent Triton error from the service line clinched the overall win for BYU.

The Cougars and Tritons meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
            UC San Diego vs BYU Cougars (Feb 20, 2009 at Provo, UT)
   UC San Diego           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8  BANNAN, Phil........  3|  0   0   0  .000| 30|  1   1|  0|  9| 0  0  1|  0
11 GUTHALS, Adrian.....  3|  5   2  16  .188|  0|  0   3|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0
12 SPANGLER, Jason.....  3|  6   8  20 -.100|  0|  0   3|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
13 FRITSCH, Frank......  3| 16   6  29  .345|  0|  0   3|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
14 EHRMAN, Will........  2|  0   6  12 -.500|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
16 ROSS, Calvin........  3|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
2  LESERMAN, Eric......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
6  DAVIDSON, Joel......  2|  4   3  12  .083|  1|  1   3|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
10 SIERKS, Eric........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
18 HOUSEMAN, Gerald....  2|  1   1   4  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 34  27  98  .071| 34|  2  15|  1| 24| 0  8  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  8  39  .154   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  7  27  .185   UC San Diego........ (0) 24 22 21  6-7, 2-6 MPSF
   3   8 12  32 -.125   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  6-6, 4-3 MPSF
   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  TUTTLE, Kent........  3| 12   2  19  .526|  2|  0   2|  0|  4| 1  5  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  2   0   2 1.000| 36|  0   2|  0|  7| 2  6  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  7   2  10  .500|  0|  1   5|  1|  0| 0  6  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  8   1  14  .500|  0|  0   8|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 11   4  21  .333|  1|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  4  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  5   0  14  .357|  1|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  9  0|  1
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 45   9  80  .450| 41|  1  21|  2| 31| 3 33  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 19.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  2  32  .562   Site: Provo, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  12  2  22  .455   Date: Feb 20, 2009   Attend: 2320   Time: 1h 41m
   3  13  5  26  .308   Referees: Tom Given, Maile Jewkes, Trent Mano

After a month away from home, the No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball team (5-6, 3-3 MPSF) returns home to the Smith Fieldhouse where it will host No. 10 UC San Diego (6-6, 2-5 MPSF) on Friday and Saturday.

The Cougars are coming off a week break after suffering two losses at No. 5 USC on Feb. 6 & 7. BYU lost 3-1 and 3-2 at the hands of the Trojans.

The Tritons of UCSD are coming off a three-game victory over No. 11 George Mason in the championship game of the 2009 Volleyball Hall of Fame Morgan Classic on Feb. 14. UCSD took the tournament crown with game scores of 30-18, 30-21, 30-15, thanks in part to tournament MVP Will Ehrman’s 14 kill, 13 dig performance.

Series Information

The Cougars boast an undefeated, 24-0 record against UCSD, dating back to 1993. Of those 24 meetings, 18 resulted in sweeps, with the Tritons claiming only five games. No matchup between these two teams has ever gone to a fifth set. Last season BYU visited UCSD in San Diego on Jan. 11 & 12, coming away with 3-1, 3-0 victories.

Match Coverage

Both matches will be televised live on BYU-TV with Jarom Jordan calling play-by-play, Steve Vail offering analysis and Kelli Ottesen as sideline reporter.

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 live stats can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game.

Coming Off...A Five-Set Loss at USC

The No. 9 Cougars looked to be on the verge of victory in the second and third set but eventually fell 3-2 (34-32, 33-35, 29-31, 30-23, 15-10) to No. 5 USC on Feb. 7.

Despite the loss, several players recorded career and season highs on the night in kills, hitting percentage and assists. Freshman Russell Lavaja shattered his previous career record of 6 kills, contributing 13 of the Cougars’ 79. Fellow freshman Futi Tavana also improved his career-high kills to 16. Junior Mat Taylor again lead the team with 18--the fifth time he has done so this season.