STOCKTON -- After dropping the night’s first set, BYU’s eighth-ranked men’s volleyball team secured a 3-1 victory over the University of the Pacific Friday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center (24-30, 30-21, 30-25, 30-20). The win marks only the second match this season the Cougars have pulled out a victory after losing the first game. BYU improves to 8-6 on the season and 6-3 in MPSF play, having won its last three matches.

Junior outside hitter Andrew Stewart knocked down a match-leading 21 kills with a .432 hitting percentage. Other Cougars recording double-figure kills included opposite Mat Taylor with 15 and outside hitter Alex Da Pron with 12. Da Pron’s 12 kills set a new career high, as did his 11 digs, marking his first career double-double. Freshman Russell Lavaja also set a new career-high with eight blocks to go along with nine kills.

The Cougars found themselves trailing in the first set after an early 2-0 advantage, never to regain the lead. Futi Tavana and Kevin Sagers helped bring the Cougars to within three points at 26-23 with a block, but Pacific pulled away with three consecutive scores, capitalizing on two BYU attack errors. The Cougars were held to a .206 hitting percentage despite five kills by Stewart.

After sitting out the first set, Taylor started the second, helping turn the Cougars’ play around. His back-to-back kills sparked a 9-1 BYU run, giving his team a 16-7 advantage. A service ace by Reed Chilton gave BYU a 10-point lead. The Tigers struggled offensively in the second set, recording only eight kills compared to the Cougars’ 17 for a -0.05 attack percentage. BYU tied the match at one-set-all after a kill by Tavana and a team block.

BYU held a steady lead in the third set before the Tigers jumped ahead 13-12. With the score close, Tavana and Da Pron knocked down consecutive blocks to give BYU a lead it would never relinquish. Pacific continued to compete however, but this time it was Lavaja who took control of the team and helped shift the momentum back to the Cougars’ favor. The freshman recorded five kills and four blocks in the third game, including two big kills to give BYU the 30-25 win.

Strong blocking gave BYU an early three-point lead to start the final set. Back-to-back service aces by Stewart sent the Cougars on a 4-0 run, putting them up 9-3 heading into the first timeout. Stewart recorded a career-high three service aces on the night. Coming back into play, Kent Tuttle’s two kills and service ace gave the Cougars a 26-15 advantage. Stewart capped the night with one final kill on match-point, clinching the overall win for BYU.

The Cougars and Tigers meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. PT.

Volleyball Box Score
                         2009 Pacific Men's Volleyball
          #8 BYU vs Pacific Tigers (Feb 27, 2009 at Stockton, Calif.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  5   3  10  .200|  1|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|   6.5
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4|  9   3  18  .333|  2|  0   4|  0|  0| 1  7  0|  0|  13.5
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  0   0   0  .000| 53|  0   3|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0|   1.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 21   5  37  .432|  1|  3   3|  2|  8| 1  5  1|  0|  27.5
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4|  6   5  17  .059|  2|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  6  2|  0|  10.0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  4| 12   4  36  .222|  2|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  3  2|  0|  13.5
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  3|  2   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3| 15   6  29  .310|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  5  1|  0|  17.5
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  1|  0   2   3 -.667|  0|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 68  29 151  .258| 64|  7  18|  6| 50| 2 31  6|  0|  92.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  15  8  34  .206  18-30  60%   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  5  39  .308  15-21  71%   BYU................. (3) 24 30 30 30  8-6, 6-3 MPSF
   3  21  7  40  .350  17-26  65%   Pacific Tigers...... (1) 30 21 25 20  2-15, 0-12 MPSF
   4  15  9  38  .158  14-20  69%
   Pacific Tigers         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Jason Borchin.......  4|  5   8  28 -.107|  0|  1   3|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
6  Kevin Pratte........  4|  3   6  19 -.158|  0|  1   0|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
10 Chaz Hindsley.......  3|  4   3  16  .062|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
13 Sean Daley..........  4|  9   2  20  .350|  0|  2   2|  0|  0| 1  5  0|  0|  14.5
15 Jeff Hendershot.....  4| 18   8  36  .278|  2|  0   3|  3|  7| 1  3  0|  0|  20.5
18 Eric Fuchino........  4|  1   1   4  .000| 37|  2   1|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|   3.5
3  Joe Forbes..........  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
4  Mark Bauhs..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  Nicolaas Schenk.....  1|  1   1   6  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   1.0
8  Dylan Walker........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
   Team................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 42  29 131  .099| 39|  6   9|  7| 45| 2 12  1|  0|  56.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  15  6  27  .333  18-24  75%   Site: Stockton, Calif. (Alex G Spanos Center)
   2   8 10  40 -.050  15-30  50%   Date: Feb 27, 2009   Attend: 330   Time: 1:45
   3  14  6  30  .267  16-29  55%   Referees: John Kinyon, Eric Asami, Chris Christiansen
   4   5  7  34 -.059  14-30  46%
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       1   2  12   1    16
                        Lead changes     1   1   6   0     8

First of Three Weekends in California

BYU’s eighth-ranked men’s volleyball team (7-6, 5-3 MPSF) travels to Stockton, Calif. this week for two matches against Pacific (2-14, 0-11 MPSF) at 7:30 p.m. PT on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. The Cougars and Tigers met earlier this season on Jan. 10 at the UC Santa Barbara Elephant Bar Tournament. BYU defeated Pacific 3-0 in that meeting.

The Cougars are coming off back-to-back sweeps as they hosted No. 10 UC San Diego last weekend. This trip to California marks the first of three consecutive weekends BYU will spend in the Golden State before returning home to play Long Beach State on March 20.

The Tigers of the University of the Pacific recently suffered losses to No. 4 Cal State Northridge and No. 13 UC Santa Barbara, both sweeps. The Tiger, currently on a 10-match losing streak, have recorded two wins on the season, both against UC Santa Cruz.

Series Information

BYU holds a 21-5 lead in the series between these two teams dating back to Feb. 6, 1993. Despite holding an undefeated 13-0 record against the Tigers in Provo, the Cougars have only a slight 7-5 series advantage in Stockton. BYU has won the last seven meetings and 11 of the last 12. Three of the five wins Pacific has over BYU have come in five sets, while 14 of the Cougars’ wins have been sweeps. Most recently, BYU defeated Pacific 3-0 in its final match of the 45th Annual UC Santa Barbara/Elephant Bar Collegiate Invitational.

Match Coverage

Live stats can be accessed by visiting Pacific’s men’s volleyball schedule page at www.pacifictigers.com. The live stats can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule page.

Coming Off...Back-to-Back Sweeps Over UC San Diego

BYU’s ninth-ranked men’s volleyball team recorded its second sweep in as many nights with a 3-0 win over No. 10 UC San Diego on Feb. 21 (30-28, 30-18, 30-17). With the win the Cougars improved to 7-6 on the season and 5-3 in MPSF play.

Junior outside hitter Andrew Stewart recorded a match-high 12 kills on the night, marking his 11th consecutive night with double-digit kills this season. Redshirt freshman Futi Tavana added 10 kills and seven blocks. Also at middle blocker, freshman Russell Lavaja sparked in the second and third games, contributing nine kills and five blocks.

Up Next

The Cougars stay on the road, visiting Cal State Northridge for two matches on March 5 & 6. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. PT at the Matadome.