NORTHRIDGE -- The No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball team suffered its second consecutive sweep at the hands of No. 1 Cal State Northridge on Friday night, losing a competitive 30-28, 30-24, 30-28 match. With the loss the Cougars drop to 9-8 on the season and 7-5 in MPSF play.

“This weekend we learned that we are a very good volleyball team, but Northridge is better at finishing,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “We played well enough to beat most of the teams in our conference, but we need to be able to finish better. That comes with playing with poise on the road, which is difficult. Northridge is the best team we’ve faced all season.”

Sophomore outside hitter Kevin Sagers recorded a BYU-leading 12 kills, playing in only two sets. Fellow sophomore Alex Da Pron followed with 10 kills, marking his third night with double-digit kills in the last four for BYU.

“It’s tough to lose twice on the road, but we’re still getting better,” said Patchell. “We were close, but Northridge was better at home.”

The Cougars found themselves benefiting from several CSUN service errors early in the first set, with the score tied at 10-10. Three consecutive kills by Mat Taylor and Andrew Stewart gave BYU an 18-16 lead, its first since the early points of the match. Tied again at 22-22 the Matadors went on a 4-0 run before sophomore Alex Da Pron subbed in, making an immediate impact by knocking down back-to-back kills and sparking the Cougars’ own 4-0 run. Two more kills by Da Pron and Stewart were not enough to carry BYU to the end as CSUN won the first set 30-28.

Both teams picked up where they left off to begin the second set. With both teams alternating points, neither side built more than a three-point lead until a Matador block gave them a 15-11 advantage. As CSUN maintained control over the game offensively, Da Pron and Futi Tavana contributed two kills apiece to keep BYU within five points at 22-17.

Strong blocking gave BYU as large as a seven-point lead in the third set. The Cougars held a 21-17 advantage after three kills by sophomore Kevin Sagers. A 7-1 Matador run down the stretch gave CSUN a marginal 26-25 lead. A Sagers’ kill and joint block by Kent Tuttle and Tavana once again put the Cougars back on top, but the Matadors’ Eric Vance clinched the overall win for CSUN with his kill on match-point.

“Northridge was never out of it because they put a lot of pressure on the teams they face,” said Patchell. “We need to be able to play as a team at the end of sets.”

Next weekend the Cougars go to Long Beach, Calif. to participate in Active Ankle Tournament hosted by Long Beach State on March 13-14. BYU will face Penn State in its opening match.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
                   #8 BYU Cougars vs #1 Cal State Northridge
                      (Mar 06, 2009 at Northridge, Calif.)
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  2|  1   2   4 -.250|  2|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  5  2|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  2|  2   2   7  .000|  1|  0   4|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  2| 12   6  21  .286|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   1   1-1.000| 37|  0   4|  0|  9| 0  2  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  2|  8   5  19  .158|  1|  0   0|  2|  2| 0  1  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  5   1  11  .364|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  5  1|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  6   4  15  .133|  1|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  1  1|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  4|  5| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  3| 10   2  17  .471|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  5  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 45  24  97  .216| 43|  0  18|  7| 29| 0 21  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  7  30  .233   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  8  31  .226   BYU Cougars......... (0) 28 24 28  9-8, 7-5 MPSF
   3  16  9  36  .194   Cal State Northridge (3) 30 30 30  15-2, 11-2 MPSF
   Cal State Northridge   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Nua, Tanner.........  3|  8   5  17  .176|  1|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  0  1|  0
10 McKniff, Kevin......  3|  9   1  15  .533|  0|  1   4|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
11 Gaudino, Mike.......  3|  7   5  17  .118|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0
12 Stork, Matt.........  3|  0   0   1  .000| 36|  0   3|  0|  5| 1  5  0|  0
14 Vance, Eric.........  3| 13   3  29  .345|  1|  5   4|  0|  4| 1  1  0|  0
17 Ratajczak, Jacek....  3|  4   0  12  .333|  0|  1   3|  0|  1| 0  4  2|  0
2  Baxter, Jeff........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  Edwards, Theo.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
7  Keohohou, Ali'i.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 41  14  91  .297| 39|  7  20|  0| 21| 2 15  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  6  35  .257   Site: Northridge, Calif. (The Matadome)
   2  13  2  23  .478   Date: Mar 06, 2009   Attend: 778   Time: 1:37
   3  13  6  33  .212   Referees: John Martin, Donna Hess

The No. 8 ranked BYU men’s volleyball team (9-6, 7-3 MPSF) stays on the road this weekend as it competes against No. 1 Cal State Northridge (13-2, 9-2 MPSF) for two matches on Thursday and Friday nights. The Cougars are coming off back-to-back wins at Pacific last weekend, extending their win streak to four matches.

CSUN enters this week with the second-best record among all MPSF teams, most recently sweeping No. 5 USC for its seventh consecutive win dating back to a loss at Hawai’i back in January.

The last time BYU faced a No. 1-ranked team was on Feb. 4, 2006 when it hosted No. 1 Pepperdine. It has been even longer since the Cougars have visited a top-ranked team, six years to be exact. BYU split two matches when it paid a visit to No. 1 Pepperdine on April 10-11, 2003.

Series Information

BYU holds a 25-15 lead in the series between these two teams dating back to April. 11, 1990. The Cougars recorded a perfect 3-0 record against the Matadors in 2008, winning back-to-back matches at home in the Smith Fieldhouse during the regular season and also posting a 3-0 sweep over CSUN in the semifinal match at the MSPF Championships in Long Beach. With those wins, BYU has won seven of the last eight matches, including five consecutive. Of those seven wins, only one has gone to five sets. Between 1997-2003 the Cougars recorded a series-leading 12-match win streak over the Matadors, including nine sweeps.

Match Coverage

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

Coming Off...A Tiger Sweep

The No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball team recorded its second consecutive undefeated weekend after a 3-0 sweep over the Pacific Tigers on Saturday night (30-22, 30-27, 30-28). With the win the Cougars improve to 9-6 overall, 7-3 in MPSF play. Andrew Stewart recorded 17 kills on the night, a match-high for the second night in a row. Sophomore Alex Da Pron finished with 10 kills, marking the second consecutive night he has knocked down double-digit kills.

BYU defeated Pacific 3-1 the night prior, with Stewart knocking down a match-leading 21 kills with a .432 hitting percentage. Other Cougars recording double-figure kills included opposite Mat Taylor with 15 and 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.

Up Next

The Cougars stay on the road, participating in the Active Ankle Tournament hosted by Long Beach State on March 13-14. The Cougars will face Penn State in their opening match.