LONG BEACH -- Andrew Stewart led the No. 9 men’s volleyball team to a 3-2 victory over reigning national champions and fourth-ranked Penn State Friday night. The matchup was the first of the Long Beach State Active Ankle Tournament. With the win the Cougars improve to 10-8 on the season and 2-3 in five-set matches.

"This was a big win for us tonight," said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "It was a long time coming. The guys trained very hard this week and did a nice job learning from their mistakes. We played with poise and responded well."

Stewart recorded a match-high 20 kills against the Nittany Lions, his fourth 20-plus kill night of the season.

"Andrew played like a captain tonight," said Patchell. "He was a little under the weather last week, but came back strong tonight. He played very well and got big swings for us."

Sophomore outside hitter Kevin Sagers also knocked down double-digit kills for BYU, contributing 14. Sagers also set a new career high with three service aces on the night.

The Cougars kept it close to begin the first set, tying the score 8-8 off a kill by Stewart. Penn State score four-straight points to pull ahead 12-8 and give the Nittany Lions a permanent advantage. The reigning national champions continued to extend their lead en route to an early 30-20 win, hitting .483 percent.

Mat Taylor opened a close second set with a kill, a set which boasted 12 tied scores. Sagers recorded back-to-back service aces to give BYU an early two-point advantage. Tied 13-13, the Cougars went on a 7-1 run, with Penn State’s only point coming off a BYU service error. Another kill by Taylor put the Cougars up 21-17 before the Nittany Lions scored three straight to get within one, forcing BYU to take a timeout. Taylor was clutch once again, recording his sixth kill of the set, giving the Cougars the momentum necessary to retake the lead once and for all, 26-25, and tie the match one-game-all.

BYU continued its strong offensive play in the third set, capitalizing on several Penn State service errors and getting kills from Stewart, Russell Lavaja and Futi Tavana. The Cougars maintained a steady lead through the majority of the set, with Sagers’ three consecutive kills giving them a 24-19 advantage. Kent Tuttle’s service ace setup a game-point scenario for BYU, which Stewart took care of with his 13th kill of the night, securing the 30-24 win.

It was the same story in the fourth set, with a mixture of Cougars continuing to contribute. The set opened with a joint block by Tavana and Stewart, and kills by Sagers, Tavana, Tuttle and Lavaja. After being tied 17-17, Penn State staged a comeback, holding as much as a three-point advantage at 26-23. BYU clawed its way back, however, tying the score again at 28-28 after a Nittany Lion service error and Tuttle kill. Penn State came out on top with the 30-28 win, tying the match and forcing a fifth set.

The Cougars scored three of the first four points in the final set with kills by the tandem of Sagers and Stewart. As a team BYU hit .333 in the fifth game. With neither team managing to build much of a lead, another kill by Stewart and a Nittany Lion attack error put BYU up 12-10. The Cougars called one final timeout up 13-11, after which Stewart finished off Penn State with back-to-back kills.

The Cougars continue play at the Active Ankle Tournament on Saturday, playing IPFW at 5 p.m. PT.

"We're playing a team a lot like us tomorrow," said Patchell. "[IPFW's] young and they're getting better. We need to move on and make sure we take care of our side of the net."

Volleyball Box Score
                     2009 Long Beach State Men's Volleyball
          #4 Penn State vs #9 BYU (Mar 13, 2009 at Long Beach, Calif.)
   Penn State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  Goas, Edgardo.......  5|  4   2   7  .286| 55|  1   2|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
9  Lipsitz, Max........  5| 12   1  25  .440|  0|  0   5|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0|  16.0
11 Price, Will.........  5| 16   6  39  .256|  2|  1   3|  1| 10| 0  4  0|  0|  19.0
12 Holt, Max...........  5| 13   5  22  .364|  0|  2   9|  0|  1| 0  2  3|  0|  16.0
13 Sweitzer, Ryan......  5| 10   5  25  .200|  3|  1   5|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  0|  12.0
17 Sunder, Joe.........  5| 11   7  27  .148|  0|  0   3|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  12.0
6  Del Valle, Dennis...  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  4|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 Sherrick, Jon.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
15 Stauffer, Jay.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 66  26 145  .276| 62|  5  27|  6| 40| 1 17  5|  0|  80.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  16  2  31  .452  19-21  90%   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  9  33  .152  18-30  60%   Penn State.......... (2) 30 27 24 30 11  15-2
   3  12  5  27  .259  18-29  62%   BYU................. (3) 21 30 30 28 15  10-8
   4  17  5  33  .364  23-29  79%
   5   7  5  21  .095   7-15  46%
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  5|  6   2  13  .308|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0|   8.5
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3|  8   8  21  .000|  0|  1   4|  1|  2| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  5| 14   7  27  .259|  0|  3   6|  2|  2| 0  1  0|  0|  17.5
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  5|  0   0   1  .000| 52|  0   3|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  0|   1.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  5| 20   6  42  .333|  0|  1   2|  1|  5| 0  4  0|  0|  23.0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  5|  7   2  18  .278|  2|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0|   8.5
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  5|  9   2  19  .368|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|  10.0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 64  27 141  .262| 57|  6  23|  5| 44| 0 17  0|  0|  78.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                                           TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  12  8  30  .133  19-30  63%   Site: Long Beach, Calif. (Walter Pyramid)
   2  14  6  32  .250  18-27  66%   Date: Mar 13, 2009   Attend:     Time: 2:19
   3  13  6  26  .269  19-25  75%   Referees: Larry Schwartz, Jessie Martinez
   4  16  5  32  .344  22-29  75%   Triple blocks: Penn State 1, BYU 1
   5   9  2  21  .333   7-11  63%   Active Ankle Tournament presented by Hampton Inn
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       5  12   0   8   5    30
                        Lead changes     0   4   0   4   1     9

The No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball team (9-8, 7-5 MPSF) remains on the road this weekend as it competes in the Long Beach State Active Ankle Tournament. The Cougars will play No. 4 Penn State (15-1, 7-0 EIVA) at 7 p.m. PT Friday and IPFW (9-5, 1-3 MIVA) at 5 p.m. PT Saturday.

BYU is coming off two losses at No. 1 CSUN last weekend, but has won four of its last six matches.

The fourth-ranked Penn State men’s volleyball team pounded George Mason in three games (30-18, 30-25, 30-18) last Friday night at Rec Hall. With the win the Nittany Lions improved to 15-1 on the season, with their only loss being a 3-2 match against Loyola-Chicago on Feb. 20.

IPFW notched back-to-back wins against MPSF foe Pacific last weekend, pulling out 3-1 victories each night.

Series Information

BYU and Penn State have played 12 previous matches, with the series tied 6-6. BYU has won six of the last eight matches after dropping the first four the two teams played. Seven of the 12 times the Cougars and the Nittany Lions have played have been on neutral floors, with BYU holding a 5-2 advantage at neutral sites.

IPFW holds an all-time 4-3 advantage over the Cougars, one of only four teams holding a series lead over BYU. After the Cougars won the first matchup in 1990, the Mastodons claimed the next four. BYU has pulled out 3-1 wins in the past two meetings, back in 1996 and 2008.

Match Coverage

Live stats can be accessed by visiting BYU’s 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 on the schedule page.

Coming Off...A Loss at No. 1 CSUN

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. 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.

Up Next

BYU returns home for a three-week stay, first hosting Long Beach State for two matches on March 20 & 21. Both matches will be in the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. MT.