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PROVO -- Playing in front of a packed, energized crowd, the No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team stunned No. 3 Stanford with a 3-1 loss (22-30, 34-32, 30-25, 32-30) in the first of a two-match series Friday night. With the win the Cougars improve to 5-1 on the season and 3-0 in MPSF play.

“This was just another hard-fought MPSF match,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “It was a huge win for our program. Stanford is one of the top teams in the country.”

The 4,409 fans in attendance at the Smith Fieldhouse were the most since Jan. 13, 2006 when BYU defeated Cal State Northridge, 3-1.

“We like playing in the Smith Fieldhouse,” said Patchell. “It’s really hard for other teams to come in here. Our fans were awesome tonight. Everyday is special in the Smith Fieldhouse, but it’s nice to see it packed like it was tonight.”

Fans in attendance didn’t go home disappointed as they saw some dominating performances from the Cougars. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart knocked down 21 kills, one short of his career high, and picked up 12 digs to give him the fifth double-double of his career. Also recording double-digit kills for BYU were Robb Stowell and Futi Tavana with 15 and 11, respectively.

Senior setter Reed Chilton set a new career high with 65 assists, while sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja put up a season-high three block solos.

“This group of guys really are a team,” said Patchell. “They don’t care who gets the credit. Andrew [Stewart] had a nice match and the middles hit lights out. I also have to give credit to the guys who struggled but hung in there and helped us win.”

The two teams found themselves tied 11 times in the first set before the Cardinal began to pull away. Service errors plagued the Cougars as they trailed by four at 18-14. Following a BYU timeout Kevin Sagers produced three kills, but it wasn’t enough to close in on the lead. Stanford went on to claim the comfortable 30-22 win.

The second set started almost identical to the first, with neither team gaining more than a one-point lead through the first 31 points. Stewart, Chilton and Tavana combined for two blocks to extend BYU’s lead to 17-14—the largest of the set. The Cardinal clawed back in to tie it at 19-19.

The close play continued for the remainder of the set despite strong kills from Tavana, Sagers and Stowell. After five set-point attempts, an untimely Stanford attack error gave BYU the point it needed to tie the match at one-set-all.

Momentum from the second set carried over to the third as the Cougars attacked early. Lavaja, Stewart and Tavana opened with kills and contributed to an early 5-1 BYU run. Lavaja recorded his seventh ace of the season at 14-7, while multiple Stanford miscues from the service line helped the Cougars maintain a comfortable lead down the stretch. Known as a strong blocking team, it was one final defensive play by Stewart that capped the 30-25 win.

Finding itself trailing by as many as five points late in the four set, BYU inched itself back to within two after Stewart’s 20th kill of the night and a block by Stowell and Lavaja. Tavana’s kill off the block knotted the score 27-27, giving the Cougars a chance to take the lead. It took three tries, but Stowell stepped up one final time to knock down the match-winning point.

“Reed [Chilton] got an incredible dig, which led to Rusty [Lavaja] making an incredible set,” said Stowell. “I hadn’t been set for a while so I was itching for it. I swung high, trying to get it off the block and I was lucky enough to get it.”

The Cougars and Cardinal conclude the two-match weekend series on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                #3 STAN vs #5 BYU (Jan 22, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
   STAN                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Gus Ellis...........  4|  6   1  11  .455|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  7  1|  0
5  Evan Romero.........  4| 23   7  46  .348|  1|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0
7  Spencer McLachlin...  4| 16   4  33  .364|  2|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
9  Brad Lawson.........  4| 19  11  47  .170|  0|  1   7|  1|  8| 0  2  1|  0
12 Kawika Shoji........  4|  4   0   7  .571| 63|  0   3|  0|  8| 0  2  1|  0
14 Garrett Werner......  4|  5   2  12  .250|  0|  0   5|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0
1  Erik Shoji..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0
6  Jordan Inafuku......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
8  Garrett Dobbs.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
11 Myles Muagututia....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
13 Jason Palacios......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 73  25 156  .308| 68|  1  23|  1| 37| 1 19  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  3  25  .440   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  5  39  .359   STAN................ (1) 30 32 25 30  2-1, 2-1 MPSF
   3  18  7  44  .250   BYU................. (3) 22 34 30 32  5-1, 3-0 MPSF
   4  22 10  48  .250
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  0   0   1  .000| 65|  0   2|  0|  7| 1  4  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4|  8   1  13  .538|  2|  1   5|  0|  2| 3  3  2|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  8   3  14  .357|  0|  0   4|  0|  1| 0  0  2|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  4| 15   9  40  .150|  0|  0   4|  0|  6| 0  1  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 21   6  41  .366|  0|  0   0|  1| 12| 0  4  1|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4| 11   2  15  .600|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  6  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  4|  6   3  13  .231|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 69  24 137  .328| 68|  1  18|  1| 45| 4 19  6|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15 10  34  .147   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  21  6  39  .385   Date: Jan 22, 2010   Attend: 4409   Time: 2h 30m
   3  16  3  31  .419   Referees: Maile Jewkes, Tom Givens, Trent Mano
   4  17  5  33  .364

Match Outlook

It’s a clash between two top-five teams this week as No. 5 BYU (4-1, 2-0 MPSF) hosts No. 3 Stanford (2-0, 2-0 MPSF) at the Smith Fieldhouse for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday nights. Both undefeated in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, the Cardinal and Cougars share the lead in the loss column, along with USC and Cal State Northridge with three wins apiece.

The Cardinal opened the 2010 season 2-0 after back-to-back sweeps of No. 8 Hawai’i last weekend. Evan Romero, Spencer McLachlin, and Brad Lawson recorded a combined 38 kills as the Cardinal hit a strong .413 as a team against the Warriors (2-3, 0-2).

Series Info

BYU holds a 23-12 lead in the series between these two teams dating back to March 2, 1990. The Cougars hold a 10-4 record against the Cardinal in Provo, with their most recent victory coming in 2008. BYU has won nine of the past 13 matches and swept Stanford in six of those. Two of those matches went to four games, while BYU and Stanford each won a five-set match last season.

Match Coverage

Both matches will be broadcast live on BYU-TV. Fans may watch a live stream at www.byu.tv.

Live stats are available at the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule.

Coming Off...

The Cougars are coming off back-to-back sweeps over Pacific last week to open the MPSF season 2-0. The 4,024 fans in attendance for the home opener on Friday marked the largest home crowd since the Cougars played then-No. 2 UC Irvine in front of 5,603 fans in 2007. Outside hitters Andrew Stewart and Kevin Sagers led BYU with nine kills apiece on Friday, while the team tied a season-high 18 blocks. Saturday Robb Stowell and Stewart led the Cougars with 13 and 10 kills, respectively, on way to a 30-21, 30-26, 30-23 win.