IRVINE -- Sophomore Robb Stowell knocked down a career-high 26 kills with a .413 attack percentage as the No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team pulled out a nail-biting five-set win over No. 11 UC Irvine (30-28, 19-30, 23-30, 30-27, 17-15) Thursday night.

Down two sets to one, the Cougars came back to win the final two, maintaining their undefeated 3-0 record in five set matches this season. With the win BYU improves to 7-3 on the season and 5-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

Besides Stowell, three other Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Kevin Sagers with 14, Andrew Stewart with 12 and Otavio Souza adding 11. Stewart also completed a double-double night with a career-high 17 digs. He now has four double-doubles on the season and six for his career.

Stewart, Stowell and Russell Lavaja started the night off with kills as the Cougars opened with a 4-2 lead in the first set. Attacks from UCI’s Carson Clark and Jordan DuFault tied the score at 7-7. With the score knotted again at 12-all, BYU scored three straight points, including kills from both its outside hitters, Sagers and Stewart. The Anteaters were forced to call a timeout, but the momentum continued in the Cougars’ favor.

Continuing a strong offensive attack, Sagers knocked down four more kills, making the lead 27-21. Lavaja’s third kill of the night brought up set point for BYU, but the Cougars called a timeout after three consecutive UCI points. Lavaja converted on another attack to secure the 30-28 win.

After hitting .484 in the first set, UCI held the Cougars to a .04 attack percentage in the second. The Anteaters took advantage of several early BYU attack errors to take a 9-6 lead. The Cougars climbed back to within one point after a kill and service ace from Stowell, but UCI scored seven of the next nine points to go up 18-12. It extended its lead to as many as 12 points before defeating BYU 30-19.

Set three started with a 5-0 UCI run which included three blocks. Trading points back-and-forth, the Cougars were unable to narrow the deficit to less than three points, despite kills from Stowell and Souza. Stewart knocked down his eight kill of the night as BYU trailed 23-18, followed next by back-to-back Souza blocks. The junior middle blocker recorded another kill, bringing the Cougars to within three, but the comeback attempt would fall short as UCI claimed the set 30-23.

Stowell and Souza accounted for four of the Cougars’ first eight points in the fourth set, allowing BYU to take an 8-5 lead. After Lavaja and Reed Chilton combined for a block at the 11-8 mark, consecutive UCI service errors and kills from Stowell and Souza brought the Cougar lead to 15-11 as the Anteaters called a timeout. UCI scored three unanswered points to tie the score 19-19.

Each time BYU took a one-point lead, the Anteaters answered back as the set saw seven additional tied scores. Knotted at 26-26, Sagers capitalized on a UCI service error with an ace. Stowell followed that with his 20th kill of the night to bring up set point. He and Lavaja put up a block to force a fifth set.

The final set was as close as expected with the teams trading early points. Tied 3-3, Sagers recorded a kill, which was followed by Stowell’s second ace of the night. The tied scores continued due to several untimely BYU service errors. UCI took a slight 10-9 advantage after a kill by Clark, forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. Trailing 13-10, BYU put together a 3-0 run, which Stewart capped with kill. With the Anteaters leading 15-14, Sagers and Stowell strung together consecutive kills, bringing up match point. Sagers clinched the overall win, converting on one final attack.

The Cougars and Anteaters meet again on Friday at 7 p.m. PT.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
               #3 BYU vs #11 UCI (Feb 04, 2010 at Irvine, Calif.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  5|  0   0   2  .000| 59|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  3  1|  0|   1.5
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  5|  6   2  13  .308|  1|  0   5|  0|  3| 0  7  2|  0|   9.5
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  5| 11   4  15  .467|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  5  0|  0|  14.5
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  5| 14   2  23  .522|  1|  1   4|  1|  6| 0  3  1|  0|  16.5
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  5| 26   7  46  .413|  0|  2   4|  0|  7| 0  4  1|  0|  30.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  5| 12   7  32  .156|  0|  0   2|  3| 17| 0  3  1|  0|  13.5
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  0   2   3 -.667|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   1.0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  3|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  2|  0   2   2-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  7|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 69  26 136  .316| 68|  3  20|  9| 44| 1 27  6|  0|  86.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  18  3  31  .484  19-28  67%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  9  25  .040  17-30  56%   BYU................. (3) 30 19 23 30 17  7-3, 5-2
   3  14  6  33  .242  18-29  62%   UCI................. (2) 28 30 30 27 15  5-7, 1-6
   4  16  5  28  .393  22-28  78%
   5  11  3  19  .421  11-16  68%
   UCI                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  Connor Hughes.......  2|  2   3   6 -.167|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
4  Anthony Spittle.....  5|  2   1   5  .200| 64|  1   0|  0|  7| 0  3  0|  0|   4.5
7  Jordan DuFault......  5| 16   7  35  .257|  1|  3   5|  1| 10| 0  1  0|  0|  19.5
9  Carson Clark........  5| 29   6  57  .404|  1|  2   7|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  32.0
12 Austin D'Amore......  5|  6   3  11  .273|  1|  2   6|  0|  1| 1  5  0|  0|  11.5
17 Bryan Simmons.......  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
1  Kevin Carroll.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  Cole Reinholm.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
15 Cory Yoder..........  5| 14   0  31  .452|  1|  1   3|  2|  4| 0  5  0|  0|  17.5
18 Will Montgomery.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
19 Kevin Wynne.........  4|  5   0   7  .714|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 2  5  1|  0|   9.5
22 Kevin Welch.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 74  20 153  .353| 72|  9  26|  3| 35| 3 21  1|  0|  96.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  19  7  38  .316  19-30  63%   Site: Irvine, Calif. (Bren Center)
   2  15  2  24  .542  17-19  89%   Date: Feb 04, 2010   Attend: 1003   Time: 2:21
   3  16  6  41  .244  19-24  79%   Referees: Kevin Cull, Joe Aguilar
   4  17  4  34  .382  21-29  72%
   5   7  1  16  .375  10-16  62%
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       7   4   2  10  11    34
                        Lead changes     3   1   2   3   4    13

Match Outlook

The No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team (6-3, 4-2 MPSF) stays on the road this week as it plays at No. 11 UC Irvine (5-6, 1-5 MPSF) for a two-match series. The Cougars already defeated the reigning national champions in their season-opening match on Jan. 7. That day BYU handed the Anteaters a 3-1 loss at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational.

The Anteaters are coming off back-to-back five-set losses at then-No. 9 Hawaii. UCI out-hit (.356-.237), out-blocked (15.5-12.0) and out-dug (55-50) Hawaii in Saturday’s loss.

Series Info

The Cougars are 17-6 against the Anteaters since 2001, but only 6-6 against them since the 2006 season. BYU defeated UCI in three matchups in 2008, including two in Irvine, Calif. and one at the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals. Last season UCI claimed an early-season match in Santa Barbara, while the two teams split matches later in Provo.

BYU and UCI met earlier this season in the opening round of the UC Santa Barbara Invitational. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 19 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Kevin Sagers and Robb Stowell contributed 17 kills apiece. Both Stewart and Sagers recorded double-doubles with 15 and 10 digs, respectively.

Match Coverage

Live stats are available at the UC Irvine men’s volleyball schedule page at www.ucirvinesports.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the link next to the appropriate game on the schedule.

Coming Off...

The Cougars are coming off a weekend split at No. 6 UCLA. Kevin Sagers had 14 kills to pace BYU on Friday, with Robb Stowell and Andrew Stewart adding 12 and 11, respectively. Each of the three Cougar attackers hit over .300—led by Stowell’s .370 success rate—but the nearly flawless performance on the other side of the net proved too much for BYU on this particular night. Stewart matched his career high with 22 kills in a five-set win on Saturday. Other Cougars with double-digit kills were Sagers and Kent Tuttle with 14 and 11, respectively. Sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja contributed a match-high 11 blocks, marking a new career high.