HONOLULU -- Playing in a rare Monday match, the No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball team suffered a 3-0 sweep at the hands of No. 8 Hawai’i. The match was originally set to be played Saturday on Maui, but was rescheduled due to tsunami warnings.

With the loss the Cougars are now 9-6 overall and 7-5 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

Sophomore opposite Robb Stowell led the Cougars with 12 kills on the night, hitting .400. Andrew Stewart also knocked down double-digit kills with 11, while also adding seven digs. Futi Tavana recorded a match-high five blocks.

The Warriors led for the majority of the first set before BYU saw its first lead at 22-20. Kevin Sagers knocked down back-to-back kills, followed by a hit from Russell Lavaja, as the Cougars posted a three-point run. UH returned the favor with a 5-0 run as it hit .459 for the set. Despite a last-minute comeback attempt aided by attacks from Stewart, BYU dropped the set 30-27.

In set two, UH scored three of its first four points off service aces from Nejc Zemljak and Joshua Walker. Despite BYU hitting .484, the momentum continued in the Warriors’ favor as they led the entire set by as many as six points. A pair of UH attack errors capped a 3-0 BYU run, which narrowed the gap to one point, but it wasn’t enough as the Warriors went up two sets to one.

The Cougars’ struggles continued in the third set as they found themselves trailing 4-0. Kills by Yamil Perez and Lavaja tied the score 10-10, but BYU was never able to take a lead. UH scored seven of the next eight points. Trailing 25-20, Stowell recorded four kills to narrow the Warriors’ lead to three points, but UH’s Josh Walker knocked down his 15th kill of the night to clinch the match.

The Cougars return home to host No. 1 Pepperdine for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. MT and will mark the first time BYU has played at home in five weeks.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
              #4 BYU vs #8 Hawai'i (Mar 01, 2010 at Honolulu, HI)
   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.......  2|  1   0   3  .333| 22|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  5   0  10  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0|   7.0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  9   3  22  .273|  0|  1   1|  2|  0| 0  2  0|  0|  11.0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  3| 12   4  20  .400|  0|  0   4|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  13.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 11   2  29  .310|  1|  0   1|  2|  7| 0  3  0|  0|  12.5
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  9   0  12  .750|  1|  0   3|  0|  1| 1  4  0|  0|  12.0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  3   3  10  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   3.5
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  2   2   8  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  1   0   1 1.000| 22|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 53  14 115  .339| 49|  1  15|  6| 33| 1 18  0|  0|  64.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  19  3  36  .444  19-29  65%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  1  31  .484  19-30  63%   BYU................. (0) 27 26 25  9-6, 7-5 MPSF
   3  18 10  48  .167  16-29  55%   Hawai'i............. (3) 30 30 30  10-5, 6-4 MPSF
   Hawai'i                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Rawson, Matt........  3|  6   1  13  .385|  3|  1   0|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  0|   9.5
2  Grgas, Steven.......  3|  4   1   9  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0|   6.0
5  Hunt, Steven........  3| 12   3  24  .375|  0|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  3  1|  0|  13.5
7  Walker, Joshua......  3| 15   5  24  .417|  2|  2   2|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  0|  18.0
10 Umlauft, Jonas......  3| 15   5  40  .250|  1|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
15 Zemljak, Nejc.......  3|  2   1   3  .333| 41|  3   3|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0|   6.5
8  Tuaniga, Gus........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
9  Cervantes, Ric......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
20 Dyer, Brennon.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 54  16 113  .336| 51|  6   8|  1| 41| 1 17  1|  0|  69.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  20  3  37  .459  20-28  71%   Site: Honolulu, HI (Stan Sheriff Center)
   2  20  8  40  .300  19-26  73%   Date: Mar 01, 2010   Attend: 1084   Time: 2:09
   3  14  5  36  .250  17-26  65%   Referees: Dickson Chun, Ernie Ho
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       6   0   1     7
                        Lead changes     2   0   0     2

Match Outlook

The No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball team (9-4, 7-3 MPSF) has reached the final leg of its four-week road trip as it pays a visit to No. 8 Hawai’i (8-5, 4-4 MPSF) for a two-match series this weekend.

The Cougars are currently tied for first-place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings after completing their first road sweep of the season last week at No. 14 UC San Diego.

The Warriors, currently riding a three-match win streak, posted back-to-back sweeps over Hope International last weekend. The Royals were ranked third amongst NAIA schools. UH recorded 16.5 blocks in Saturday’s match, limiting Hope to .038 hitting percentage.

Series Info

BYU holds a 27-14 all-time advantage over UH, most recently winning both matches played in Provo in 2009, while extending a six-match win streak over the Warriors. While the Cougars have been consistently successful against UH in Provo, they have seen their troubles in Honolulu. BYU is 14-5 all-time against Warriors at home, but trails 11-8 on the island.

The Cougars lead the series 2-1 when playing at neutral sites. BYU last claimed a 3-0 win over the Warriors at the semifinal match of the 2003 MPSF Championship played in Malibu, Calif.

Match Coverage

Live stats are available at the UH men’s volleyball schedule page at HawaiiAthletics.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the link next to the appropriate game on the schedule. Live video is available at uhstreaming.oceanic.com, while live audio can be found at espn1420am.com

Coming Off...

BYU is coming off back-to-back wins over UC San Diego last weekend. Sophomore opposite Robb Stowell led the team on Friday with 22 kills and 20 digs. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart recorded 18 and 14 kills on Friday and Saturday, respectively. As a team the Cougars put up 14 blocks on Saturday, compared to the Tritons’ four.