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PROVO -- It was a record-setting night in the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday as the No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball team defeated No. 7 USC in four sets (33-31, 35-37, 33-31, 30-21). With the win the Cougars improve to 13-7 on the season and 9-6 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

“We played really well tonight,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “We showed a lot of heart, emotion and energy, making it a great team win.”

Reigning AVCA National Player of the Week, Andrew Stewart, led BYU with a career-high 27 kills, the most by a Cougar in four sets since Mike Wall’s 30 in 2002.

“Andrew is our leader on the floor,” said Patchell. “When he plays well we usually win. What’s great about tonight is he wasn’t playing very well to start the match, but he didn’t let that affect him. He continued to push and we able to get on a run.”

Senior opposite Kent Tuttle knocked down a season-high 20 kills, while sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja added 10. Also setting new season highs on Friday were Joel Silva and Reed Chilton with 19 and 10 digs, respectively.

Stewart started the night with eight kills in the first set, hitting .727 percent with no errors. After trailing by as many as five points, the Cougars came back, matching the Trojans point-for-point. Lavaja had consecutive kills to bring BYU to within one at 27-26. Once tied 31-31, the Cougars capitalized on a pair of USC errors to win 33-31.

Set two was a back-and-forth battle from the start. Neither team pulled ahead by more than two points until Stewart recorded three quick kills for BYU, helping it earn a 26-23 advantage. Leading 29-25, the Cougars let USC back in it as it posted a 4-0 run. Seven set-points later, the Trojans took the set, 37-35.

The third set was a set of runs and momentum swings. BYU started with a seven-point run to go up 10-5. The run was sparked by a kill from Tuttle, included two service aces by Lavaja, and concluded with a block by Otavio Souza. The Trojans, however, put together a 6-0 run of their own to take a 25-24 lead. Several USC errors and net violations played in the Cougars’ favor, as Stewart and Otavio combined for the set-winning block.

“We can go deep on our bench and that’s what I love about this team,” said Patchell. “Otavio, Kent, Jeff Robinson and Mat Taylor all came in a played well. I have a lot of faith in those guys. A deep team like this can go a long way.”

BYU finally took a commanding lead in the fourth set, leading by as many as nine points. Lavaja picked up his fourth ace of the night at 7-4, becoming the first Cougar to do so since Jonathan Charette did against UCLA in 2008. Stewart and Tuttle combined to create an impressive offensive force, but it was back-to-back BYU blocks that really helped the Cougars down the stretch. A USC bad set and service error clinched the overall win for BYU.

USC and BYU will compete again on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the second of this two-match weekend series. The game will be televised live on BYU-TV.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
             #7 USC vs #4 BYU Cougars (Mar 19, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
   USC                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  Maddison McKibbin...  4| 14   7  30  .233|  3|  1   2|  1|  6| 0  5  1|  0
10 Riley McKibbin......  4|  6   1   8  .625| 56|  0   0|  1| 12| 0  1  1|  0
11 Murphy Troy.........  4| 17  12  48  .104|  0|  0   2|  1| 12| 0  2  1|  0
14 Tony Ciarelli.......  4| 16   8  49  .163|  4|  0   1|  1|  9| 0  2  0|  0
16 Austin Zahn.........  4|  9   3  20  .300|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  5  2|  0
19 Hunter Current......  4|  4   5  18 -.056|  0|  2   4|  0|  0| 0  5  2|  0
12 Sean Dennis.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
13 Clay Knapp..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
17 Tri Bourne..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2| 11| 0  0  0|  0
18 Steven Shandrick....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
21 Chris Trefzger......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 66  36 173  .173| 64|  3  11|  6| 52| 1 20  7|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  6  43  .302   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  20 10  48  .208   USC................. (1) 31 37 31 21  10-8, 8-7 MPSF
   3  14  9  50  .100   BYU Cougars......... (3) 33 35 33 30  13-7, 9-6 MPSF
   4  13 11  32  .062
   BYU Cougars            |     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|  5   2  10  .300| 65|  0   2|  0| 10| 0  4  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4| 10   4  19  .316|  2|  4   6|  0|  2| 1  6  2|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  3|  3   4  11 -.091|  1|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  4|  5   1   9  .444|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  7  0|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  2|  0   3   3-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 27   5  48  .458|  2|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  6  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  4| 20   7  41  .317|  1|  0   3|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  1| 19| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3|  6   5  22  .045|  1|  1   5|  2|  4| 0  3  1|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 76  31 163  .276| 75|  6  20|  3| 59| 1 30  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  8  40  .300   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  23 10  52  .250   Date: Mar 19, 2010   Attend: 2456   Time: 2h 37min
   3  18  9  43  .209   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Mike Farrish, Trent Mano
   4  15  4  28  .393

The No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball team (12-7, 8-6 MPSF) returns home this weekend to host No. 7 USC (10-7, 8-6 MPSF) for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. MT. Both teams are involved in a three-way tie for fifth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings, along with No. 5 Hawai’i.

The Cougars came away as the only undefeated team at the Long Beach State Active Ankle Tournament, posting wins over No. 9 Penn State and St. Francis (PA). BYU is led by AVCA National Player of the Week Andrew Stewart who is averging 3.92 kills per set so far this season.

The Trojans are coming off a series split with Hawai’i on March 8 and 9. They are led by Murphy Troy who averages 4.43 kills per set. USC last visited Provo in May when BYU hosted the 2009 NCAA National Championships. Bill Ferguson’s team suffered a 3-2 loss to UC Irvine in the final match.

Series Info

The Cougars recorded 14 consecutive wins over the Trojans before dropping two matches in 2009. Previous to last season, the last time USC topped BYU was in February of 2001 on the Trojans’ home floor. Overall, the Cougars lead the series 24-9 and 13-4 in Provo. The last time BYU lost to USC at home was in January of 1996.

Match coverage

Both matches will be broadcast live on BYU-TV. Fans may watch a live stream at www.byu.tv. Play-by-play will be provided by Robbie Bullough, with Steve Vail lending color analysis.

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...

BYU is coming off an undefeated weekend at the Long Beach State Active Ankle Tournament, posting four-set wins over No. 9 Penn State and St. Francis (PA). Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart combined for 35 kills on the weekend, extending his double-digit kill streak to 15 matches and totaling 1,023 career kills.