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PROVO -- The brooms came out in the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday as No. 4 BYU swept No. 7 USC, 30-25, 30-23, 30-23, to extend its win streak to four matches. With the victory the Cougars improve to 14-7 on the season and 10-6 against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams.

“Tonight was a great team effort,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “We were able to put pressure on USC and served the ball well, which caused them to get frustrated.”

Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart, who had 16 kills on the night, once again led the team’s offensive attack. He has now recorded double-digit kills in 17 consecutive matches. Also knocking down double-digit kills was senior opposite Kent Tuttle with 11. Middle blockers Futi Tavana and Russell Lavaja put up seven blocks apiece.

Stewart led the Cougars with six kills in the first set, including three to give BYU an 8-7 lead. The Trojans came back to tie the score at 9-9, but the Cougars continued to gradually pull away with blocks from Tavana, Reed Chilton, Kevin Sagers and Stewart. It was three consecutive BYU points that won the set 30-25.

It was a back-and-forth battle in the second set until a kill by Stewart kicked off a four-point BYU run. Tavana added a kill and block during that stretch, giving the Cougars a 25-19 lead. Subbing in for Tuttle, Robb Stowell made an immediate impact, hitting the set-winning kill at 30-23.

The Cougars led by as many as seven points in the final set as they continued to out block the Trojans. Attacks by Stewart, Tuttle, Sagers and Tavana aided BYU down the stretch, but it was a fitting Lavaja solo block that clinched the overall win as the Cougars claimed the set 30-23.

The Cougars remain at home next week as they host UC Santa Barbara for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. MT and will be televised live on BYU-TV.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
        #7 USC Trojans vs #4 Brigham Young (Mar 20, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
   USC Trojans            |     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...  3|  7   6  15  .067|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
10 Riley McKibbin......  3|  3   0   5  .600| 42|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  4  0|  0
11 Murphy Troy.........  3| 13   7  34  .176|  0|  1   4|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
14 Tony Ciarelli.......  3|  7   5  24  .083|  2|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0
16 Austin Zahn.........  3|  8   2  16  .375|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 1  2  1|  0
19 Hunter Current......  3|  7   0  11  .636|  2|  0   4|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
9  Jon Hackett.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
13 Clay Knapp..........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
17 Tri Bourne..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
23 Tyler Stevens.......  1|  2   2   4  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 47  22 109  .229| 46|  1  14|  1| 28| 1 12  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16 10  44  .136   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  6  37  .243   USC Trojans......... (0) 25 23 23  10-9, 8-8 MPSF
   3  16  6  28  .357   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  14-7, 10-6 MPSF
   Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3| 11   2  27  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  4  1|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  0   0   2  .000| 40|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  7   2  13  .385|  2|  0   4|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  8   1  15  .467|  0|  0   5|  0|  3| 0  3  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 16   5  31  .355|  0|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  4  1|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  9   1  13  .615|  0|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  7  1|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  3|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  5|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 53  12 104  .394| 47|  1  11|  1| 32| 1 28  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  35  .229   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  20  4  38  .421   Date: Mar 20, 2010   Attend: 1104   Time: 1H 47M
   3  19  2  31  .548   Referees: MAILE JEWKES, TOM GIVEN, TRENT MANO

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.