PROVO -- In a matchup of two of the MPSF’s best teams, the No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball team (21-7, 15-6) extended its winning streak to 11 games and swept the No. 3 Cal State Northridge Matadors(31-29, 30-19, 30-25).

Andrew Stewart recorded a career-high 13 blocking assists, a team-high on the season in three games, in the victory over the Matadors. Setter Reed Chilton's 46 assists is also a team-high on the season in three games.

Stewart led the team with 12 kills on the night, followed closely by Futi Tavana with 10 of his own.

"We keep accomplishing what we're working hard for and we're starting to play a lot better," said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "We got it going in the first set, kept it going through the rest of the match, and a lot of guys played great tonight."

The Cougars took the lead early in game one, with a 2-0 start, and would keep it until the Matadors tied the game at 28-28. Outside hitter Kevin Sagers tallied a point for BYU off a kill but a kill-to-answer from the Matadors would tie it up a second time. The Cougars finished the game with another kill from Sagers and a block from BYU’s front line to give them the 31-29 final score.

Chilton was credited with all 16 assists for the Cougars in the first game and, as a team, BYU only tallied two errors compared to the nine from Cal State Northridge.

In BYU’s last match against Cal Baptist, the team had a total of five blocks. In game one against Cal State Northridge, the Cougars had already combined for a total of eight team blocks.

Game two ended with a 30-19 BYU advantage after an offensive domination from BYU tallied 16 kills compared to the Matador’s 12. Tavana hit 1.000 on 4-for-4 sets to lead game two for the Cougars. Chilton tallied 15 more assists while Robb Stowell led the team with four digs and two aces.

Stowell was the only other Cougar to be credited with an assist and finished the game leading the team with six digs.

The Matadors took their first lead of the match in game three after a hitting error from the Cougars. Their one-point lead, however, would be short lived as the Cougars came back for the lead and 30-25 win over the Matadors.

Sagers brought home the win for BYU in game three after back-to-back kills gave the Cougars their last 2-of-3 points to finish the game. Match point was given to BYU on a service error by Matador Tanner Nua.

"We're a deep team," Patchell said. "There's so much diversity on this team that have learned from last year so we just keep moving forward. We're very well balanced."

The Cougars are now 7-4 on the season when they take a team in three games and 17-1 when they win the first game.

The team will be back in the Fieldhouse to take on Cal State Northridge Saturday, April 17, at 7 p.m. for the second game in the series.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
        #3 Cal State Northridge vs #2 BYU (Apr 16, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
   Cal State Northridge   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Tanner Nua..........  3|  5   4  11  .091|  1|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0
10 Kevin McKniff.......  3| 14   3  24  .458|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  4  0|  0
11 Mike Gaudino........  3|  6   4  19  .105|  3|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
12 Matt Stork..........  3|  1   1   3  .000| 40|  0   3|  1|  6| 1  1  1|  0
14 John Baker..........  3|  9   7  23  .087|  0|  0   3|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  0
17 Jacek Ratajczak.....  3| 11   3  18  .444|  0|  0   1|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0
1  Jim Wielebnicki.....  3|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  0   1|  2|  2| 0  1  0|  0
7  Ali'i Keohohou......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
15 Ashton Hippenstiel..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 48  23 102  .245| 47|  0  13|  6| 27| 1 11  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23  9  41  .341   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  5  33  .212   Cal State Northridge (0) 29 19 25  20-8, 14-7 mpsf
   3  13  9  28  .143   BYU................. (3) 31 30 30  21-7, 15-6 mpsf
   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.......  3|  1   0   1 1.000| 46|  1   1|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  3   0   5  .600|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  3|  9   4  24  .208|  1|  2   3|  0|  6| 0  4  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 12   5  27  .259|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0 13  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3| 10   2  14  .571|  0|  1   2|  0|  2| 0  9  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  0   2   2-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  2|  5   0   6  .833|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  7   2  13  .385|  0|  1   1|  0|  3| 1  0  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 49  15  96  .354| 47|  6  10|  0| 25| 1 33  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  2  32  .469   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  16  4  27  .444   Date: Apr 16, 2010   Attend: 1960   Time: 1h 50 m
   3  16  9  37  .189   Referees: Maile Jewkes, Les Calles, Trent Mano

The No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball team (20-7, 14-6 MPSF) hosts No. 3 Cal State Northridge (20-7, 14-6 MPSF) for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday nights at the Smith Fieldhouse for the last two home games of the regular season. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. MT.

Holding a tiebreaker over Stanford, the Cougars can share the regular season title and earn a No. 1 seed with two home wins over CSUN this weekend, along with one loss by the Cardinal. BYU at least clinches home court in the quarterfinals with two wins, or a split coupled with one loss by either Pepperdine or Hawaii.

The Matadors joined to tie the Cougars this week for second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation as well as having identical overall and conference records. BYU stays at No. 2 in the AVCA poll with one first-place vote. With the longest win streak in the Nation at 10, the Cougars have swept their opponents since March 12.

Cal State Northridge is tied for second with BYU in the MPSF and are tied for third with Pepperdine in the AVCA after defeating UCSB last Wednesday 3-2 and then-No. 9 Penn State Saturday 3-0. They are currently on a four-game win streak, including a win against No. 1 Stanford.

SERIES INFO

BYU holds a 25-19 lead in the series between these two teams dating back to April 11, 1990. The Cougars hold a 15-7 record at home in the Smith Fieldhouse while the Matadors edge BYU 9-11 on their home court. On neutral courts the teams are 1-1. BYU has won seven of the last ten matches—including five consecutive—but has lost to CSUN in the last four matches. Of those seven wins, only one has gone to five sets. The Cougars last faced the Matadors on Jan. 8, falling 3-1 at the UCSB Elephant Bar Tournament. Between 1997-2003 the Cougars recorded a series-leading 12-match win streak over the Matadors, including nine sweeps.

MATCH COVERAGE

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...

Extending its winning streak to 10 games, the BYU men’s volleyball team defeated Cal Baptist 3-0 Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday, the Cougar attack was led by sophomore Robb Stowell posting 14 kills at .619 hitting while senior Andrew Stewart tallied 11 kills. Senior setter Reed Chilton chalked up 38 assists and three digs while junior libero BJ Hiapo led the Cougars on defense with eight digs. The Cougars won in three quick sets (30-17, 33-31, 30-26). Sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja stopped the Lancers on the net with five total blocks. Saturday, BYU finished the weekend sweep of CBU in three games (33-31, 30-23, 30-27). Led by senior opposite hitter Kent Tuttle, the Cougars came out with another win. Tuttle tallied 17 kills and four digs on the night. Junior middle blocker Otavio Souza started his first match of the season, posting nine kills on .727 hitting. With three different setters in for the match, Chilton led in assists with 25 on the night. Libero Joel Silva had 11 digs on the night to lead his Cougars on defense.