Wall, Slabe Lead Cougars over UC Irvine

IRVINE -- The No. 4 BYU men's volleyball team continued to win on the road, as it defeated MPSF opponent UC Irvine 3-1 (30-26, 30-21, 26-30, 35-33), behind a relentless attack at Crawford Hall. The Cougars improve to 10-2 overall, and 8-2 in the MPSF while the Anteaters fall to 7-8, 3-7.

Three Cougars had double-digit kills, and BYU outhit UC Irvine .378 (69 kills in 135 swings) to .236 (59 for 127). BYU was led by All-American opposite-side hitter Mike Wall and junior outside hitter Luka Slabe, who had 22 kills each. BYU extends its streak of at least two players with double-digit kills to 12 matches.

Wall also contributed four digs and three blocks to go with a match-high .500 attack percentage (22 for 38). He has racked up double-digit kills in every match this season. Slabe had six digs and two service aces to go with a .487 attack percentage. Senior Joaquin Acosta balanced BYU's attack with 15 kills in 28 attempts (.429). He also had seven digs and three blocks. Freshman setter Carlos Moreno continued to excel, as he orchestrated the Cougars attack with 60 assists, to go with three aces, three digs and four blocks.

Erick Helenihi was the lone Anteater with double-digit kills, as he had a match-high 36 kills on 59 swings (.424). Helenihi also had four aces with five digs.

The fourth game was the most exciting and pivitol to the match. With BYU down 32-33, Helenihi made two consecutive attacking errors to put the Cougars up 34-33. Slabe ended the match with a decisive ace.

BYU will return to action with back-to-back games against No. 2 UCLA in Los Angeles on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m. (PST).

Brigham Young vs UC Irvine (Feb 20, 2002 at Irvine, Calif.)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WALL, Mike..........  4| 22   3  38  .500|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  3  1|  0
 4  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  4| 15   3  28  .429|  0|  0   5|  1|  7| 0  3  1|  0
 6  GORNY, Chris........  4|  6   1  11  .455|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
 9  PAAL, Rafael........  4|  3   4  12 -.083|  0|  2   4|  3|  9| 0  7  1|  0
 11 MORENO, Carlos......  4|  1   3   6 -.333| 60|  3   3|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  3
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  4| 22   3  39  .487|  1|  2   3|  0|  6| 0  0  1|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 69  18 135  .378| 62|  7  18|  6| 34| 0 20  4|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  6  36  .333   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  5  30  .367   Brigham Young....... 30 30 26 35  10-2, 8-2
   3  16  4  32  .375   UC Irvine........... 26 21 30 33  7-8, 3-7
   4  19  3  37  .432
    UC Irvine              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Pelzel, Jimmy.......  2|  6   6  19  .000|  0|  0   2|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Tucker, Monte.......  4|  5   2  13  .231|  1|  0   1|  2|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 8  Watumull, Brenden...  4|  4   2  11  .182|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  4  1|  0
 12 Helenihi, Erick.....  4| 36  11  59  .424|  1|  4   2|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 15 Jensen, Jarett......  2|  1   2   4 -.250| 18|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  1
 16 Weichert, Kyle......  4|  4   4  10  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 1  Bemus, Spencer......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  Kniffin, David......  3|  0   0   0  .000| 35|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0
 6  Swenson, Casey......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 Shea, Devin.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 24 Fell, BJ............  3|  3   2  11  .091|  0|  1   1|  1|  7| 0  2  1|  0
 25 Marchewka, Russ.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 59  29 127  .236| 55|  6  12|  7| 35| 1 19  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  32  .250   Site: Irvine, Calif. (Crawford Hall)
   2   8  8  30  .000   Date: Feb 20, 2002   Attend: 411   Time: 2:10
   3  17  4  30  .433   Referees: Kevin Cull, Larry Schwartz
   4  20 11  35  .257