No. 1 Cougars Sweep No. 4 Stanford

STANFORD -- After dropping only its third contest of the season last Saturday to Pacific, the No. 1 ranked BYU men's volleyball team got back on track Monday night by sweeping No. 4 Stanford, 30-28, 30-25 and 30-23 at Maples Pavilion in the first of a two-match set between the schools.

The Cougars, now 17-3 overall and 11-3 in the MPSF, out-blocked the Cardinal 15-4 on the night, including seven each from Mike Wall and Scott Bunker. Wall also recorded 10 kills and six digs, while Bunker added seven kills and five digs. Joaquin Acosta added 10 kills.

With BYU committing just three hitting errors in games two and three combined, the Cougars had a hitting percentage of almost 53 percent for the two games. BYU used a 7-2 run midway through game two to pull away from the Cardinal, keeping at least a three-point lead the rest of the way.

Game one was the closest of the three, with BYU needing a late run to come from behind. Stanford trailed 21-17, but reeled off six straight points to take a 23-21 advantage. BYU, however, scored the next five points for a three-point lead. The Cardinal later scored two unanswered points to sneak to 29-28 before BYU closed out the game.

BYU had just one error in 29 attempts in game three. Stanford closed to within 24-20 with back-to-back points, but the Cougars scored the next three to pull away.

Stanford, 11-6 overall and 7-5 in the MPSF, received a match-high 11 kills from Curt Toppel. Seth Ring added 10 kills and seven digs while freshman Billy Clayton hit .692 with nine kills and no errors.

BYU and Stanford will meet each other again on Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. at the Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University.