Tigers Upset Top-Ranked BYU

STOCKTON -- After cruising to a 3-0 win over 12th-ranked Pacific on Friday, the top-ranked BYU men's volleyball team stumbled on Saturday, falling to the Tigers in five games. The loss marks only the Cougars' third of the season, while Pacific improves to 8-11, 4-9 and remains alive for an at-large berth to the MPSF Tournament.

BYU (16-3, 10-3) recorded one of its most dominating wins of the season in game one, 30-19, but dropped games two and three, 29-31, 24-30. The Cougars held off Pacific in game four, 30-16, but could not put UOP away in game five, falling, 15-17.

The Cougars hit .479 at the net, including a .690 percentage in game one and a .654 effort in game four. A total four different BYU players recorded double-digit kill totals, including a team-leading 24 kills by All-America candidate Mike Wall, who hit .455 at the net. Jaime Mayol collected 15 kills, while Scott Bunker chipped in 14 kills and Matt Olsen 10. UOP's Aaron Wachtfogel hit a match-leading 29 kills. The Cougars held Pacific to a .310 average at the net, forcing 26 attack errors on 158 swings.

The BYU defense also out blocked the Tigers, 12.0 - 9.0, led by Olsen's match-high six blocks. Bunker and setter Hector Lebron added five blocks each. The Cougars also out-dug Pacific, 46-37. Lebron and Libero Fernando Pessoa each recorded nine digs to lead the BYU defense.

The Cougars will look to rebound on Monday, traveling to fourth-ranked Stanford. BYU will conclude its four-match road trip on Tuesday against the Cardinal. Both matches in Palo Alto are scheduled for 7 p.m. (PDT).

THE MPSF PLAYOFF PICTURE

The top four teams in the Mountain and Pacific Divisions will qualify for the MPSF Tournament, beginning Saturday, April 21. The eight teams will be seeded, with the top-four teams hosting a first-round match. After the first round, the championship tournament will be held on the following Thursday and Saturday (April 26-28) on the home court of the highest remaining seed.

Currently, BYU, UCLA and Pepperdine have clinched playoff berths from the Mountain Division, while Hawai'i and Long Beach State are the only teams to clinch from the Pacific Division. Stanford and USC need just one more victory to clinch a spot in the eight-team field, while UC Irvine (5-9) UC Santa Barbara (4-8) and Pacific (4-9) are fighting for the remaining two at-large spots in the tournament.

Brigham Young vs #12 Pacific (Mar 31, 2001 at Stockton, 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..........  5| 24   4  44  .455|  2|  1   1|  2|  6| 0  3  0|  1
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  5|  9   2  18  .389|  2|  3   3|  1|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  5| 10   3  17  .412|  1|  0   4|  0|  4| 0  6  1|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  3| 15   4  19  .579|  0|  0   0|  2|  5| 0  2  3|  0
 9  LEBRON, Hector......  5|  7   0   8  .875| 68|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  5  2|  0
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  5| 14   3  26  .423|  2|  2   0|  0|  5| 0  5  1|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  4|  5   0   9  .556|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  5|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   0|  3|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 84  16 142  .479| 78|  6  11|  8| 46| 0 24  7|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  2  29  .690   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  5  38  .316   Brigham Young....... 30 29 24 30 17  16-3, 10-3
   3  15  6  30  .300   #12 Pacific......... 19 31 30 16 19  8-11, 4-9
   4  18  1  26  .654
   5  12  2  19  .526
    #12 Pacific            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  WACHTFOGEL, Aaron...  5| 29  11  53  .340|  2|  0   5|  2|  9| 0  2  2|  0
 9  HOEFER, Dan.........  5|  3   2   8  .125|  0|  2   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 12 ANDRIC, Vladimir....  5| 17   4  33  .394|  0|  0   0|  3|  8| 0  1  0|  0
 13 GERLACH, Tim........  3|  2   2   9  .000|  3|  1   0|  0|  2| 0  1  1|  0
 17 TAMAS, Chris........  5|  3   0   5  .600| 68|  4   4|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0
 18 RODGERS, Sean.......  5|  5   1  18  .222|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  4  1|  0
 1  MACARANAS, Dexter...  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  BERNTSEN, Martin....  2|  4   0   7  .571|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 10 EITHUN, Geir........  5| 12   6  25  .240|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  3  1|  0
 11 WISNIAKOWSKI, Lucas.  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 75  26 158  .310| 74|  8  13|  6| 37| 0 18  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  6  30  .233   Site: Stockton, Calif. (Alex G. Spanos Ctr)
   2  19  8  43  .256   Date: Mar 31, 2001   Attend: 202   Time: 2:01
   3  19  4  30  .500   Referees: Ray Mink, Eric Asami
   4  10  7  33  .091
   5  14  1  22  .591