Cougars Outduel Sixth-Ranked Long Beach State

PROVO -- The top-ranked BYU men's volleyball team came up a little lucky against sixth-ranked Long Beach State on Friday, downing the 49'ers, 3-1 (30-27, 30-28, 21-30, 30-28) in MPSF action. The Cougars improve to 15-1, 9-1, while Long Beach State falls to 12-4, 7-3 on the season.

"We were very lucky tonight," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "We did not play very well at all. Sometimes I guess you just have to be a little lucky, because I really don't think we played well enough at times to win this match."

BYU kill leader Mike Wall collected a team-high 15 kills on the night, but hit only .194 at the net. Senior middle blocker Scott Bunker recorded 13 kills on 26 swings, hitting .385. Long Beach State won the battle at the net, recording 67 kills to BYU's 60. LBSU senior David McKienzie recorded a match-high 23 kills, hitting .318 on the night. The 49'ers hit .370, while the Cougars hit just .260 at the net.

While the BYU offense struggled through most of the match, the front-row defense held its own. The Cougars out-blocked Long Beach State, 13.5 - 10.0. BYU registered 21 assisted blocks and three solos, compared to the 49'ers 18 assists and one block solo. All-American Scott Bunker recorded a match-high eight blocks on the night, including two solos and six block assists.

"Simply, we will have to play a lot better tomorrow night in order to beat this team again," McGown said. "I'm disappointed, but these guys are experienced and know what it will take to turn it around. For now, we'll just be grateful luck was on our side."

The two clubs will square off again tomorrow night in the Smith Fieldhouse, match time is slated for 7 p.m. (MST). Also scheduled Saturday evening, a brief ceremony honoring the 2000-01 BYU men's basketball team. Since the team did not have a chance to cut down the nets after their MWC Tournament victory over New Mexico due to scheduling constraints, event staff will roll a basketball standard to the floor and the team will cut down the nets and be presented with the MWC Tournament Championship trophy.

#6 Long Beach State vs Brigham Young (Mar 23, 2001 at Provo, Utah)
    #6 Long Beach State    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  EKINS, Mark.........  4|  1   1   2  .000| 62|  1   0|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0
 5  MAY, TIM............  4| 14   2  19  .632|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  7  2|  0
 6  PROSSER, Matt.......  4| 11   2  19  .474|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 8  McKIENZIE, David....  4| 23   9  44  .318|  0|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  3  0|  1
 9  TOUZINSKY, Scott....  2|  1   2   4 -.250|  0|  1   4|  1|  5| 0  0  1|  0
 18 POLSTER, Jim........  4| 11   4  18  .389|  0|  0   6|  0|  5| 0  3  1|  0
 19 CALDWELL, Kelly.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  5|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 2  WOOTTON, Jeff.......  4|  6   3  13  .231|  0|  0   5|  1|  6| 0  2  1|  0
 3  DAHL, Bjorn.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 67  23 119  .370| 62|  2  20|  7| 33| 1 18  5|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  8  28  .250   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  5  32  .406   #6 Long Beach State. 27 28 30 28  12 - 5  7 - 4  MPFS
   3  14  5  27  .333   Brigham Young....... 30 30 21 30  15 - 1  9 - 1  MPFS
   4  20  5  32  .469
    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| 15   9  31  .194|  3|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  1  0|  0
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  3|  6   4  15  .133|  0|  1   5|  1|  0| 0  5  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  3|  9   1  12  .667|  1|  2   4|  0|  0| 0  1  3|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  3|  5   3  14  .143|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 9  LEBRON, Hector......  4|  3   1   6  .333| 48|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  1
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  4| 13   3  26  .385|  0|  2   0|  0|  4| 2  6  0|  0
 5  WILSON, Mac.........  3|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3|  3   2  10  .100|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  4|  4   3   9  .111|  0|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 60  27 127  .260| 56|  7  13|  2| 21| 3 21  3|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  5  32  .281   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  18  4  31  .452   Date: Mar 23, 2001   Attend: 3968   Time: 2:10
   3  13 12  35  .029   Referees: Tom Given, Les Calles
   4  15  6  29  .310