No. 1 BYU Blanks Stubborn Concordia

PROVO -- The top-ranked BYU men's volleyball team recorded its 10th three-game victory of the season on Saturday, blanking 14th-ranked Concordia (New York), 30-26, 34-32, 30-21. With the win, the Cougars improve to 14-1 on the season, while the Clippers drop their fifth straight, falling to 15-7 on the season.

"We didn't know a lot about Concordia entering the match," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "We had a game report from their match against Cal State Northridge, but besides that, we didn't have anything on them. We weren't in the match very long before we had to change things up. Hugh (McCutcheon) and our front-row guys did a nice job adjusting during the match."

Defense was again the story of the night for BYU, as the Cougars out-blocked the Clippers, 16.0 - 4.5. Despite playing only just two games, junior Mike Wall led the BYU defense with a match-high seven blocks. Junior Joaquin Acosta chipped in six blocks in two games, while senior Mac Wilson was credited with five. All totaled seven Cougars produced 30 blocks, compared to Concordia's nine.

Offensively, Acosta and Wall combined for 21 of BYU's 53 kills. Acosta recorded a team-leading 11 kills, while Wall added 10. Sophomore outside hitter Jaime Mayol hit .667 on the night, chalking up nine kills on 12 swings. Freshman Jonathan Alleman came off the bench to pick up five kills on seven attempts in game three, hitting .571. The Cougars also chalked up seven aces, led by Scott Bunker and Wilson, who each had two apiece.

"There were two things I am pleased about," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "I thought we did a nice job coming back in game two and throughout the match, we were able to block some balls. I thought those two factors really contributed to our being able to win this match tonight."

In game one, Concordia jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and gave the top-ranked Cougars all they could handle. BYU clawed its way back in the match when Bunker tied things up at 8-8 on his second straight ace. The two teams traded serves for much of the remainder of game one before Mayol broke the 25-25 tie with his fifth kill of the game. Two straight Clipper errors ended the game in BYU's favor, 30-26.

"The crowd here actually did us a favor," Concordia head coach Ivan Marquez said. "We have a lot of foreign guys who are used to playing in front of a loud crowd. When the fans started yelling at us and getting after us, it gave us a lot of energy. That's what our guys are used to. Having played five matches over the past several days, if the gym would have been empty, I don't think we would have had the energy to play well and it would have been an even different outcome."

One of Wall's five errors on the night game Concordia its largest lead of game two -- a four-point advantage, 8-12. After BYU went on a 6-2 run, tieing things up at 14-14, the game went back and forth, seeming as if no team could put the other away. Tied at 30-30, Acosta picked up his seventh kill of the game, giving BYU the serve for game-point. The Clippers fought off the serve and forced the Cougars to serve three more times for game point. Finally, Tulio Costa's attack sailed long, giving the Cougars the 34-32 win.

In game three, it was all BYU. The Cougars jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and would extend that lead to 28-19 before the Clippers went on a mini run to cut the BYU advantage to 28-21. A Concordia serving error gave the Cougars the serve for match-point when Alleman picked up his fifth kill of the game to end the match with a 30-21 game-three BYU win.

"Game three was very tough for us," Marquez said. "It became obvious to us that we weren't going to win tonight. After competing hard in the first two games, I just don't think we had the energy to keep it up in the final game. To BYU's credit, there is no better volleyball teacher in the country than Carl McGown. Besides being big and athletic, BYU just doesn't make mistakes. Because of that, I think BYU is one of the best teams in the country. They just don't make mistakes like some of the other teams we have played."

The Cougars return to action next weekend in an important two-match MPSF series against No. 7 Long Beach State (12-4, 7-3). The 49'ers and Cougars will square off on Friday, March 23 and again Saturday, March 24 in the Smith Fieldhouse. Both matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m. (MST). Long Beach State, which will also serve as the host institution for the 2001 NCAA Volleyball Championships in May, currently ranks second in the MPSF's Pacific Division with a 7-3 league mark, while BYU sits atop the Mountain Division with an 8-1 league mark. The 49'ers were scheduled to play UCLA (16-5, 8-3) this evening at the Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

#14 Concordia vs Brigham Young (Mar 17, 2001 at Provo, Utah)
    #14 Concordia          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  TAMAN, Ashraf.......  3| 14  10  33  .121|  4|  0   1|  3|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 5  MENDEZ, Luis........  3| 11   4  23  .304|  1|  0   2|  1|  7| 0  3  2|  0
 8  LOPEZ, Carlos.......  3| 10   2  18  .444|  2|  0   0|  2|  8| 0  1  1|  1
 10 VELASCO, Alvaro.....  3|  4   1   7  .429| 44|  0   1|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 11 COSTA, Tulio........  3|  6   3  14  .214|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  2  2|  0
 14 PARA, Jaun_Jose.....  3|  7   3  15  .267|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 7  FAUST, Bill.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 9  NIEMCZYNOWICS, Adam.  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 15 BROWN, Luke.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 53  23 112  .268| 51|  0   8|  7| 23| 0  9  5|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  36  .278   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  22  9  44  .295   #14 Concordia....... 26 32 21  15-7
   3  15  8  32  .219   Brigham Young....... 30 34 30  14-1
    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..........  2| 10   5  24  .208|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  7  0|  1
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  2| 11   2  26  .346|  0|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  6  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  2|  2   0   5  .400|  0|  1   3|  0|  0| 0  4  1|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  2|  9   1  12  .667|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 10 LARSEN, Jeremiah....  3|  0   1   1-1.000| 49|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  2
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  2|  6   1   9  .556|  1|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 5  WILSON, Mac.........  2|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 2  5  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  1|  5   1   7  .571|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  2|  8   3  14  .357|  0|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  0  1|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 53  15 101  .376| 52|  7   8|  0| 25| 2 28  2|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  4  32  .406   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  8  45  .244   Date: Mar 17, 2001   Attend: 2189   Time: 1:25
   3  17  3  24  .583   Referees: Tom Given, Les Calles