Cougars Knock Off Top-Ranked UCLA, 3-1

PROVO -- The second-ranked BYU men's volleyball team knocked off top-ranked UCLA on Friday, 3-1, in front of a Smith Fieldhouse record, 6,119 fans. The Cougars remain the only undefeated team in the nation with a 9-0 record, while UCLA dropped to 10-4 on the year. The win also improves BYU to 5-0 in league play, giving the Cougars a two-match lead over UCLA, which fell to 4-2 in the MPSF Mountain Division.

"This win is good for us right now," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "But it doesn't do anything for us tomorrow night or the next night. We'll take this win and then move on. At this point in the season, that's the most important thing. This win is certainly nice for our program, but we still have some very tough matches ahead."

Junior Mike Wall led the Cougars with a season-high 22 kills on the night, hitting a blistering .541 (22-2-37) at the net. The Santa Barbara, Calif., native added five assists, eight digs and was credited with five blocks. Junior middle blocker Matt Olsen added 10 kills on 19 swings, while freshman Jonathan Alleman entered the match in game three and hit 7-of-9 (.778). The Cougars out-dueled the Bruins at the net, hitting .344 to just .139.

The BYU defense forced 34 UCLA hitting errors, 19 service errors, dug 37 balls and recorded 28 blocks on the night. Olsen led the BYU defense with eight blocks, while setter Hector Lebron, middle blocker Scott Bunker and Alleman each added four blocks. Olsen and company forced UCLA sluggers Ian Burnham (.033), Mark Williams (.000) and Cameron Mount (.071) to a combined 24 attack errors and 12 of the Bruins' 19 service errors.

"Our defense played really well tonight," McGown said. "We were able to block and dig and cause UCLA some problems. Defense is one thing you really can't take away from a team. I really thought our defense played better than our offense."

In game one, the Cougars hit .348 (13-5-23), while holding UCLA to just .074 at the net. Wall paced BYU with five kills, while Olsen chipped in three kills and three blocks. Leading 29-22, Joaquin Acosta chased down an errant pass that landed short, inside the net to catch the Bruins off guard and take game one, 30-22.

In game two, UCLA pulled ahead after the Cougars tied the match at 8-8. The Bruins had 13 kills with only four errors to out-duel the Cougars, despite BYU's 18 kills. Burnham and Mount each had four kills for the Bruins. Serving for game point, Mount missed the serve to give BYU its 24th point. BYU's Luka Slabe served four straight points, cutting the UCLA lead to 29-28. Burnham ended the Cougar rally with his fourth kill of the game, giving the Bruins the 30-28 victory.

In game three, the two teams battled to a 16-16 tie before the Cougars pulled ahead behind Olsen and Alleman who entered the game for Jaime Mayol. Alleman's first kill gave BYU a 24-20 lead, turning the serve over to Wall. After a Wall ace the Cougars pushed the lead to 26-20 before the Bruins mounted a three-point rally of their own. Alleman ended the UCLA run with his third kill. After trading serves, Wall finally ended the game, 30-26, with his 16th kill of the match.

With the momentum from game three and a record-setting crowd lending its support, the Cougars jumped out to a quick 10-6 lead in game four behind three Wall kills. Slabe served for four straight points, aided by Olsen who picked up back-to-back kills in the series. The Bruins climbed back to within four (24-20) , but the BYU defense propelled the Cougars to three more points, when Slabe ended the match with his fifth kill of the night.

"We were serving the ball out a lot because of the elevation," UCLA head coach Al Scates said. "Also, we didn't pass as well as we could. But, BYU played great. They have a great coach, and a great team. They're going to be tough to beat anywhere, but not as tough as at home. If they win and get the playoffs here, I guarantee they'll win it."

Until losing game two on Friday, 30-28, the Cougars had not lost a single game since Jan. 27, ending a streak of 17 straight single-game victories. The four-game win over UCLA marks only the second non three-game win for BYU this season.

No. 2 BYU will return to action on Saturday, playing host to 12th-ranked UC Irvine in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Anteaters are 3-8 on the season and enter Saturday's match having lost three straight matches, including a 3-1 decision to UCLA on Wednesday. Match time is slated for 7 p.m. (MST).

#1 UCLA vs Brigham Young (Feb 23, 2001 at Provo, Utah)
    #1 UCLA                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  BURNHAM,Ian.........  4|  9   8  30  .033|  2|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  4  1|  0
 5  WILLIAMS, Mark......  4|  8   8  22  .000|  1|  0   5|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  0
 14 MORROW, Scott.......  2|  3   3  10  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  1
 15 NELSON, Rich........  4|  4   3   8  .125| 44|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  3  0|  0
 16 MOUNT, Cameron......  4| 10   8  28  .071|  0|  1   4|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0
 18 NAEVE,Adam..........  4|  8   2  21  .286|  0|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  6  1|  0
 10 COON, Greg..........  3|  7   0   9  .778|  1|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 17 WENGER, J.T.........  2|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 24 SHRADER, Adam.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  3|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 25 KOMER, Matt.........  4|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 53  34 137  .139| 50|  1  19|  4| 32| 0 20  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  9  27  .074   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  4  35  .257   #1 UCLA............. 22 30 26 22  10-4, 4-2
   3  17 12  44  .114   Brigham Young....... 30 28 30 30  9-0, 5-0
   4  12  9  31  .097
    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   2  37  .541|  5|  1   2|  0|  8| 0  5  0|  1
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  3|  1   4  13 -.231|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  4| 10   2  19  .421|  0|  2   5|  0|  3| 0  8  0|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  2|  5   4   9  .111|  1|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  1
 9  LEBRON, Hector......  4|  3   1   7  .286| 51|  1   0|  0|  9| 1  3  3|  2
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  4|  8   4  18  .222|  0|  0   5|  1|  5| 0  4  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  2|  7   0   9  .778|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  4  1|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  3|  5   2  10  .300|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 61  19 122  .344| 58|  4  19|  1| 37| 1 27  4|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  5  23  .348   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  18  8  38  .263   Date: Feb 23, 2001   Attend: 6119   Time: 2:15
   3  13  2  31  .355   Referees: Les Calles, Maile Jewkes
   4  17  4  30  .433   6,119 attendance (Smith Fieldhouse Record)