No. 8 BYU Holds Off Tenth-Ranked Lewis

PROVO -- What started out looking like another three-game route for the BYU men's volleyball team, quickly turned into a five-game thriller on Saturday with the eighth-ranked Cougars holding of No. 10 Lewis, 3-2 in front of 2,441 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse. With the win, BYU improves to a perfect 3-0 on the season, while Lewis drops to 1-3.

"This was a good match for us tonight," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "We've got some tough matches ahead and we needed a match like this to force us to play under pressure. I think we learned some things about ourselves tonight."

After forcing the Flyers to hit just .074 (11-9-27) and .000 (12-12-27) in games one and two, BYU took an easy 2-0 lead in the match, 30-24, 30-27.

"We didn't really play all that well in the first two games and then I wanted to get some guys some reps in game three," McGown said. "I think when you add all that up, it gave them some momentum. They're a good team and did what they had to do to force us to a fifth game."

In game three, the Flyers committed just five errors, hitting .438 for the game. Led by freshman Fabiamo Barreto and his eight kills, Lewis took a seven-point lead and held on for the 30-23 win. In game four, it was more of the same. Barreto collected eight more kills and fought off a late BYU surge to win, 30-28.

In the fifth and deciding game, BYU took the lead from the start on one of Scott Bunker's two aces on the night. After Lewis tied things up at 4-4, the Cougars turned to Joaquin Acosta, who's gentle tap-over gave BYU the lead for good. Acosta's kill minutes later gave BYU a two-point cushion at 7-5, when Bunker dropped a quick-hit to push the lead to 8-5. Back-to-back LU attack errors capped a five-point run for the Cougars, giving BYU an 11-5 lead before the Flyers managed their sixth point. The Cougars closed out the match with a 3-2 run, fueled by an Acosta shot that bounced off Jose Martins' face, sending him to the lockerrom. Leading 14-8, BYU's Mike Wall cleared the ball to the Lewis backcourt, where it dropped in for the match-winning point. BYU hit .750 (9-0-12) in game five, while Lewis hit just .059 (6-5-17).

Wall finished the match with a season-high 30 kills, hitting .415 on the night. Bunker collected 13 kills and seven blocks, while Matt Olsen produced 12 kills and eight blocks. Setter Hector Lebron led the BYU offense with 68 assists and three kills of his own. Acosta managed just seven kills but recorded seven blocks on the night.

Barreto led Lewis with 30 kills, while Jeff Getz and Jorge Alifonso combined for 22 kills.

BYU will next travel to USC on Wednesday, Jan. 31, taking on the third-ranked Trojans. Match time is slated for 7 p.m. (PST). Following a Friday, Feb. 2 match at Cal State Northridge, the Cougars will return to Provo, taking on UC San Diego on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9-10.

#10 Lewis vs Brigham Young (Jan 27, 2001 at Provo, Utah)
    #10 Lewis              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  GETZ, Jeff..........  5| 10   7  24  .125|  6|  0   2|  0|  3| 1  1  1|  0
 5  ALIFONSO, Jorge.....  5| 12   8  22  .182|  0|  2   2|  1| 11| 1  2  3|  0
 9  AVILES, Paul........  5|  8   5  19  .158|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 10 BARRETO, Fabiamo....  5| 30  10  45  .444|  2|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  0
 12 MILLER, Kevin.......  3|  0   4   5 -.800|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0
 18 MARTINS, Jose.......  5|  3   1   8  .250| 59|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  2
 7  FLORES, Will........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  3|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 15 PEREZ, Jorge........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 ELSEA,  James.......  4|  7   0  10  .700|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  2  1|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 70  35 133  .263| 68|  2   8|  4| 34| 2 18  5|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  9  27  .074   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12 12  27  .000   #10 Lewis........... 24 27 30 30  8  1 - 3
   3  19  5  32  .438   Brigham Young....... 30 30 23 28 15  3 - 0
   4  22  4  30  .600
   5   6  5  17  .059
    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| 30   8  53  .415|  0|  0   3|  0|  5| 1  3  0|  0
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  5|  7   6  21  .048|  0|  0   5|  1|  6| 0  7  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  5| 12   1  22  .500|  0|  1   7|  0|  0| 0  8  1|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  4|  7   2  12  .417|  1|  0   1|  1|  2| 0  3  0|  1
 9  LEBRON, Hector......  5|  3   1   8  .250| 68|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  2
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  5| 13   1  17  .706|  0|  2   2|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
 5  WILSON, Mac.........  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 10 LARSEN, Jeremiah....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  1|  1
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  5|  2   2   5  .000|  1|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 74  23 141  .362| 71|  4  21|  2| 22| 2 31  4|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  6  35  .257   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  13  8  25  .200   Date: Jan 27, 2001   Attend: 2441   Time: 2:12
   3  15  6  32  .281   Referees: Les Calles, Tom Given
   4  22  3  37  .514
   5   9  0  12  .750