No. 5 Cougars Upend Eight-Ranked Loyola Marymount; McGown Records 150th Career Victory

PROVO -- BYU men's volleyball head coach Carl McGown picked up career victory No. 150 as the fifth-ranked Cougars blanked No. 8 Loyola Marymount in three straight games on Friday, 16-15, 17-16, 15-4, to win their 35th straight match in the Smith Fieldhouse.

"A lot of times it's hard to know about your team," McGown said. "Tonight we had guys playing in positions they've never played before and we weren't sure what we were going to get. To win games one and two by playing as badly as we did, it shows you something about this group of guys. I don't know, some how it's robbery with what happened to LMU tonight."

Despite being out-played in games one and two, the Cougars fought back to steal both games and then cruise to an easy victory in game three. Friday's victory marked the Cougars 17th straight win over Loyola Marymount, dating back to the 1992 season. After missing the first 12 games of the season with a broken left index finger, junior Mac Wilson came off the bench to record a team-leading 16 kills and a match-high 13 blocks. The 6-10 middle blocker hit a match-high .727 on the night, connecting on 16 of 22 swings with no errors.

"Mac came in and played very well," McGown said. "After being out for so long, we wanted to at least get him in for a couple games. For sure he was the outstanding player of the match and he's only going to help us become a better team."

In game one LMU took a 9-6 advantage before BYU evened things up at 12-12 on a Wilson ace. The Lions were forced into back-to-back hitting errors, giving the Cougars the 14-12 lead. LMU battled back to tie things up and then took a 15-14 lead, serving for game point. Wilson came up with the kill for sideout and then teamed with senior Chris Pitzak for a block to end the game, 16-14. Wilson finished the game hitting a perfect 6-for-6, while junior Mike Wall and sophomore Jaime Mayol tallied eight kills each for the Cougars, while LMU's Corin Bemus collected 10 kills.

In game two, the two teams battled to a 5-5 tie before the Lions took control. Paced by Bemus and Reid Priddy, who combined for 21 of the Lions' 27 kills, LMU was serving for game point at 14-9. The Cougars however, would not be denied and reeled off seven unanswered points to take a 15-14 lead. LMU jumped back ahead, 16-14, on back-to-back Cougar hitting errors before Wall and Wilson teamed to block a Lion attempt and tie things up at 16-16. BYU sealed the comeback on Wilson's seventh block of the game.

In game three, it was all BYU. The Cougars jumped out to a 7-0 lead before LMU could get on the board. BYU stretched the lead to 13-1, allowed a couple LMU points and then cruised to an easy 15-4 win. Wilson sealed the Cougars 17th straight single-game win over the Lions with his 13th block of the match.

BYU will be back in action on Saturday, hosting LMU for the back-half of the weekend series. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. (MST) in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Short Box Score (Final)
        Loyola Marymount vs Brigham Young (Feb 11, 2000 at Provo, Utah)
  Brigham Young def. Loyola Marymount 16-14,17-16,15-4
  Loyola Marymount (2-3,  1-3) (Kills-aces-blocks) - BEMUS, Corin
  28-0-3; PRIDDY, Reid 19-3-2; VOORHEES, Jason 7-1-3; WAGNER, Brian
  7-0-2; LEE, Jason 6-0-5; DUNNE, Stephen 2-0-0; Totals 69-4-8.0.
  (Assists) - DUNNE, Stephen 63. (Dig leaders) - PRIDDY, Reid 9;
  VOORHEES, Jason 8; BEMUS, Corin 8
  Brigham Young (9-3, 6-3) (Kills-aces-blocks) - WILSON, Mac 16-1-13;
  WALL, Mike 15-1-9; BUNKER, Scott 14-1-11; ACOSTA, Joaquin 13-0-6;
  MAYOL, Jaime 11-1-4; OLSEN, Matt 5-0-0; TANNER, Russell 3-0-0;PITZAK,
  Chris 2-0-5; Totals 79-4-24.5. (Assists) - PITZAK, Chris 69. (Dig
  leaders) - GOLDSTON, Brad 9; ACOSTA, Joaquin 7
  Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
  Date: Feb 11, 2000   Attend: 2246   Time: 2:05
  Referees: Les Calles, Tom Given, DJM;MA;ST;RG;JDM
  150th career victory for BYU coach Carl McGown
  35th straight victory for BYU in the SFH