No. 1 BYU Defeats Penn State in NCAA Volleyball Semifinal

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - The top-seeded BYU Cougars (29-1) picked the most opportune time to notch their first-ever win over Penn State, defeating the Nittany Lions (22-13) 3-1 in the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. The Cougars advance to their first-ever NCAA title game Saturday night.

BYU took an early 3-0 lead in Game One, but Penn State came back to grab a 12-7 lead and eventually took the game 15-10. It was all BYU in Game Two, as senior middle blocker Ryan Millar notched five kills, and senior outside hitter Ossie Antonetti recorded six to lead the Cougars to the 15-4 win. The BYU defense forced Penn State into an anemic hitting percentage of .083.

Game three was a tight, even game, with Penn State hitting .281 and BYU hitting .280. But it was defense that made the difference. Behind the Cougars' 18 digs and a final Anotnetti/Mac Wilson block, BYU won 15-11. The Cougars built on their momentum and dominated in the final game 15-5. BYU hit .481 in the fourth while holding the Nittany Lions to just .050 hitting.

The Cougars were led by Antonetti (24 kills, 14 digs) and Millar (20 kills, .469 hitting percentage). The first-team All-Americans were questionable for the game due to illness. Sophomore middle blocker Mac Wilson hit for a match-best .588 with 11 kills.

Brad Miller led Penn State with 20 kills. Tony Mazzullo and Tim Hoffman each contributed 15 kills. Twenty service errors hurt Penn State.

BYU will now face the winner of the Long Beach State-IPFW match.

1999 UCLA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
               Penn State vs Brigham Young (May 06, 1999 at UCLA)
    Penn State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Hoffman, Tim........  4| 15   7  35  .229|  0|  1   2|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Quinones, Jose......  4|  5   1  12  .333| 70|  0   5|  0| 10| 0  0  1|  1
 8  Miller, Brad........  4| 20   7  36  .361|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  1  2|  0
 10 Houston, Eric.......  4| 10   7  32  .094|  4|  2   7|  3| 10| 0  2  0|  0
 12 Mazzullo, Tony......  4| 15  15  45  .000|  3|  1   1|  0| 11| 1  1  0|  0
 13 Pampena, Sergio.....  4| 10   3  22  .318|  0|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0
 2  Schall, Dan.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 4  Whitescarver, Adam..  3|  6   2  13  .308|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  0  0|  0
 9  Pollock, Dan........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 15 Hawkings, Jason.....  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 82  42 196  .204| 78|  5  20|  3| 49| 2  6  4|  1
 
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct   
   1  26  8  51  .353   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17 13  48  .083   Penn State.......... 15  4 11  5  22-13
   3  25  9  57  .281   Brigham Young....... 10 15 15 15  29-1
   4  14 12  40  .050  
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Lambourne, Rich.....  4| 10   2  22  .364|  2|  1   4|  1|  8| 0  1  0|  0
 3  Antonetti, Ossie....  4| 24   9  49  .306|  0|  1   1|  0| 14| 0  6  1|  0
 5  Wilson, Mac.........  4| 11   1  17  .588|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  8  1|  0
 7  Hinds, Steve........  4|  9   2  22  .318|  1|  0   1|  4| 11| 0  3  0|  0
 9  Lebron, Hector......  4|  1   0   5  .200| 67|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  4  1|  1
 12 Millar, Ryan........  4| 20   5  32  .469|  1|  1   3|  0|  6| 0  4  0|  0
 6  Goldston, Brad......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 8  Jennings, Casey.....  2|  2   4  10 -.200|  2|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 77  23 157  .344| 73|  3  11|  5| 55| 0 27  3|  1
 
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct   
   1  21  8  41  .317   Site: UCLA (Pauley Pavilion)
   2  19  5  39  .359   Date: May 06, 1999   Attend:     Time: 2:15    
   3  19  5  50  .280   Referees: Angelo Iasillo, Ken Taylor
   4  18  5  27  .481   YC GIVEN