Tigers Outlast Cougars for 3-2 MPSF Win

PROVO -- After five close games, the Pacific Tigers outlasted the BYU Cougars to earn a 3-2 win in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup Monday night. The loss marks the first for the fifth-ranked Cougars (2-1, 2-1) in conference play and the first MPSF win for the No. 15 Tigers (2-3, 1-0).

"It's kind of disappointing," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "We just couldn't keep up the momentum. We took the lead early on, but we just let down at the end."

Junior outside hitter Jonathan Alleman again led the Cougars, hitting a match-high 23 kills on 48 attempts with 7 errors (.333). Sophomore middle blocker Michael Burke recorded a match-high hitting percentage of .579 (12-1-19), but it wasn't enough to give BYU the win.

The Cougars were up 2-0 after the first two games, coming to an easy 30-24 win in game one as they hit .324 as a team compared to Pacific's .150. In game two, BYU took the lead early on and managed to hold off Pacific all the way to the end, and despite four service errors in a row from both teams, won it 30-28.

The Tigers pulled some crucial plays to take the lead from a 27-27 tie in game three, including two kills from senior outside hitter Martin Berntsen and senior middle blocker Tim Jenson. With the score close at 28-29, BYU made a fatal attack error and lost the game, 28-30. Game four followed suit with the Tigers clinching a close 28-30 victory after a tie at 27, again helped by a Berntsen kill.

Pacific held a narrow lead through most of game five, but BYU came back to tie it at 15. Sophomore opposite Nils Dauburs and Berntsen hit back-to-back kills to seal the victory at 15-17 for the Tigers.

Berntsen and Dauburs led the Tigers with 20 kills each, and added a combined 15 digs, five blocks and two service aces.

The Cougars and Tigers will face each other again Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Spanos Center in Stockton.

Volleyball Box Score
                        2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
          Brigham Young vs Pacific (Jan 20, 2003 at Stockton, Calif.)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BURKE, Michael......  5| 12   1  19  .579|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  3  1|  0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  5|  4   0   7  .571| 59|  0   4|  0| 11| 1  3  0|  2
 6  GORNY, Chris........  5| 10   3  23  .304|  0|  0   5|  0|  3| 0  5  0|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  4|  5   3  15  .133|  0|  0   2|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 9  PAAL, Rafael........  5|  8   7  30  .033|  1|  2   2|  1|  9| 0  3  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  5| 23   7  48  .333|  2|  0   3|  0|  9| 1  2  0|  0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  2|  5   4  11  .091|  0|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  0  1|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 67  25 153  .275| 66|  3  20|  2| 57| 2 16  2|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  3  37  .324   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  5  30  .233   Brigham Young....... 30 30 28 28 15  2-1, 2-1
   3  19  4  38  .395   Pacific............. 24 28 30 30 17  2-3, 1-0
   4  11  8  26  .115
   5  10  5  22  .227
    Pacific                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  JENSON, Tim.........  5|  8   0  17  .471|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0
 4  WACHTFOGEL, Aaron...  5| 19   8  41  .268|  1|  0   2|  2| 10| 0  3  3|  0
 5  BERNTSEN, Martin....  5| 20  13  54  .130|  4|  2   5|  1|  7| 0  2  0|  1
 13 DAUBURS, Nils.......  5| 20   9  39  .282|  0|  0   7|  0|  8| 1  2  1|  1
 17 TAMAS, Chris........  5|  2   0   4  .500| 66|  0   5|  0|  9| 2  3  0|  1
 18 RODGERS, Sean.......  5|  8   2  17  .353|  0|  0   4|  0|  0| 0  5  2|  0
 1  GAWLIK, Mike........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 3  BRIZUELA, Mauricio..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 11 METZ, Bryson........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 77  32 172  .262| 74|  2  25|  3| 49| 3 19  6|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16 10  40  .150   Site: Stockton, Calif. (Alex G. Spanos Ctr.)
   2  16  6  33  .303   Date: Jan 20, 2003   Attend: 281   Time: 2:25
   3  20  4  40  .400   Referees: Ray Mink, Eric Asami
   4  15  8  35  .200   Pacific hosts BYU Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m.
   5  10  4  24  .250