Win Over Pacific Ends Cougar Road Trip

PROVO -- In a rematch of last night's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation duel, it seemed that the tables were turned tonight as BYU came from behind to win three straight games and take a 35-37, 29-31, 30-19, 30-28, 15-13 win over Pacific. The Cougars, ranked No. 4 in the USA Today/ACVA poll, upped their record to 3-1 (overall and MPSF) while the No. 15 Tigers went to 1-1 (2-4 overall).

"Coming back from a 2-0 deficit after playing three five-game matches in four days and to go five again, even being behind by two points through most of game five...that was incredible by our guys," said BYU head coach Tom Peterson. "It's pretty special--I have not seen that."

Senior outside hitter Rafael Paal was the strength for the Cougars tonight, hitting a team-high 22 kills (22-6-48, .333), four service aces, four digs and four blocks. Michael Burke and Jonathan Alleman added 17 kills each and combined for eight blocks.

After losing the first two games, the Cougars rallied back, hitting a .625 as a team in game three to take the 30-19 win. BYU took the lead early in game four but battled it out with Pacific up to a 24-point tie. Two kills from Burke helped the Cougars to a 29-25 lead, but the Tigers made a three-point comeback to put them within one. BYU finally took the win on a Pacific service error.

Again in game five--their twentieth game in five days--the Cougars trailed by about two points until a Paal service ace evened the score at 11. Paal served the team through three more points, giving them a 13-11 lead. The next three points were made on service errors and Michael Burke drove in the game-winning kill.

Pacific's Nils Dauburs hit a match-high 27 kills on 54 attempts (.259), and the Tigers hit .307 as a team on the match, compared to BYU's .400.

"We've got a long ways to go before we consider ourselves a team that could possibly win a national championship," Peterson said. "But to gut it out on the road like we did, that was pretty incredible."

The Cougars return home after four matches on the road to prepare for their upcoming matches against No. 2 UCLA on January 31 and February 1. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. (MST) at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo.

Volleyball Box Score
                        2003 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
          Brigham Young vs Pacific (Jan 21, 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| 17   4  25  .520|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  5  0|  0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  5|  4   2   9  .222| 65|  1   5|  0| 12| 0  5  1|  0
 6  GORNY, Chris........  5|  9   2  14  .500|  0|  0   5|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0
 9  PAAL, Rafael........  5| 22   6  48  .333|  2|  4   2|  2|  4| 1  3  3|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  5| 17   3  26  .538|  1|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  5|  9   2  22  .318|  2|  3   4|  5|  5| 0  0  1|  0
 1  PATTERSON, Casey....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 78  20 145  .400| 72|  9  20|  9| 40| 2 18  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  33  .424   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  20  5  40  .375   Brigham Young....... 35 29 30 30 15  3-1, 3-1
   3  16  1  24  .625   Pacific............. 37 31 19 28 13  2-4, 1-1
   4  16  8  33  .242
   5   8  2  15  .400
    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|  7   2  14  .357|  1|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0
 4  WACHTFOGEL, Aaron...  5| 16   5  32  .344|  0|  1   5|  3|  7| 0  2  2|  0
 5  BERNTSEN, Martin....  5| 15   6  34  .265|  0|  1   4|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 13 DAUBURS, Nils.......  5| 27  13  54  .259|  0|  1   3|  0|  3| 0  5  2|  2
 17 TAMAS, Chris........  5|  4   0   9  .444| 69|  4   2|  0|  4| 0  2  1|  0
 18 RODGERS, Sean.......  5|  9   3  19  .316|  1|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  5  1|  0
 1  GAWLIK, Mike........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2| 13| 0  0  0|  0
 3  BRIZUELA, Mauricio..  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 8  EDWARDS, Brian......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 14 CATANIA, Adam.......  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  4|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 79  29 163  .307| 72|  9  19|  9| 40| 0 19  6|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  24  8  44  .364   Site: Stockton, Calif. (Alex G. Spanos Ctr.)
   2  20  5  37  .405   Date: Jan 21, 2003   Attend: 247   Time: 2:21
   3  15  6  34  .265   Referees: Eric Asami, Ray Mink
   4  12  9  33  .091   Pacific hosts La Verne on Fri., Jan. 24, at 7 pm.
   5   8  1  15  .467