Career Performances Send Cougars to Win

LOS -- Taylor Evans and Brian Rowley's career performances helped the Cougars defeat USC 3-1 (30-32, 30-19, 30-27, 30-28) Friday night in the Lyon Center and extend their win streak to three. BYU is now 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while the Trojans are 5-15 and 1-11.

"We didn't play great but I think we're getting a little better for longer periods of time," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "I want to give USC credit. They were a little banged up but really came after us. I think they were really geared up for this. It's a big deal for them to play us."

Michael Burke continued to pound the ball for a high percentage, finishing with 13 kills and only one error on 22 attempts for a .545 hitting percentage. Evans' big night included getting 14 kills and hitting .500 (14-3-22) while setting a BYU rally-scoring record with seven aces. The total was also the second most in Cougar volleyball history. Rowley contributed 14 digs, a career-high and team season high.

Ivan Perez and Casey Patterson added 14 kills apiece to tie Evans for the team lead. As a team, BYU hit .385 (68-18-130) and had 41 digs and six team blocks.

Jose Grangeiro was the lead man for the Trojans as he put away a match-high 22 kills while adding 12 digs. USC hit at a .232 (52-23-125) clip and had 33 digs and seven team blocks.

The Cougars allowed game one to remain close and were unable to get an advantage over USC. Both teams hit for high percentages with BYU coming in at a .432 (20-4-37) clip and the Trojans .455 (18-3-33). USC fought hard and came up with enough key points to pull out the win.

BYU made sure the second game was different, getting out to a big lead early and cruising to the 30-19 win. The Cougars were able to capitalize on several Trojan errors and hit .417 (12-2-24).

Games three and four were much like the first, close throughout. The Cougars were able to make plays at key moments and won both games to seal the victory.

BYU and USC will be back in action for a second meeting Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Lyon Center.


                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
                   Brigham Young vs USC (Mar 04, 2005 at USC)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BURKE, Michael......  4| 13   1  22  .545|  0|  0   4|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|  14.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 14   6  29  .276|  0|  2   5|  1|  7| 0  3  0|  1|  17.5
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  4| 14   5  29  .310|  7|  0   5|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0|  14.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  5   0   8  .625| 49|  0   5|  0|  7| 0  1  2|  3|   5.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4|  8   2  17  .353|  3|  2   3|  0|  2| 1  2  1|  1|  12.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  4| 14   3  22  .500|  2|  7   2|  2|  3| 0  0  2|  0|  21.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  2|  0   0|  2| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 68  18 130  .385| 63| 11  24|  5| 41| 1 10  5|  5|  85.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  4  37  .432   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  2  24  .417   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30 30  10-6, 5-4 MPSF
   3  17  6  32  .344   USC................. (1) 32 19 27 28  5-15, 1-11 MPSF
   4  19  6  37  .351
    USC                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Jimmy Killian.......  4|  1   0   5  .200| 46|  1   4|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  2|   3.5
 4  Fernando Barron.....  4|  9   7  22  .091|  1|  0   4|  1|  2| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
 8  Andrew Vernon.......  4|  5   2  12  .250|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   6.0
 12 Jake Lewis..........  4|  9   6  26  .115|  0|  1   2|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  11.0
 14 Joao Grangeiro......  4| 22   5  44  .386|  0|  2   4|  4| 12| 0  1  0|  0|  24.5
 18 Chris McKniff.......  4|  6   0  12  .500|  1|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  3  1|  0|   7.5
 16 Evan Burden.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  4|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 Matt Mosko..........  1|  0   2   2-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 19 Danny Newman........  3|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 52  23 125  .232| 48|  5  16| 11| 33| 0 14  1|  2|  64.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  3  33  .455   Site: USC (Lyon Center)
   2   8  9  25 -.040   Date: Mar 04, 2005   Attend: 300   Time: 1:53
   3  12  6  36  .167   Referees: Greg Leung, Scott Hogue
   4  14  5  31  .290
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores      21   1  12   3    37
                        Lead changes    11   1   5   2    19