Offensive Outburst Fuels Sweep of USC

LOS -- Yosleyder Cala's near-record performance and an overall offensive onslaught led No. 3 BYU to a dominating sweep over No. 12 USC, 30-22, 30-22 and 30-25. The win gives the Cougars a weekend sweep of the Trojans and pushes BYU's overall winning streak to 12 over USC.

Cala led the Cougars (13-4, 9-3 MPSF) with 19 kills on just 21 swings while committing no errors. Cala's .905 hitting performance is second all-time in BYU rally scoring history. Not far behind Cala, Robby Stowell knocked down 17 kills while hitting at a .727 clip. As a team, BYU hit an astounding .571 while committing only nine hitting errors. Ivan Perez had nine kills and hit .615 while Russell Holmes had seven and swung .600.

"Our passing anchored by Joel Silva and Perez was exceptional," co-head coach Shawn Patchell said. "Our passing made us very potent offensively tonight."

USC held an early lead in the first set, jumping to a quick 8-6 advantage. The Cougars bounced back and scored four consecutive points to take their first lead at 10-8 on Rodnei Santos and Stowell block. Later in the match, BYU extended its lead to five at 18-13 with another Stowell kill. After the Cougars extended their lead to eight with a Cala kill, BYU finished USC when Stowell knocked down the Cougars' second game point.

BYU came out on fire in the second set jumping to a quick 9-4 lead on back-to-back kills from Santos and Stowell. The Cougars remained in control, extending their lead to nine at 16-7 on a block by Holmes and Stowell. Later in the game, Cala knocked down a kill as BYU build a 10-point advantage. The Cougars later finished the Trojans with a Santos' kill.

In the third set, BYU and USC played closely early on with the Cougars maintaining three and four-point leads throughout. WIth BYU ahead 20-17, the Cougars finished the game on a 10-7 run. Stowell put the Trojans away with his 17th kill.

"Yamil Perez had his best match of the season tonight," Patchell said. "I credit Yamil and Joel [Silva] for setting our offense up so well."

BYU heads back out on the road next week as they face off against UC Santa Barbara next weekend in a pair of matches.

Volleyball Box Score
#3 BYU Cougars vs #12 USC (Mar 03, 2007 at USC)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  3| 19   0  21  .905|  0|  2   1|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  3|  4   3   9  .111|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3|  9   1  13  .615|  4|  0   2|  1|  8| 0  2  1|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  7   1  10  .600|  1|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  3| 17   1  22  .727|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  1   0   3  .333| 43|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  1|  0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  6|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  3|  1   2   6 -.167|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  1|  1   1   3  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 POMPEI, Andy........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 15 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 STEWART, Andrew.....  1|  2   0   4  .500|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 61   9  91  .571| 57|  2  14|  2| 28| 0 16  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  3  28  .571   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  20  3  34  .500   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  13-4, 9-3 MPSF
   3  22  3  29  .655   USC................. (0) 22 22 25  6-11, 5-9 MPSF
    USC                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6  Matt Pavlovich......  2|  4   2  13  .154|  0|  0   2|  1|  1| 0  0  2|  0
 8  Andrew Vernon.......  3|  9   1  17  .471|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  2  1|  0
 9  Jonathan Hackett....  2|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 13 Juan Figueroa.......  3| 18   8  33  .303|  0|  1   3|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 18 Jimmy Killian.......  2|  0   0   0  .000| 26|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 19 Hunter Current......  3|  4   1   6  .500|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 2  0  1|  0
 1  C.J. Schellenberg...  2|  3   2   9  .111|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 5  Joey Dykstra........  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Luke Morris.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 11 Gio Altamura........  1|  0   0   1  .000| 15|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 Matt Mosko..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 20 Matt Anderson.......  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 43  16  92  .293| 41|  2  11|  2| 15| 3  4  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  7  26  .192   Site: USC (Galen Center)
   2  15  5  31  .323   Date: Mar 03, 2007   Attend: 450   Time: 1:25
   3  16  4  35  .343   Referees: Larry Schwartz, Burt Fuller