Sagers and Taylor Spark Win Over Lewis

PROVO -- After losing its first set the No. 10 BYU men’s volleyball team rallied to win three-straight and defeat No. 11 Lewis, 3-1, on Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win comes just two days after losing to Cal Baptist, a team Lewis swept on Friday. With the win the Cougars improve to 2-3 on the season.

“We finished well tonight,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “Lewis is a really good finishing team, so to be able to keep up with them and overcome our loss on Thursday shows we’re making strides. There’s something really special about this team—blue-collar work ethic.”

Cougars Kevin Sagers and Mat Taylor both recorded a match-high 16 kills, breaking both of their previous career highs. Junior Andrew Stewart contributed 15 kills of his own, along with 11 from redshirt freshman Futi Tavana. Setter Yamil Perez led the match with 12 digs.

The Flyers jumped out to an early 16-9 lead in the first set before the first timeout of the night. Back in play, the Cougars went on a 7-1 run, clawing back to within one point. Tanava recorded three kills and one block during that span, contributing four points. Stewart’s three kills also helped keep the score close, but BYU couldn’t close the gap as Lewis went on to win the first set, 30-26.

The teams kept the score close to start the second set, with neither side gaining more than a two-point advantage. A kill by Drew Pickering gave Lewis the 20-19 advantage, before BYU’s Sagers answered with a kill of his own on the ensuing play. Stewart contributed a trio of kills once again, to give BYU a three-point lead at 25-22. A kill by Sagers sealed the 30-27 win for the Cougars and tied the match.

Set three began much like the first two, with close and frequently tied scores. Setter Reed Chilton came in to serve late in the game, sparking a 7-1 BYU run, including an ace and several Flyer attack errors, including one to give the Cougars the 30-22 win.

“Even though he didn’t start tonight, Reed came off the bench and served well for us,” said Patchell. “He showed signs of a great team captain.”

Both Sagers and Taylor dominated offensively during the fourth match, contributing to BYU’s largest lead of seven points at 28-21. The duo combined for 12 kills in the fourth set alone. A Lewis blocking error after a kill by Perez on match point clinched the overall win for the Cougars.

The Cougars will remain in Provo next weekend and open MPSF play hosting the Warriors of Hawaii on Jan. 22-23. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Volleyball Box Score                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
            LEWIS vs BYU Cougars (Jan 17, 2009 at BYU, PROVO, UTAH)
   LEWIS                  |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Vigansky, Alex......  4| 12   0  22  .545|  1|  0   4|  0|  0| 2  5  0|  0
10 Kelnhofer, David....  4|  6   3  18  .167|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
11 Iandolo, Mike.......  4|  3   2   6  .167| 51|  0   4|  0|  6| 0  2  2|  0
14 Sahagian, Billy.....  4|  9   1  21  .381|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 2  2  1|  0
15 Klaas, Nathan.......  4| 16   8  35  .229|  1|  0   2|  1|  5| 0  3  0|  0
22 Pickering, Drew.....  4| 11   8  32  .094|  0|  1   3|  1|  7| 0  3  0|  0
1  Perakes, Nick.......  4|  1   0   1 1.000|  3|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0
8  Muesenfechter, Brian  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
12 Boller, Craig.......  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
17 Cintron, Gustavo....  2|  5   1   7  .571|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
18 Flick, Aaron........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 63  23 144  .278| 57|  1  20|  3| 32| 4 15  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  37  .270   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  5  37  .351   LEWIS............... (1) 30 27 22 25  1-1
   3  13  9  34  .118   BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 30 30 30  2-3
   4  16  3  36  .361
   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  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  3   3  11  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  2|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  4|  7   1  11  .545|  5|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  1   1   3  .000| 58|  0   4|  0| 12| 1  1  0|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 15   9  33  .182|  1|  1   1|  1|  6| 0  0  1|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4| 11   2  19  .474|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  2  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3| 16   5  28  .393|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  4| 16   6  29  .345|  1|  0   3|  0|  8| 0  2  1|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 69  28 135  .304| 65|  3  12|  1| 46| 2 11  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12 11  35  .029   Site: BYU, PROVO, UTAH (E M COURT)
   2  20  6  36  .389   Date: Jan 17, 2009   Attend: 2729   Time: 2H 26M
   3  16  7  29  .310   Referees: MIKE FARISH, BURT FULLER, TRENT MANO
   4  21  4  35  .486