Five-Set Win Secures Volleyball Upset

PROVO -- The No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball team (12-8, 8-5 MPSF) secured its second upset victory in an many weeks with a 3-2 win over No. 5 Long Beach State (10-9, 7-7 MPSF) Friday night, 30-22, 25-30, 28-30, 30-28, 15-7. The win comes one week after the Cougars upset No. 4 Penn State.

After winning the first set, the Cougars dropped the second and third before claiming the final two. It is BYU’s third five-set win this season.

“This is the MPSF—every night’s going to be a battle,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “I love my guys. They played with a lot of heart and perseverance tonight. We were never out of it.”

Junior opposite Kent Tuttle knocked down a team-high 18 kills against the 49ers, his third double-digit kill night of the season. Redshirt freshman Futi Tavana led the team with 11 blocks, while also recording 11 kills, marking the first double-double of his young career.

Tavana recorded three kills and a block early in the first set to contribute four of BYU’s first five points. Long Beach State came back to tie the score 5-5, but the Cougars steadily built a four-point lead after a joint block by Tavana and Yamil Perez and kill from Andrew Stewart. BYU capitalized on several 49er service errors to go up 18-14. Long Beach State clawed back to within one point, at 19-18, but kills by Tavana, Stewart and Tuttle extended the Cougars’ lead. Freshman Russell Lavaja secured the first-set win with a kill down the 49ers’ left side.

Long Beach State came out strong in the second set, jumping to a 7-2 lead before BYU called its first timeout. Strong blocking and more 49er service errors helped the Cougars get within two points, 16-14, after trailing by as many as seven. In the end it was Long Beach State’s 19 kills, as opposed to BYU’s nine, that got the job done for the 49ers. They tied the match with a 30-25 second-set win.

The third set was tied six times before the Cougars finally gained control of the lead after another Long Beach State service error. A 7-1 BYU run, capped by Alex Da Pron’s service ace, gave the Cougars a 17-14 advantage. The 49ers wouldn’t go away that easily and continued to keep things close. Three lead changes and five tied scores later, Long Beach State pulled out the close 30-28 win.

Service errors by both teams accounted for five of the first six points scored in the fourth set. Though a different set, the story was the same as neither team gained more than a two-point advantage. BYU went up 27-25 after a kill by Tuttle. Long Beach State answered with a kill of its own, but Da Pron was there to again return the favor. After all their struggles from the service line it was only fitting the 49ers surrendered the set on an error.

“This win is a sign of a well-balanced and mature team,” said Patchell. “We just have to focus on one play at a time—that’s how we get on runs. One play at a time equals momentum.”

With the roar of the crowd behind them, the Cougars opened with a 4-1 lead in the fifth and final set. After recording a match-high 27 kills, Long Beach State’s Dean Bittner was held defenseless as BYU continued to outblock the 49ers. Tavana’s kill put the Cougars within one point of victory, a point Stewart clinched on the following play.

The Cougars and 49ers are set for a rematch on Saturday night at 7 p.m in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Volleyball Box Score                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
               LBSU vs BYU Cougars (Mar 20, 2009 at Provo, Utah)
   LBSU                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  Baughman, Jim.......  5| 10   3  15  .467|  0|  0   5|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
5  Klipsch, Mike.......  5|  2   1   4  .250| 60|  0   1|  1|  9| 2  5  0|  0
6  Friend, Kyle........  5|  9   2  25  .280|  0|  0   5|  3|  6| 0  5  1|  0
9  Riley, Josh.........  5| 15  10  40  .125|  0|  0   2|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  0
18 Bittner, Dean.......  5| 27  10  53  .321|  1|  1   8|  0|  7| 0  5  1|  0
21 Alexander, Dan......  5|  5   2  12  .250|  0|  1   7|  0|  5| 0  9  0|  0
3  Watten, Dustin......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0
4  Pestolesi, Tommy....  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 Shea, Luke..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
13 Trent, Derrick......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
14 Fabry, Daniel.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 68  28 150  .267| 65|  2  30|  6| 44| 2 32  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 18.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  8  35  .114   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  6  33  .394   LBSU................ (2) 22 30 30 28  7  10-9,7-7 MPSF
   3  16  5  28  .393   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 25 28 30 15  12-8,8-5 MPSF
   4  19  4  38  .395
   5   2  5  16 -.188
   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........  5| 18   4  33  .424|  1|  1   5|  0|  5| 1  4  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  5|  6   3  13  .231|  1|  1   3|  0|  0| 0  7  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  8   6  21  .095|  0|  0   3|  1|  3| 0  4  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  1   0   1 1.000| 34|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  5  0|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 10   8  29  .069|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  5| 11   1  20  .500|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 1 10  2|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  5|  0   0   1  .000| 20|  1   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  4|  8   4  18  .222|  0|  1   3|  0|  5| 0  4  2|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 63  27 138  .261| 57|  6  18|  2| 44| 2 37  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 20.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  4  29  .345   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2   9  7  26  .077   Date: Mar 20, 2009   Attend: 2273   Time: 2h 45m
   3  14  9  33  .152   Referees: Burt Fuller, Maile Jewkes, Trent Mano
   4  16  5  32  .344
   5  10  2  18  .444