Volleyball Upsets No. 5 Stanford in Five

STANFORD -- The sixth-ranked BYU men’s volleyball team recorded a five-set win (26-30, 33-31, 30-24, 26-30, 15-11) over No. 5 Stanford Friday night, breaking the Cardinal’s previous five-match win streak. The win at Maples Pavilion improved the Cougars’ season record to 15-10 and 12-7 against MPSF opponents.

BYU also spoiled the Cardinal’s eight-match win streak against MPSF opponents as well as its 10-match undefeated record at Maples Pavilion, dating back to 2007.

Team captain Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 16 kills and 13 digs, marking his first double-double of the 2009 season and second of his career. Futi Tavana and Mat Taylor each contributed 13 kills apiece, with Russell Lavaja recording 10 blocks, both match- and career-highs. Tavana also recorded eight blocks, including a career-high three block solos.

The opening set started with three consecutive service aces by Kent Tuttle--a new career-high for the junior opposite--to give BYU an 8-6 lead. The Cougars led by as many as four points before Stanford tied things up 15-15. The Cardinal’s .519 hitting percentage and BYU’s 10 attack errors were enough to give Stanford the set win at 30-26.

Stanford jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second set before a kill by Stewart put BYU on the board. A kill from Alex Da Pron knotted the score 13-all. An into-the-net violation called on Stanford gave the Cougars their first lead of the set, but the advantage was short-lived as the Cardinal scored four-straight points. Trailing 25-19, four consecutive BYU blocks brought the Cougars to within one point, forcing a Cardinal timeout. Lavaja and Yamil Perez contributed kills to put the Cougars up 28-26, but Stanford clawed back to force set-point after scoring three-straight points. The two teams combined for four set-point scenarios before a block by Taylor and Tavana claimed the 33-31 win for BYU.

Ten tied scores was the story to start the third set before the Cougars went up 17-15. Consecutive kills from Stewart extended the lead to four. The Cardinal narrowed BYU’s lead to two points after a service ace, but could not completely close the gap. Perez and Stewart both knocked down kills, but it was five Stanford errors, including a service error on set-point, that secured the BYU win and gave the Cougars a 2-1 advantage in the match.

BYU’s strong blocking continued in the fourth set as the team scored four unanswered points to start. The momentum stayed in the Cougars’ favor with back-to-back kills from Tavana and a service ace from Stewart. With BYU leading 19-14, the two teams traded points back-and-forth as the Cardinal started seeing offensive success with four kills. After trailing by as many as five, Stanford’s first lead of the game came at 25-24 after a kill by Evan Romero. The Cardinal went on to win 30-26 to tie the match at two games-all.

After trailing 3-0 in the final set, the Cougars came back to tie it up 5-5 before two kills by Tavana gave BYU an 8-6 advantage. Taylor contributed his 13th kill of the night to put his team within two points of a win. A Stanford attack into the net set up match-point in favor of the Cougars. Another Cardinal attack error proved fatal as BYU claimed the 15-11 victory.

The Cardinal and Cougars meet again Saturday night at 7 p.m. PT.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
        #6 BYU Cougars vs #5 Stanford (Apr 10, 2009 at Stanford, Calif.)
   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........  3|  6   5  19  .053|  0|  3   2|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  1   1   2  .000| 23|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  3   0   4  .750|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  2|  3   4   9 -.111|  0|  0   2|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  5| 13   2  23  .478|  3|  1   3|  0|  2| 3  5  1|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  5|  7   9  29 -.069|  2|  0   0|  2|  9| 0  7  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  5|  7   2  14  .357|  1|  0   3|  0|  4| 0 10  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  4| 13   9  33  .121|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  6  0|  1
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  4|  2   0   2 1.000| 37|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  1
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 16   6  34  .294|  0|  1   1|  0| 13| 0  4  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 71  38 169  .195| 66|  5  14|  4| 60| 3 35  2|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 20.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17 10  33  .212   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15 11  45  .089   BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 33 30 26 15  16-10, 12-7 MPSF
   3  17  3  31  .452   Stanford............ (2) 30 31 24 30 11  19-9, 12-7 MPSF
   4  13 10  39  .077
   5   9  4  21  .238
   Stanford               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  Romero, Evan........  5| 15  10  49  .102|  2|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  5  0|  0
9  Lawson, Brad........  5| 14   9  39  .128|  4|  3   5|  1|  9| 0  1  0|  0
12 Shoji, Kawika.......  5|  7   3  11  .364| 55|  1   1|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  0
14 Werner, Garrett.....  5|  4   2  11  .182|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  7  1|  0
21 McLaughlin, Spencer.  5| 20   7  50  .260|  3|  0   4|  2|  3| 0  5  1|  0
25 Ellis, Gus..........  3|  3   0   6  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  2|  0
1  Shoji, Erik.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2| 24| 0  0  0|  0
3  Groppi, Miki........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
6  Inafuku, Jordan.....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
7  Williams, Brandon...  4|  5   2   7  .429|  1|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  2  1|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 68  33 173  .202| 66|  4  19|  5| 53| 1 25  5|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  2  27  .519   Site: Stanford, Calif. (Maples Pavilion)
   2  12 13  45 -.022   Date: Apr 10, 2009   Attend: 1100   Time: 2:36
   3  15  6  37  .243   Referees: Brian Brink, John Kinyon
   4  19  7  41  .293   ID-739014
   5   6  5  23  .043