Alumni Defeat Cougars in Four

PROVO -- Victory VBC, a team comprised of Cougar alumni, handed the current BYU men’s volleyball team a tough 3-1 loss (32-30, 24-30, 30-23, 34-32) Friday night in the opening match of the BYU Tournament. The win is the alumni’s second over the current squad since the Alumni Tournament back in early November.

In a close first set that saw 14 tied scores, neither team was able to build a substantial lead before Victory went on an 8-1 run to go up 15-11. The Cougars put together a four-point run of their own, starting with a kill from senior captain Andrew Stewart, to narrow the lead to 24-22. A costly alumni attack error, paired with a kill from Robb Stowell, turned the lead back over to BYU, but Victory closed out the 32-30 set win with a service ace.

The Cougars had several defensive stops to begin the second set, with blocks from Stowell, Russell Lavaja and Reed Chilton to gain an early advantage. All-American Joe Hillman knocked down three consecutive kills to bring Victory to within one point, 9-8, but back-to-back BYU blocks widened the spread. With the score tied, 18-18, Alex Da Pron knocked down a kill to open a 6-1 Cougar run. BYU led by as many as eight points before claiming the set.

Tied one-all, the competitive play continued in the third set. Former Cougar Fernando Pessoa led an offensive attack for Victory as it lead 8-4 early. Kills from Stewart and Da Pron tied the score 15-15, but Hillman proved too much for the current Cougar squad as his four late kills led the alumni to another win.

Finding themselves trailing by 10-points in the fourth set, the Cougars staged a massive comeback to knot the score 22-all. BYU clawed itself back with kills from Stewart and Da Pron, along with several blocks from Chilton, Lavaja and Da Pron. 2006 alum, and current BYU assistant coach, Rob Neilson’s block finally stopped a 7-1 Cougar run, but they continued to pull ahead, 28-26. Five match-points later, Victory secured the overall win.

Arizona was next to face Victory, in a match comprised of best of three sets, playing to 25 points per set. The alumni remained undefeated on the night securing a two-set, 25-23, 25-18, win.

The day started with scrimmages between BYU and UVU and Arizona. The Cougars were split into two teams and rotated playing on the two courts in the Smith Fieldhouse. Both BYU squads defeated Arizona with scores of 30-18 and 30-24, before a 30-17 win over UVU.

The Cougars’ recently returned missionaries made big contributions in the final win of the afternoon. Opposite Stowell knocked down a kill to give BYU an early 7-2 lead, while middle blocker Erik Mayer recorded a solo block down the stretch as his team took a 28-16 advantage.

The tournament will resume on Saturday morning when the Cougars and Arizona matchup at 10 a.m. Victory and UVU will play at noon, followed by Arizona and BYU again at 5 p.m. The final match of the tournament will be UVU vs. BYU at 7 p.m. An award ceremony will immediately follow the final match.