Anteaters Sweep Cougars, Split Weekend Series

IRVINE -- One night removed from a close five-set victory over the reigning national champions, the No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss (34-32, 30-26, 30-23) at the hands of No. 11 UC Irvine Friday night. With the loss the Cougars fall to 7-4 on the season and 5-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

Despite the sweep two Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Andrew Stewart with a match-high 15 and Robb Stowell with 12. Stowell also added a career-high three service aces.

Both teams picked up where they left off on Thursday, alternating points scored in the first set. Russell Lavaja recorded his second service ace of the night, capping a 3-0 BYU run, to give his team the 15-12 lead. Stewart, Stowell and Kevin Sagers provided kills, but the Anteaters fought back to tie the score at 27-27. UCI pulled ahead after a kill by All-American Carson Clark. It took both teams a combined five set-point attempts before the Anteaters claimed the 34-32 win.

UCI’s momentum continued in the second set as it led by as many as eight points. Coming out of a BYU timeout, Stewart knocked down back-to-back kills, followed by attacks from Kent Tuttle and Futi Tavana, allowing the Cougars to climb back to within four at 20-16. Another kill by UCI’s Clark brought up set point for the Anteaters, while the Cougars attempted a late comeback. Stowell hit an ace, which capped a 3-0 run, but it was too late as Clark converted his 10th attack of the night allowing UCI to go up two sets to zero.

The third set started nearly identical to the second, as the Cougars found themselves trailing early. Stowell recorded back-to-back aces tie the score 13-13, but the Anteaters capitalized on several BYU errors to go back up 20-17. Lavaja and Stewart added kills in an effort to create some momentum, but additional service errors halted their efforts. Down 23-20, Stowell and Tavana knocked down consecutive kills, narrowing the Anteater lead to one point. UCI scored the next five points, however, securing the sweep after Clark’s solo block.

The Cougars have a week off before returning to action on Feb. 19 and 20 for a two-match weekend series at No. 13 UC San Diego.

Volleyball Box Score                            The Automated ScoreBook
               #3 BYU vs #11 UCI (Feb 5, 2010 at Irvine, Calif.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  3   0   4  .750| 33|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  2|   5.0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  5   1  10  .400|  0|  2   5|  0|  1| 2  2  0|  0|  10.0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  2|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  4   9  19 -.263|  1|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  3| 12   7  24  .208|  1|  3   0|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3| 15   5  30  .333|  2|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  15.0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  3   0   3 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  9|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  2|  8   0  11  .727|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   8.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 51  24 106  .255| 46|  6  15|  3| 33| 3  7  0|  2|  63.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  17  7  39  .256  23-33  69%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  8  36  .306  18-30  60%   BYU................. (0) 32 26 23  7-4, 5-3
   3  15  9  31  .194  15-29  51%   UCI................. (3) 34 30 30  6-7, 2-6
   UCI                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4  Anthony Spittle.....  3|  0   0   2  .000| 44|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  2  0|  0|   2.0
7  Jordan DuFault......  3| 15   4  29  .379|  0|  1   3|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  0|  17.0
9  Carson Clark........  3| 14   4  32  .312|  0|  1   2|  0|  2| 1  2  1|  0|  17.0
12 Austin D'Amore......  3|  8   1  10  .700|  3|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0|  10.5
15 Cory Yoder..........  3|  6   3  19  .158|  0|  1   0|  1|  3| 0  3  1|  0|   8.5
19 Kevin Wynne.........  3|  7   3  13  .308|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  4  0|  0|  10.0
1  Kevin Carroll.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
3  Kenny Webster.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  4|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  Cole Reinholm.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
18 Will Montgomery.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 50  15 105  .333| 47|  3   9|  6| 23| 3 18  2|  0|  65.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  22  7  45  .333  24-33  72%   Site: Irvine, Calif. (Bren Center)
   2  15  3  31  .387  18-26  69%   Date: Feb 5, 2010    Attend: 1458   Time: 1:42
   3  13  5  29  .276  16-24  66%   Referees: Scott Hogue, Kim Pickering
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores      22   1   2    25
                        Lead changes     7   1   0     8