PROVO -- The No. 4 BYU men's volleyball team held off a stubborn No. 10 UC-Santa Barbara, taking the match in four games, 30-25, 30-25, 28-30, 30-25 at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday.

The win is the fifth straight for BYU (15-7, 11-6 MPSF), winners of nine of its last ten against UCSB (10-12, 7-9 MPSF).

“I was disappointed by how we started in set three,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “But we proved we can get the momentum back. We buckled down and played better in set four.”

Robb Stowell set game-highs with 22 kills and eight digs while assisting with five blocks.

Stowell had seven kills in the final set alone, sparking the Cougars back in the set with three key kills to tie the set at 16-16 after UCSB had taken a 13-9 lead.

The sophomore would lay down two more kills late in the set before handing off to Otavio Souza who secured BYU’s final four points on four kills.

The Cougars stifled the Gaucho attack, forcing UCSB to a .164 hitting percentage while hitting .319.

“We like being home and we’re peaking at the right time,” Patchell said. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve had a bad practice.”

Andrew Stewart added 14 kills and seven digs for BYU while Reed Chilton racked up 46 assists in the middle.

BYU hit a match-best .375 in the first set, led by Stowell’s performance late in the first set after UC-Santa Barbara tied up BYU at 20-20. Stowell combined with Russell Lavaja for a big block on Blaine Nielsen, then laid down a big kill along the left line after long volley.

An assist from Chilton gave Stowell another kill to extend BYU’s lead to its biggest margin of the set at 28-23. Stewart secured the set with a kill of his own as the Cougars won, 30-25. Stewart and Stowell led BYU with six kills apiece in the set.

BYU fell behind quickly in the second set but managed to hold the Gauchos’ lead to no more than three. After tying the set at 12-12, the Cougars went on a 10-2 run to push ahead of UCSB. BYU’s front line rejected every UCSB attack attempt sent its way. Futi Tavana slipped an ace down the line to cap off the run with BYU ahead 20-14.

BYU would take the set by the identical score of 30-25, taking a 2-0 match lead off of Mat Taylor’s kill.

Down by five late in the third set, BYU had shown little life, falling behind 23-18. But the Cougars caught fire, reeling off five-consecutive points, including kills by Tavana and Stowell, tying UCSB at 23-23. Taylor and Stowell would each record another kill, but UCSB managed to hold on, taking the third set 30-28.

BYU and UC-Santa Barbara will face each other in the second game of the series at 7 p.m. MT on Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. Fans may watch a live stream at www.byu.tv. Play-by-play will be provided by Jarom Jordan with Steve Vail lending color analysis.

  Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
          #10 UC Santa Barbara vs #4 BYU (Mar 26, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
   UC Santa Barbara       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Jeff Menzel.........  4| 13  17  47 -.085|  0|  2   9|  1|  6| 0  3  0|  0
8  Vince Devany........  4|  2   1   4  .250| 55|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  3  2|  0
13 Dylan Davis.........  4|  7   0  11  .636|  0|  1   4|  0|  1| 0  4  0|  0
15 Jake Rosener........  4| 15   5  22  .455|  1|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  3  1|  0
19 Scott Slaughter.....  4| 11   7  30  .133|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
22 Blaine Nielsen......  4| 12   7  26  .192|  0|  0   4|  1|  3| 0  2  1|  0
2  Grant Goswiller.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
12 Cullen Irons........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
20 Andy McGuire........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 60  37 140  .164| 58|  4  20|  2| 29| 0 19  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  9  36  .167   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12 10  31  .065   UC Santa Barbara.... (1) 25 25 30 25  10-12, 7-9 MPSF
   3  19 10  38  .237   BYU................. (3) 30 30 28 30  15-7, 11-6 MPSF
   4  14  8  35  .171
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  2   0   3  .667| 46|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  5  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4|  4   2  10  .200|  1|  1   5|  0|  2| 1  8  2|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  4   3  12  .083|  0|  0   4|  1|  2| 0  3  0|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  4| 22   7  39  .385|  0|  0   4|  1|  8| 0  5  2|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 14   5  32  .281|  2|  0   1|  1|  7| 1  3  1|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  3   3   9  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  5  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  3|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  1|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  5   0   7  .714|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3|  5   0   5 1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  7|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 59  21 119  .319| 56|  2  20|  4| 34| 2 33  6|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 18.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  4  32  .375   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  13  6  26  .269   Date: Mar 26, 2010   Attend: 1804   Time: 2H 15M
   3  13  5  29  .276   Referees: TOM GIVEN, DAPHNE NELSON, TRENT MANO
   4  17  6  32  .344

The No. 4 BYU men’s volleyball team (14-7, 10-6 MPSF) remains at home this week as it hosts No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (10-11, 7-8 MPSF) for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday nights in the Smith Fieldhouse. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. MT and be televised live on BYU-TV Friday and tape-delayed Saturday, airing at 10 p.m. MT.

The Cougars are tied with Hawai’i for four-place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings after a pair of wins over USC last week. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart earned MPSF Co-Player of the Week honors after combining for 43 kills over the two matches.

The Gauchos sit in ninth place in the conference standings after dropping a close five-set match at Pepperdine on March 13. They are led by Jeff Menzel who averages 5.41 kills per set.

Series Info

BYU holds a 23-18 series advantage over the Gauchos thanks mostly to a 10-match winning streak between 1998 and 2003. The Cougars have beaten the Gauchos in seven of the last eight meetings. In total, 24 of the 41 decisions between the two have ended in sweeps while only four times has the competition gone to five sets, including the two matchups in 2009.

Match coverage

Both matches will be broadcast live on BYU-TV. Fans may watch a live stream at www.byu.tv. Play-by-play will be provided by Jarom Jordan, with Steve Vail lending color analysis.

Live stats are available at the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule.

Coming Off...

BYU is coming off a weekend sweep of No. 7 USC last weekend in Provo. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart totaled 43 kills over the two matches, including a career-high 27 on Friday. Senior opposite Kent Tuttle also posted double-digit kills both nights, while sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja totaled 14 blocks on the weekend.