Victor Batista had five blocks in BYU's 3-0 win over Rutgers-Newark. (Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

LONG BEACH -- BYU concluded its play at the Long Beach State Active Ankle Classic with a 3-0 (30-15, 30-21, 30-24) win over Rutgers-Newark Saturday at the Pyramid. With the win, the Cougars finished 2-0 at the tournament and improved to 16-4 overall while the Scarlet Knights fell to 7-12 overall.

"The tournament was a good experience," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "We've been trying to focus on serve and serve receive and to ensure our chemistry and intensity are good over time. I thought we played with chemistry and were consistent for the most part this weekend."

BYU dominated Rutgers, limiting the Scarlet Knights to .060 hitting while registering a .351 hitting percentage. Yosleyder Cala and Jonathan Charette led the Cougars with 12 kills apiece and Cala added four aces. Taylor Evans had six digs to lead BYU, which finished with 30 for the match.

Andrew Pink led Rutgers with seven kills and a match-high 11 digs. Danny McGowan, Brian Honsberger and Eric Honsberger all had six digs. Brian Honsberger and Pink each had eight blocks, a match high.

In game one, the Knights scored the first two points before BYU took control, going on an 11-2 run to take an 11-4 lead. Rutgers got within four at 14-10 but the Cougars finished the game with a 16-5 run to win, 30-15. BYU hit .412 for the game while the Knights hit .083.

Game two followed a similar pattern as Rutgers took the lead at 1-0 before the Cougars went on a 6-1 run to go up 6-2. BYU eventually led 15-6 and the Knights never got closer than six the rest of the way as the Cougars won 30-21. BYU limited Rutgers to a negative .069 hitting percentage for the game.

Rutgers stayed with the Cougars in game three, keeping the score tied until leading at 9-8 and eventually 11-8. The lead was short lived, however, as BYU tied the score at 13 and took the lead back at 15-14. The Cougars led the rest of the way and went on to win 30-24.

BYU will have a week off before playing its final home matches of the season when the Pacific Tigers visit Provo for two matches, March 31 and April 1.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
      Rutgers-Newark vs #2 BYU Cougars (Mar 18, 2006 at Long Beach State)
    Rutgers-Newark         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Pink, Andrew........  3|  7   5  21  .095|  1|  1   2|  2| 11| 1  7  0|  0|  12.5
 6  Ainsworth, Graydon..  3|  1   1   3  .000| 24|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  1  2|  0|   1.5
 8  McGowan, Danny......  3|  6   7  19 -.053|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   7.5
 9  Honsberger, Brian...  3|  6   3  17  .176|  0|  1   0|  1|  0| 0  8  0|  0|  11.0
 10 Honsberger, Eric....  3|  6   4  19  .105|  0|  0   2|  3|  6| 0  1  1|  0|   6.5
 11 Richardson, Henry...  2|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 1  Wolfe, Derek........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 2  Haugan, Clinton.....  3|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 27  22  83  .060| 26|  3   8|  9| 24| 1 19  4|  0|  40.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   7  5  24  .083   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   9 11  29 -.069   Rutgers-Newark...... (0) 15 21 24  7-12
   3  11  6  30  .167   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  16-4
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  3| 12   2  18  .556|  2|  4   0|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0|  16.5
 3  CHARETTE, Jonathan..  3| 12   6  23  .261|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|  14.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  2|  5   1  12  .333|  1|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  6   1   8  .625|  1|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  1  0|  0|   8.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  2|  2   0   2 1.000| 27|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  2|  3   1   8  .250|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 1  4  0|  0|   6.0
 5  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000| 10|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 6  MUAINA, Shaun.......  2|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 10 COX, Scott..........  2|  1   1   5  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 18 GOMES, Rodrigo......  2|  5   2  14  .214|  0|  0   3|  2|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 19 SORENSEN, Trent.....  2|  1   0   2  .500|  1|  2   1|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   3.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  15  97  .351| 44|  9  12|  3| 30| 2 13  1|  1|  66.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  5  34  .412   Site: Long Beach State (Walter Pyramid)
   2  15  5  28  .357   Date: Mar 18, 2006   Attend:     Time: 1:17
   3  15  5  35  .286   Referees: Ron Stahl, Larry Schwartz
                        Active Ankle Classic Match #3
                        Triple blocks: Rutgers-Newark 1, BYU 1