PROVO -- The fifth-ranked BYU men's volleyball team extended its win streak to six straight matches--including its third straight 3-0 victory--after knocking off No. 12 Ohio State on Friday, 34-32, 30-23, 30-25. The Buckeyes, a 2001 NCAA Final Four participant, dropped to 4-2 on the season, while the Cougars improved to 6-1.
All-American Mike Wall led the Cougars with 17 kills, while Joaquin Acosta and Jaime Mayol had 13 kills each. Mayol posted a match-leading .632 average at the net, connecting on 13-of-19 attempts with just one error.
In game one, the Buckeyes jumped to a dominating 19-11 lead. The Cougars later mounted a strong rally, reeling off an amazing five straight points to cut the lead to just two points at 20-18.With Rafael Paal serving, Chris Gorny killed an OSU overpass to pull within one. On the next play, Wall tied the score at 22-22 with one of his match-high 17 kills. After an Acosta serving error, Ohio State looked to have things well in hand with a 29-27 lead and serving for game point. BYU fought back to tie the score at 30-30, when another Gorny kill gave the Cougars their first lead of the night, 31-30. The two teams would tie things up again at 32-32 when OSU's Ricardo Garcia was called for a double hit. With Mayol serving for game point, Gorny stuffed an Ohio State attack to complete the amazing come-from-behind victory, 34-32.
"It was beyond belief that we were able to come back and win the first game," McGown said. "That set the tone for the rest of the night. Ohio State was on fire early on and you have to credit our hitters for making those adjustments."
After getting outblocked in game one, 7.5-3.5, the Cougar defense stiffened, holding the Buckeyes to just 1.5 blocks the rest of the night. BYU racked up a total of 9.5 blocks, led by middle blocker Chris Gorny with 5.0 blocks.
"I guess we just get used to hitting against ourselves in the gym," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "Then when we we face a big team like Ohio State, we have to make adjustments. I thought we did a nice job doing that."
In game two, it was all BYU. The Cougars racked up five aces in game two, fueled behind freshman Carlos Moreno, who had a match-high four on the night. With the scored tied at 11-11, the Cougars mounted a run. BYU pushed the lead to an eventual seven-point margin. Leading 27-20, the Cougars committed back-to-back-to-back service errors, cutting their lead to 29-23. Finally, an Ohio State attack error ended the game with BYU on top by seven, 30-23, equaling the Cougars largest single-game victory of the season.
In game three, the two teams traded serves until BYU broke away from a n 16-16 tie to go up by three, 28-25. Wall and Gorny teamed up to block an Ohio State attempt to get to 29-25. On the following play, Paal was credited with the match-winning ace after his bullet serve lanced off Garcia in the back row.
U.S. National team member Pieter Olree led the Buckeyes with 17 kills on 33 swings, with six errors, hitting .333 on the night. BYU recorded eight aces on the night, while the Cougar defense, led by Fernando Pessoa, did not allow a single Ohio State ace.
The two teams will square off again on Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. Match time is slated for 7 p.m. (MST).
Ohio State vs Brigham Young (Feb. 1, 2002 at Provo, Utah)
#12 Ohio State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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4 GARCIA, Ricardo..... 3| 4 3 16 .062| 6| 0 3| 2| 2| 0 0 1| 1
5 TRANTOW, Tom........ 3| 7 4 17 .176| 2| 0 4| 2| 11| 1 3 1| 0
9 DILLON, Aaron....... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 4| 0 0 0| 0
10 PEDERSEN, Adam...... 3| 3 3 8 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 1 4 0| 0
11 SPURLOCK, Scott..... 2| 0 0 2 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0
12 OLREE, Pieter....... 3| 17 6 33 .333| 1| 0 3| 3| 3| 0 2 2| 0
6 PECKHAM, Mark....... 3| 4 1 6 .500| 27| 0 3| 0| 2| 0 3 0| 0
7 HAMILTON, Brett..... 1| 3 0 4 .750| 0| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0
13 WAULIGMAN, Mike..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
16 LEHMAN, Mark........ 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 38 17 86 .244| 37| 0 16| 8| 23| 2 14 4| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 13 6 38 .184 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 9 4 19 .263 #12 Ohio State...... 32 23 25 4-2 ;
3 16 7 29 .310 Brigham Young....... 34 30 30 6-1 ; 5-1 MPFS
Brigham Young | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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2 WALL, Mike.......... 3| 17 4 33 .394| 2| 0 2| 0| 3| 0 4 0| 1
4 ACOSTA, Joaquin..... 3| 13 4 24 .375| 0| 1 3| 0| 2| 1 1 1| 0
6 GORNY, Chris........ 3| 2 5 8 -.375| 0| 0 4| 0| 2| 0 5 1| 1
7 MAYOL, Jaime........ 3| 13 1 19 .632| 1| 1 1| 0| 3| 0 2 1| 0
9 PAAL, Rafael........ 3| 4 2 11 .182| 2| 2 3| 0| 3| 0 2 1| 0
11 MORENO, Carlos...... 3| 2 1 5 .200| 44| 4 7| 0| 6| 0 3 1| 2
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
18 SLABE, Luka......... 3| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 51 18 101 .327| 49| 8 20| 0| 25| 1 17 5| 4
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 21 11 48 .208 Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 16 5 31 .355 Date: Feb. 1, 2002 Attend: 2,616 Time: 1:40
3 14 2 22 .545 Referees: Les Calles, Tom Given