PROVO -- One night after clinching a spot in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation post-season tournament, the fourth-ranked BYU men's volleyball team recorded its second straight three-game sweep over No. 5 UC Santa Barbara. The Cougars have won eight straight matches, posting an impressive 24-2 single-game record during that stretch, including a 12-0 mark over the last four matches. Friday's win improves the Cougars to 19-5 on the season, while the Gauchos drop to 15-8 on the year.
"I think we're in that mode where we're playing really good volleyball right now," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "There is still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but I'm just very pleased with the way we came out and played Santa Barbara this weekend. It's all coming together at the right time."
On a night in which the Cougars honored their senior players, Mike Wall and Joaquin Acosta made the most of their final regular-season match in the Smith Fieldhouse. Acosta hit a team-leading .643, connecting on 20-of-28 swings with just two errors. In two matches against the Gauchos, Acosta racked up 36 kills on 54 attempts (.537). Wall turned in 18 kills on Friday, hitting a blistering .517 on the night. For the weekend, Wall registered 33 kills on 56 attempts to hit an impressive .482.
Freshman setter Carlos Moreno also had an all-star performance on Friday, leading the team with six blocks. Moreno, who has struggled at times with his serve, had only one service error on the night. Moreno also produced a match-leading 53 assists.
In game one, the Cougars jumped out to an early 10-4 lead before UCSB head coach Ken Preston called a timeout. Trailing 15-9, the Gauchos wrangled themselves back in the match and would eventually cut the BYU lead to just one, 29-28, after Justin Adams and Andy Rivera combined for one of UCSB's six blocks in the game. But the UCSB run proved to be too little too late as Acosta dialed up the game-winning kill, giving the Cougars the 30-28 victory.
In game two, Acosta racked up nine kills on 11 swings, while Wall hit a blistering 1.000 at the net. The Gauchos evened things up at 12-12, but BYU slowly increased that lead to seven (28-21) on a Jan Carlos Zegarra hitting error. The two teams then traded serves before Jonathan Alleman came off the bench to pick his first kill of the game and give BYU the serve for game point. Ben Koski was forced into only his third hitting error to give the Cougars the 30-23 victory.
In the final game of the match, UC Santa Barbara looked as if it would force a fourth game, ending the Cougars' 11-game win streak. While battling through four ties early on, the Gauchos took the lead on an Alleman blocking error. UC Santa Barbara would develop a three-point lead, holding to a 26-23 advantage. The Cougars battled back and eventually took the 28-27 lead on Acosta's 20th kill of the night. A Koski error gave BYU the serve for match point when Acosta and Rafael Paal blocked a UCSB attempt, giving the Cougars the 30-27 win.
BYU will conclude the regular season next week, playing four tough matches in a five-day period. BYU will travel to UC San Diego on Tuesday-Wednesday, April 9-10, followed by back-to-back matches at No. 3 Hawaii on Friday-Saturday, April 12-13.
#5 UC Santa Barbara vs Brigham Young (March 29, 2002 at Provo, Utah)
#5 UC Santa Barbara | 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 GALANG, Britt....... 3| 0 1 3 -.333| 39| 1 0| 1| 3| 0 3 0| 0
8 KOSKI, Ben.......... 3| 21 6 32 .469| 0| 2 2| 0| 4| 0 3 0| 0
9 ZEGARRA, Jan Carlos. 2| 0 3 7 -.429| 0| 0 2| 0| 1| 0 1 2| 0
17 RIVERA, Andy........ 3| 13 6 27 .259| 0| 0 2| 1| 2| 1 4 0| 0
25 KENNEDY, Michael.... 3| 2 0 5 .400| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 5 0| 0
33 ADAMS, Justin....... 3| 3 1 9 .222| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 1 4 1| 0
5 LIENERT, Alex....... 3| 3 2 7 .143| 0| 0 1| 1| 0| 0 1 0| 0
15 BUSAM, Keith........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
19 MANSFIELD, Aaron.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 42 19 90 .256| 41| 3 9| 3| 14| 2 21 3| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 4 39 .333 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 12 7 26 .192 #5 UC Santa Barbara. 28 23 27 15-8 ; 10-8 ;MPFS
3 13 8 25 .200 Brigham Young....... 30 30 30 19-5 ; 13-5 ;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| 18 3 29 .517| 1| 0 2| 0| 4| 0 1 1| 0
4 ACOSTA, Joaquin..... 3| 20 2 28 .643| 0| 1 1| 2| 1| 0 4 2| 0
6 GORNY, Chris........ 3| 5 3 9 .222| 0| 0 4| 0| 2| 0 5 1| 0
9 PAAL, Rafael........ 3| 5 0 7 .714| 2| 1 4| 0| 8| 0 5 2| 0
11 MORENO, Carlos...... 3| 2 1 3 .333| 53| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 6 1| 2
18 SLABE, Luka......... 2| 4 2 11 .182| 1| 1 1| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
7 MAYOL, Jaime........ 2| 1 3 6 -.333| 0| 0 1| 1| 0| 0 1 0| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 2| 3 2 6 .167| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 1| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 58 16 99 .424| 58| 3 15| 3| 22| 0 22 8| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 6 41 .293 Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 20 4 29 .552 Date: Mar 29, 2002 Attend: 2,508 Time: 1:40
3 20 6 29 .483 Referees: Les Calles, Bert Fuller