PROVO, Utah (Jan. 16, 2003) Despite back-to-back losses last weekend, the No. 8 BYU men's volleyball team brought the 4,151 fans to their feet at the Smith Fieldhouse as the Cougars swept No. 5 Cal State Northridge 3-0 (30-24, 30-27, 30-28) in the conference opener.
BYU improves to 1-2, 1-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while CS Northridge drops 3-2, 0-1 in conference.
"For being just the first home game of the season, we were good enough to beat a very good team tonight," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said.
With three players hitting double-digit kills, BYU left the Matadors confused with the majority of attacks coming from the outside and opposite side. Left-handed opposite hitter Joe Hillman led the Cougars with a career-high 21 kills and All-American Jonathan Alleman contributed 13 kills.
"Joe [Hillman] hit well for us tonight," Peterson said. "He was the guy they couldn't figure out tonight. I'm not taking anything away from Joe, but we have to be able to spread it out a little more."
Senior Fernando Pessoa posted a career-high performance with 11 kills and a team-high eight digs. Although moving to the outside from libero, he gave the Cougars the defensive lift they needed with his experience. Junior Carlos Moreno commanded the BYU offense with 42 assists, which is eight more than CSUN's combined assists.
In game one, BYU jumped ahead 6-2 off a Pessoa kill and held the lead with consistent
blocking from newcomer middle Cory Carpenter. With the loss of All-MPSF Michael Burke to a preseason injury, Carpenter and freshman Aaron Ferre have taken on the starting middle roles and are learning fast in the Cougar offense. The duo combined for six kills and nine blocks.
Matador freshman Dan Rhodes and junior Jeff Taylor recorded kills to pull CSUN within two points in the first game, 26-24. BYU prevailed with the help of Hillman and Alleman. The Cougars hit .467 compared to CS Northridge's .231 in the first game.
The Matadors opened the second game with increased intensity, taking the lead, 7-4, after a block. The Matadors held the lead until BYU formed a determined comeback, with three straight kills by Hillman to tie the game at 14. From then on, both teams traded points until Hillman and Carpenter came up with a block at 27-24, and the Cougars closed game two at 30-27.
After the break, Northridge staged another strong start with kills by senior middle Stan Douglas. He finished with 10 kills, the only Matador to finish with double-digit kills.
Alleman and Hillman then went to work again, as Carpenter and Pessoa formed a solid block against Cal State's outside hitters. The Cougars took the lead 27-23 and held out to win game three despite the Matadors' late run.
"They [CSUN] will not play like that tomorrow night," Peterson said. "They will come out, and I expect them to be on fire."
To view the detailed box score, click the pdf version above.
BYU will take on Cal State Northridge for another MPSF match-up at 8:30 p.m. (MT) in the Smith Fieldhouse. The first 200 fans with Basketball ticket stubs with get free pizza.
Volleyball Box Score
2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
Cal State Northridge vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Jan 16, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
Cal State Northridge | 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 NIELSEN, Nils....... 3| 7 4 17 .176| 1| 0 4| 0| 2| 0 5 0| 0
4 WAITE, Brian........ 3| 6 3 10 .300| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 1 5 0| 0
5 DOUGLAS, Stan....... 3| 10 0 15 .667| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0
6 TRAMBLIE, Ty........ 2| 1 0 2 .500| 21| 0 1| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
7 RHODES, Dan......... 2| 6 2 13 .308| 1| 0 2| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0
10 TAYLOR, Jeff........ 2| 3 5 18 -.111| 0| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0
3 LISCHER, James...... 1| 0 0 2 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
8 HANSON, Cary........ 3| 1 1 5 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 2| 0 0 0| 0
11 ALLEN, Nate......... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
12 ENGLISH, Doug....... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
15 ALLEN, Billy........ 1| 0 0 0 .000| 10| 1 2| 0| 2| 0 0 1| 0
16 AMESON, Scott....... 1| 0 4 8 -.500| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 34 19 90 .167| 34| 1 13| 1| 23| 1 13 1| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 11 5 26 .231 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 13 4 28 .321 Cal State Northridge 24 27 28 3 - 2
3 10 10 36 .000 BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 30 30 30 1 - 2
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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5 MORENO, Carlos...... 3| 4 0 7 .571| 42| 0 2| 0| 6| 0 3 0| 1
6 FERRE, Aaron........ 3| 3 3 9 .000| 1| 0 4| 0| 3| 0 3 0| 0
10 CARPENTER, Cory..... 3| 3 1 6 .333| 0| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 6 1| 0
11 HILLMAN, Joe........ 3| 21 11 37 .270| 1| 1 1| 0| 2| 0 3 1| 0
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 3| 13 4 27 .333| 5| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 11 4 21 .333| 3| 0 5| 0| 8| 0 4 1| 0
2 RANGEL, Steffin..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
14 NEILSON, Rob........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 6| 0 0 0| 1
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Totals.............. 3| 55 23 107 .299| 53| 1 17| 1| 30| 0 20 3| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 4 30 .467 Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 20 9 40 .275 Date: Jan 16, 2004 Attend: 4151 Time: 1h 30m
3 17 10 37 .189 Referees: LES CALLES, BURT FULLER, KAREN MARSHALL