PROVO -- Keeping the 12-match win streak alive, the No. 3-ranked BYU men's volleyball team blanked No. 6-ranked UC Santa Barbara in a three-game series (30-26, 30-24, 30-2). With the win, the Cougars (13-3 overall, 11-1 MPSF) currently hold the longest streak in the nation.
This winning streak also ties the third longest streak in BYU history, just one less than the 13-straight wins from 1997. The Gauchos fall to 10-8 overall, 6-7 in the MPSF.
"I thought we played fairly well tonight," head coach Tom Peterson said. "These home matches are critical to us, especially Pepperdine next week. We really have a good opportunity to play well at home since we will be playing Hawai`i and UCLA on the road."
Saturday's win marks the sixth straight 3-0 victory for the Cougars at home. BYU has not lost a single game in the Smith Fieldhouse since Jan. 17 against Cal State Northridge.
"The Fieldhouse is one of the hardest places to play, when we get a big crowd here," Peterson said. "The atmosphere is pretty exciting, and it's hard for teams to come in and play."
Leading BYU was seniors Joe Hillman and Fernando Pessoa with 14 kills, marking the 13th double-digit total of the season for both players.
The Cougar middles Victor Batista and Michael Burke gave the team a lift with only two hitting errors between the two. Batista paced the BYU offense with nine kills on 11 attempts and a career-high .727 hitting percentage. Playing in his third match, Burke added eight kills and a match-high eight blocks after an injury sidelined him for 11 matches.
Junior setter Carlos Moreno racked up 51 assists on 87 attempts and led the Cougars to a .327 hitting percentage for the match.
"Right now we're real tough to figure out because Carlos is seeing very well," Peterson said. "If they are keying on our middles or even jumping to block, it's good for us offensively and a nightmare for other teams."
In game one, the Cougars started early with kills in the middle to give the team a 7-4 lead. UCSB tied the game at 11 with a kill by Michael Kennedy, answered with two kills by Pessoa and Burke. To give BYU a 17-15 lead Hillman posted back-to-back kills before Jake Wiens registered one of his five kills on the night. After a Gaucho service error, the Cougars ended the first game at 30-26.
Much like the first, BYU began with a short 7-4 lead, while UCSB tied the game at 11 after a Cougar service error. After a 3-0 run BYU didn't look back, keeping a 22-17 on a kill by Jonathan Alleman. Senior Cory Carpenter recorded his only kill for the game to finish game two at 30-24,
A Gaucho service error tied game three at four, but Pessoa helped the Cougars to a 12-8 lead. A BYU attack error helped UCSB come back to tie the game four different times late in game three. The Cougars capitalized on two hitting errors by the Gauchos and Burke added a solo block to lead at 29-25. A service error helped BYU to its 12th straight win in the last game at 30-27.
The team will host No. 5-ranked Pepperdine next Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Saturday's match will be broadcast on KBYU and BYUTV.
Volleyball Box Score
2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
UC Santa Barbara vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mar 06, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
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|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 BERMAN, Bryan....... 2| 0 1 1-1.000| 14| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0| 1.0
5 NELSON, Mike........ 3| 8 3 16 .312| 0| 1 5| 0| 2| 0 3 1| 0| 10.5
13 WACK, Nate.......... 3| 10 3 25 .280| 1| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 2 0| 0| 11.0
15 WIENS, Jake......... 3| 5 4 15 .067| 0| 0 1| 1| 5| 0 4 0| 0| 7.0
25 KENNEDY, Michael.... 3| 4 3 10 .100| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 4 1| 0| 7.0
33 ADAMS, Justin....... 2| 1 2 5 -.200| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0| 2.0
1 KOWALSKI, Bart...... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 20| 0 1| 1| 2| 0 1 0| 1| 0.5
10 ULFERS, Adam........ 1| 3 0 7 .429| 1| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 3.0
14 PARRA, Alejandro.... 3| 5 3 10 .200| 0| 0 2| 0| 1| 0 3 1| 0| 6.5
19 MANSFIELD, Aaron.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 3| 36 19 89 .191| 36| 1 11| 2| 19| 1 21 3| 1| 48.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 12 5 30 .233 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 12 7 30 .167 UC Santa Barbara.... 26 24 27 10-8, 6-7
3 12 7 29 .172 BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 30 30 30 13-3, 11-1
BRIGHAM YOUNG | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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3 BURKE, Michael...... 3| 8 1 19 .368| 0| 0 1| 0| 4| 2 6 0| 0| 13.0
5 MORENO, Carlos...... 3| 1 4 7 -.429| 51| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 3 0| 2| 2.5
11 HILLMAN, Joe........ 3| 14 4 23 .435| 0| 1 3| 0| 6| 0 5 0| 0| 17.5
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 3| 9 6 19 .158| 1| 1 2| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 1| 10.0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 14 6 24 .333| 1| 0 3| 1| 6| 0 2 2| 0| 15.0
18 BATISTA, Victor..... 3| 9 1 11 .727| 0| 0 4| 0| 1| 0 3 2| 0| 10.5
10 CARPENTER, Cory..... 2| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0
14 NEILSON, Rob........ 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 3| 56 22 104 .327| 54| 2 15| 1| 29| 2 19 4| 3| 69.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 20 8 38 .316 Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse])
2 19 8 34 .324 Date: Mar 06, 2004 Attend: 2590 Time: 1H30M
3 17 6 32 .344 Referees: LES CALLES, MAILE JEWKES