SAN -- Extending to a school-record of 20-straight wins and taking the match 3-0, the top-ranked BYU men's volleyball team fought past host UC San Diego on Saturday at the RIMAC Arena. The game scores were 31-29, 36-34, 30-22.
"We played a better all-around match tonight," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "Our passing and serving was better than it was on Friday. UCSD was well-prepared for us and played one of their best matches of the season."
The Cougars improve to a nation-leading 21-3 overall record, including a 17-1 record in the MPSF. The Tritons dropped to 7-18 overall and 3-16 in league play.
With the two wins, BYU has now posted another season with over 20 wins, the seventh time in the program's 15-year history. The Cougars out-hit UCSD, .313 to .221, as well as out-blocking, 13.5 to seven.
Leading BYU with his 20th double-digit performance of the season was senior outside hitter Fernando Pessoa with 14 kills and six digs, while hitting a .458 clip for the match. Junior middle Michael Burke and senior opposite Joe Hillman also remained solid with 10 kills each, with Burke hitting a .714 percentage (10-0-14). Hillman racked up six blocks in the win.
Senior libero Shawn Olmstead tied his career-high in digs with 12 and also added two assists. Senior Jon Alleman chipped in eight kills, two service aces and six digs, as sophomore middle Victor Batista added six kills and a team-high seven blocks. Junior setter Carlos Moreno paced the team with 42 assists, increasing his career total to 4,115 assists and ranking him third on BYU's all-time list.
"We had a lot of guys contributing for us in each category," assistant coach Grayson DuBose said.
BYU had also gotten by the Tritons on Friday night, 3-1. BYU scored the first three points of the opening game, with two kills coming from Hillman. After UCSD caught the Cougars and achieved its first tie since the start, at 6-6, it became a back-and-forth affair. Twelve more ties led toward a 26-26 deadlock, with the Tritons continually knotting it up, only to see the Cougars go back on top. Finally, UCSD took its first lead of the frame at 27-26 on hitting error by Hillman, which forced a Cougar timeout.
The teams traded points before a Triton service error tied it up again at 28-28. A solo block by Batista regained the advantage for BYU, heading into a UCSD timeout. This time, it was a service error by the visitors, which tied the score one last time at 29-29. A kill by Alleman and block assists by Batista and Hillman finally ended it in favor of BYU.
Game two was not unlike the opener, a tight contest from beginning to end. UCSD tallied the first two points, and although the Cougars then led by as many as four points three different times, the game stood locked for a 14th time at 28-28, before the first of multiple game points for both sides. A kill by Moreno gave the visitors the first opportunity to win the frame, with back-to-back kills by the Titons' senior opposite Jim Waller and sophomore outside hitter Jeff Urton then immediately giving UCSD its first chance, heading into a BYU timeout.
Following a kill by Burke to make it 30-30, each team had another game point which it was unable to convert on. A UCSD hitting error gave BYU its third game-point opportunity, but block assists by Waller and true freshman middle Garret Smith, in a rare start, fended it off one last time. A Batista kill and blocks by Burke and Hillman gave the Cougars the game, 36-34, and the 2-0 lead in the match.
"Mike (Burke) had some good swings for us in the second game," DuBose said. "And the team's passing also helped out, and we were able to convert on some key plays. It was a great team effort tonight."
The third game was less of a contest, with BYU trotting out to a 7-3 advantage before the first timeout by the home side. Though UCSD got back to within one point once at 10-9, that was as close as it would get. The Cougars used a run of 5-0 later to really break it open at 20-13, and led by as many as 10 at 29-19 on match point before settling for the 30-22 win.
Waller led with a match-high 20 on Saturday, including seven in game one and eight more in the second. He is now just 37 shy of breaking the all-time career record for kills at UCSD. Waller also had five blocks. Senior middle Kevin Keyser collected 11 kills. Freshman setter Brook Dierdorff distributed 40 assists.
BYU travels next week to UCLA on Apr. 8-9 at the Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins are currently ranked No. 3 in the national poll and will provide a tough match up for the Cougars.
To view the detailed box score, click the pdf version above.
Volleyball Box Score
2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
BRIGHAM YOUNG vs UC San Diego (Apr 03, 2004 at UC San Diego)
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 BURKE, Michael...... 3| 10 0 14 .714| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 5 0| 0| 12.5
5 MORENO, Carlos...... 3| 2 3 6 -.167| 42| 1 2| 0| 1| 0 3 1| 2| 4.5
11 HILLMAN, Joe........ 3| 10 4 20 .300| 1| 0 1| 0| 4| 1 5 0| 0| 13.5
12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan... 3| 8 4 17 .235| 1| 2 4| 1| 6| 0 2 0| 0| 11.0
17 PESSOA, Fernando.... 3| 14 3 24 .458| 1| 1 4| 1| 6| 0 2 0| 0| 16.0
18 BATISTA, Victor..... 3| 6 3 15 .200| 0| 0 1| 0| 3| 1 6 1| 0| 10.0
2 RANGEL, Steffin..... 1| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
10 CARPENTER, Cory..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
14 NEILSON, Rob........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 12| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
20 EVANS, TAYLOR....... 1| 0 1 2 -.500| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 3| 50 19 99 .313| 48| 4 12| 2| 35| 2 23 2| 2| 67.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 10 37 .216 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 19 5 40 .350 BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 31 36 30 21-3, 17-1 MPSF
3 13 4 22 .409 UC San Diego........ 29 34 22 7-18, 3-16 MPSF
UC San Diego | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 WALLER, Jim......... 3| 20 9 41 .268| 0| 1 4| 0| 5| 2 3 0| 0| 24.5
5 URTON, Jeff......... 3| 9 4 22 .227| 1| 0 3| 0| 3| 1 0 0| 0| 10.0
6 KEYSER, Kevin....... 3| 11 1 20 .500| 1| 1 1| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 0| 13.0
10 TOREN, Adam......... 3| 5 8 17 -.176| 1| 0 4| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 5.0
20 DIERDORFF, Brooks... 3| 0 2 3 -.667| 40| 0 3| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 1| 0.5
24 SMITH, Garret....... 3| 4 0 10 .400| 0| 0 3| 0| 1| 0 2 1| 0| 5.0
4 TAI, Dickens........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 4| 8| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
23 OKSENENDLER, Shawn.. 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 3| 49 24 113 .221| 44| 2 18| 4| 23| 3 8 1| 1| 58.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 14 6 33 .242 Site: UC San Diego (RIMAC Arena)
2 21 10 46 .239 Date: Apr 03, 2004 Attend: 289 Time: 1:40
3 14 8 34 .176 Referees: Kevin Cull, Patsy Malta