PROVO -- Despite taking an early two-game lead, the BYU men’s volleyball team opened its home season with a loss in five games to Cal Baptist Thursday night (30-25, 30-27, 26-30, 26-30, 10-15). The Cougars are now 1-3 on the season.
Junior outside hitter Andrew Stewart led the team with a career-high 22 kills against the Lancers, and freshman middle blocker Futi Tavana recorded a season-best 12 kills to add to the effort.
Yet the Cougar's offense was outmatched by Cal Baptist, which totaled 78 kills keeping the BYU defense on its heels. Adiel Tiedjop caused the most damage with 32 kills alone.
“We came out of the break and couldn't come up with kills,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "We made a lot of errors. It's a tough loss and our team is taking it hard, but you move on and learn from it."
The Cougars took an immediate lead to begin the first set, and never surrendered their position to the Lancers. BYU jumped to a 26-19 lead before Cal Baptist gained momentum, coming within two points of the Cougars. BYU regained control of the set to finish 30-25.
BYU jumped ahead quickly in the second set. Despite recording only 14 kills to the Lancers’ 18, the Cougars limited their hitting errors to 4, while Cal Baptist totaled 8. The Cougars gained momentum off of the Lancers’ errors to take a 16-7 lead, but Cal Baptist fought back and came within two points before Tavana sealed a 30-27 win with a kill.
In the third set, Cal Baptist fought back. The Cougars started the set with four unanswered points before allowing a Cal Baptist four-point run. BYU trailed for the first time while the two teams battled for the lead. The Cougars struggled hitting .136 and falling 30-26.
A six-point run gave Cal Baptist a 13-8 lead over the Cougars in the fourth set. BYU fought to overcome the deficit and manage to tie the set at 21-21 before seven errors gave the Lancers a 30-26 win to force the fifth set.
"Cal Baptist got us out of our system," said Patchell."They have some experienced players who know the system, while our guys are still figuring it out. Credit Cal Baptist--we'll learn from this."
A 5-1 run in the fifth set created an early Cougar deficit. BYU came within two points of the Lancers but struggled to maintain its momentum, finishing 15-10 to end the match.
The Cougars continue playing at home when they host No. 11 Lewis on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Volleyball Box Score
Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
CBU vs BYU Cougars (Jan 15, 2009 at BYU, PROVO, UTAH)
CBU | 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 MACNEILL, Mike...... 5| 10 5 23 .217| 1| 8 5| 0| 14| 0 1 0| 0
7 PENNER, Blair....... 5| 2 0 5 .400| 70| 1 3| 0| 7| 1 3 2| 1
11 KREUTZIGER, Garet... 5| 8 3 22 .227| 1| 0 1| 0| 1| 0 5 0| 0
16 CABRAL, Levi........ 5| 17 12 52 .096| 0| 0 4| 0| 5| 0 3 0| 0
17 TIEDJOP, Adiel...... 5| 32 12 57 .351| 2| 0 4| 1| 6| 0 3 1| 0
19 CHURCH, Adam........ 5| 9 1 13 .615| 0| 1 4| 1| 3| 1 2 0| 0
1 COOK, Adam.......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
12 TOKUDA, Micah....... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 78 33 172 .262| 75| 11 22| 2| 46| 2 17 3| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 7 35 .286 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 18 11 43 .163 CBU................. (3) 25 27 30 30 15 2-2
3 18 7 49 .224 BYU Cougars......... (2) 30 30 26 26 10 1-3
4 12 6 29 .207
5 13 2 16 .688
BYU Cougars | 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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1 TUTTLE, Kent........ 4| 7 8 21 -.048| 0| 0 2| 0| 5| 0 5 2| 0
3 CHILTON, Reed....... 5| 1 2 4 -.250| 53| 0 2| 0| 11| 0 4 0| 0
7 ROBINSON, Jeff...... 5| 9 2 27 .259| 1| 1 2| 1| 3| 0 2 0| 0
9 SOUZA, Otavio....... 4| 7 3 14 .286| 3| 0 0| 1| 1| 0 7 0| 0
15 STEWART, Andrew..... 5| 22 5 42 .405| 0| 1 1| 5| 4| 0 4 0| 0
17 TAVANA, Futi........ 5| 12 2 20 .500| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 6 0| 0
4 SILVA, Joel......... 5| 1 0 1 1.000| 1| 0 0| 3| 10| 0 0 0| 0
5 LAVAJA, Russell..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 1 1 0| 0
8 KAULIAKAMOA, Joe.... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
10 TAYLOR, Mat......... 4| 2 2 8 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 4| 1 2 0| 0
11 SAGERS, Kevin....... 3| 3 2 6 .167| 0| 0 1| 1| 1| 0 0 0| 0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 64 26 143 .266| 58| 2 11| 11| 44| 2 31 2| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 6 29 .379 Site: BYU, PROVO, UTAH (E M COURT)
2 14 4 30 .333 Date: Jan 15, 2009 Attend: 2703 Time: 2H 46M
3 14 8 44 .136 Referees: TOM GIVEN, MIKE FARISH, TRENT MONO
4 16 8 30 .267
5 3 0 10 .300