IRVINE -- Sophomore Robb Stowell knocked down a career-high 26 kills with a .413 attack percentage as the No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team pulled out a nail-biting five-set win over No. 11 UC Irvine (30-28, 19-30, 23-30, 30-27, 17-15) Thursday night.
Down two sets to one, the Cougars came back to win the final two, maintaining their undefeated 3-0 record in five set matches this season. With the win BYU improves to 7-3 on the season and 5-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.
Besides Stowell, three other Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Kevin Sagers with 14, Andrew Stewart with 12 and Otavio Souza adding 11. Stewart also completed a double-double night with a career-high 17 digs. He now has four double-doubles on the season and six for his career.
Stewart, Stowell and Russell Lavaja started the night off with kills as the Cougars opened with a 4-2 lead in the first set. Attacks from UCI’s Carson Clark and Jordan DuFault tied the score at 7-7. With the score knotted again at 12-all, BYU scored three straight points, including kills from both its outside hitters, Sagers and Stewart. The Anteaters were forced to call a timeout, but the momentum continued in the Cougars’ favor.
Continuing a strong offensive attack, Sagers knocked down four more kills, making the lead 27-21. Lavaja’s third kill of the night brought up set point for BYU, but the Cougars called a timeout after three consecutive UCI points. Lavaja converted on another attack to secure the 30-28 win.
After hitting .484 in the first set, UCI held the Cougars to a .04 attack percentage in the second. The Anteaters took advantage of several early BYU attack errors to take a 9-6 lead. The Cougars climbed back to within one point after a kill and service ace from Stowell, but UCI scored seven of the next nine points to go up 18-12. It extended its lead to as many as 12 points before defeating BYU 30-19.
Set three started with a 5-0 UCI run which included three blocks. Trading points back-and-forth, the Cougars were unable to narrow the deficit to less than three points, despite kills from Stowell and Souza. Stewart knocked down his eight kill of the night as BYU trailed 23-18, followed next by back-to-back Souza blocks. The junior middle blocker recorded another kill, bringing the Cougars to within three, but the comeback attempt would fall short as UCI claimed the set 30-23.
Stowell and Souza accounted for four of the Cougars’ first eight points in the fourth set, allowing BYU to take an 8-5 lead. After Lavaja and Reed Chilton combined for a block at the 11-8 mark, consecutive UCI service errors and kills from Stowell and Souza brought the Cougar lead to 15-11 as the Anteaters called a timeout. UCI scored three unanswered points to tie the score 19-19.
Each time BYU took a one-point lead, the Anteaters answered back as the set saw seven additional tied scores. Knotted at 26-26, Sagers capitalized on a UCI service error with an ace. Stowell followed that with his 20th kill of the night to bring up set point. He and Lavaja put up a block to force a fifth set.
The final set was as close as expected with the teams trading early points. Tied 3-3, Sagers recorded a kill, which was followed by Stowell’s second ace of the night. The tied scores continued due to several untimely BYU service errors. UCI took a slight 10-9 advantage after a kill by Clark, forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. Trailing 13-10, BYU put together a 3-0 run, which Stewart capped with kill. With the Anteaters leading 15-14, Sagers and Stowell strung together consecutive kills, bringing up match point. Sagers clinched the overall win, converting on one final attack.
The Cougars and Anteaters meet again on Friday at 7 p.m. PT.
Volleyball Box Score
The Automated ScoreBook
#3 BYU vs #11 UCI (Feb 04, 2010 at Irvine, Calif.)
BYU | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name SP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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3 CHILTON, Reed....... 5| 0 0 2 .000| 59| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 3 1| 0| 1.5
5 LAVAJA, Russell..... 5| 6 2 13 .308| 1| 0 5| 0| 3| 0 7 2| 0| 9.5
9 SOUZA, Otavio....... 5| 11 4 15 .467| 0| 0 2| 0| 3| 1 5 0| 0| 14.5
11 SAGERS, Kevin....... 5| 14 2 23 .522| 1| 1 4| 1| 6| 0 3 1| 0| 16.5
13 STOWELL, Robb....... 5| 26 7 46 .413| 0| 2 4| 0| 7| 0 4 1| 0| 30.0
15 STEWART, Andrew..... 5| 12 7 32 .156| 0| 0 2| 3| 17| 0 3 1| 0| 13.5
1 TUTTLE, Kent........ 2| 0 2 3 -.667| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0| 1.0
4 SILVA, Joel......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 3| 3| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
7 ROBINSON, Jeff...... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 2| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
8 KAULIAKAMOA, Joe.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
10 TAYLOR, Mat......... 2| 0 2 2-1.000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 5| 0 0 0 .000| 7| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 5| 69 26 136 .316| 68| 3 20| 9| 44| 1 27 6| 0| 86.5
TEAM ATTACK PER SET TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.5
Set K E TA Pct Sideout Pct
1 18 3 31 .484 19-28 67% SET SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 10 9 25 .040 17-30 56% BYU................. (3) 30 19 23 30 17 7-3, 5-2
3 14 6 33 .242 18-29 62% UCI................. (2) 28 30 30 27 15 5-7, 1-6
4 16 5 28 .393 22-28 78%
5 11 3 19 .421 11-16 68%
UCI | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name SP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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2 Connor Hughes....... 2| 2 3 6 -.167| 1| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 2.0
4 Anthony Spittle..... 5| 2 1 5 .200| 64| 1 0| 0| 7| 0 3 0| 0| 4.5
7 Jordan DuFault...... 5| 16 7 35 .257| 1| 3 5| 1| 10| 0 1 0| 0| 19.5
9 Carson Clark........ 5| 29 6 57 .404| 1| 2 7| 0| 6| 0 2 0| 0| 32.0
12 Austin D'Amore...... 5| 6 3 11 .273| 1| 2 6| 0| 1| 1 5 0| 0| 11.5
17 Bryan Simmons....... 2| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
1 Kevin Carroll....... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
5 Cole Reinholm....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 Cory Yoder.......... 5| 14 0 31 .452| 1| 1 3| 2| 4| 0 5 0| 0| 17.5
18 Will Montgomery..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
19 Kevin Wynne......... 4| 5 0 7 .714| 1| 0 2| 0| 0| 2 5 1| 0| 9.5
22 Kevin Welch......... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 5| 74 20 153 .353| 72| 9 26| 3| 35| 3 21 1| 0| 96.5
TEAM ATTACK PER SET TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
Set K E TA Pct Sideout Pct
1 19 7 38 .316 19-30 63% Site: Irvine, Calif. (Bren Center)
2 15 2 24 .542 17-19 89% Date: Feb 04, 2010 Attend: 1003 Time: 2:21
3 16 6 41 .244 19-24 79% Referees: Kevin Cull, Joe Aguilar
4 17 4 34 .382 21-29 72%
5 7 1 16 .375 10-16 62%
1 2 3 4 5 Total
Tie scores 7 4 2 10 11 34
Lead changes 3 1 2 3 4 13