PROVO -- After sweeping reigning national champions UCLA in six games, BYU will take its show on the road for the first time this season as the Cougars head to the bay area for a pair of matches against Stanford. The matches will be the second and third matches of the MPSF season. BYU has won nine of 15 matches at Stanford.
SERIES INFORMATION
The Cougars have won 18 of the 28 matches the two teams have played since 1990. Recently, BYU has dominated the series, winning the last six matches and 12 of the last 15.
The Cardinal won the first three matches in the series, winning won in each of 1990, 1991 and 1992. The Cougars then won five of the next six matches. The series was even after that until the 2004 season when BYU started its current six-match winning streak.
LAST WEEK RECAP
FRIDAY--For the first time since 2003, No. 2 BYU took No. 3 UCLA down in three straight games, as the Cougars remained undefeated 30-28, 30-22 and 30-26. Sophomore Yosleyder Cala led BYU with game-highs of 15 kills and an astounding .789 hitting percentage. Juniors Ivan Perez (11 kills) and Russell Holmes (12 kills) combined for 23 of BYU's 51 total kills.
Freshman Robby Stowell received game-high honors in digs with eight on the night. As a team, BYU recorded 27 digs to UCLA's 13. The Cougars hit .500 for the match while holding the Bruins to 41 kills on .330 hitting.
SATURDAY--For only the third time in the programs history, and the first time since 2003, the No. 2 BYU men's volleyball team completed a weekend sweep of No. 3 UCLA 30-21, 30-23 and 33-31 Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. Freshman Robby Stowell led the Cougar charge Saturday night. He finished with a career-high 19 kills with five blocks while hitting .654. Ivan Perez also enjoyed a strong night with 16 kills on .542 hitting. Yamil Perez controlled the hard-hitting offense with 46 assists.
NEAR RECORD PERFORMANCES
BYU dominated UCLA in its Friday match. Two players had near-record setting nights in hitting percentage. Yosleyder Cala had the fifth best hitting night in BYU history when he posted a .789 hitting percentage (15-0-19). Not far behind him, Russell Holmes posted the sixth best performance when he hit at a .786 clip (12-1-14).
As a team, the Cougars had a top-10 performance all time in hitting performance as they hit .500 collectively (51-12-78). The performance was witnessed by one of the top-15 largest crowds to watch a BYU volleyball match (5,537).
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Redshirt freshman setter Yamil Perez has been spreading the wealth evenly in the early going for the Cougars. Against UCLA, four different BYU players had double figures in kills with only Ivan Perez doing in twice. Along with Perez, Yosleyder Cala, Russell Holmes and Robby Stowell posted double-digit kills in a match.
Yamil Perez has kept the Cougars' opponents off balance as several BYU players posted double-digits in swings. The Cougars hit .500 against UCLA on Friday night while three BYU players posted over .500 hitting percentages.