PROVO -- Another dominating effort from No. 4 BYU's outside hitters, coupled with a strong blocking performance led the Cougars to a three game sweep over No. 12 Hawaii, 35-33, 30-22 and 30-27.
Ivan Perez led the Cougars (11-4, 7-3 MPSF) with 15 kills on his second consecutive night of over .400 hitting. Robby Stowell and Yosleyder Cala added 13 and 12 kills, respectively. BYU also had a dominating blocking presence, led by Russell Holmes. Holmes posted a career-high four block solos and 11 total blocks.
"Our guys have to want to compete," co-head coach Ryan Millar said. "When they show that they want to compete, we win."
In the closely contested first set, Hawaii maintained a two-point advantage throughout the game. Midway through the first, the Cougars began to struggle at the service line and with their passing as the Warriors jumped out to a 21-15 lead after a 5-1 run. Hawaii held its six-point advantage until late in the game before BYU began to fight back. The Cougars got back-to-back blocks from Russell Holmes followed by a Cala kill to cut the Hawaii lead to 24-22.
"Russell's two blocks in a row turned the momentum," Millar said. "I would like to see us play with the momentum earlier in the set."
The Warriors maintained the two-point lead as the teams traded side outs. BYU tied the game at 27 on a long rally point highlighted by a Cala dig that sent him into the first row of seats. BYU finally ended the side-out trade off with a Perez kill to give the Cougars a 34-33 advantage. BYU won the game on the next point when Hawaii's Dio Dante's ball sailed long.
BYU led the second set by two early on before extending its lead to 15-11 on the heels of a 4-1 run. The Cougars kept the pressure on Hawaii, riding another 4-1 run to open a 21-14 advantage on a Holmes block. BYU's big lead held up as the Warriors were unable to come up with significant runs. The Cougars finished the second set on a 5-1 run capped by a Sean Carney service error.
BYU dominated the second set, out-hitting Hawaii .300 to .028. The Cougars also out-blocked the Warriors 5.0 to 1.0 and out-dug Hawaii 15 to six in the game.
Much like the first two sets, the third began as a tightly contested game with the two teams battling evenly in the early going. With the score tied at 11 the Cougars went on a 5-1 run to jump ahead by four. Later in the set the Warriors countered with their own run, a 4-0 streak that tied the game at 22. The teams traded side outs until the Cougars scored on serve when Hawaii's Kyle Klinger had an attack error. The match ended on another Holmes block.
BYU now faces its longest road trip of the season as the Cougars head to Southern California three times in as many weeks. BYU first travels to USC next Friday and Saturday.
"This road trip will be the defining point of our season," Millar said.
Volleyball Box Score
The Automated ScoreBook
#12 HAWAII Warriors vs #4 BYU Cougars (Feb 24, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
HAWAII Warriors | 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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3 Clar, Jim........... 3| 0 4 7 -.571| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
5 Klinger, Kyle....... 3| 6 6 16 .000| 1| 0 3| 0| 1| 0 4 1| 0
8 Hakala, Lauri....... 3| 14 3 32 .344| 0| 0 3| 0| 3| 0 3 0| 0
10 Beckwith, Brian..... 3| 0 0 1 .000| 36| 1 6| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0
19 Dante, Dio.......... 3| 3 4 8 -.125| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 2 1| 0
23 Vanzant, Matt....... 3| 11 5 26 .231| 0| 2 4| 1| 5| 1 2 0| 0
1 Rawson, Matt........ 1| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0
2 Grgas, Steven....... 3| 7 4 21 .143| 0| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 2 0| 0
4 Kalima, Eric........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0
6 Carney, Sean........ 2| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 41 26 112 .134| 38| 3 20| 1| 20| 2 16 2| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 8 35 .286 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 10 9 36 .028 HAWAII Warriors..... (0) 33 22 27 3-11, 3-9 ,MPSF
3 13 9 41 .098 BYU Cougars......... (3) 35 30 30 11-4, 7-3 ,MPSF
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 CALA, Yosleyder..... 3| 12 3 23 .391| 0| 0 4| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
7 SORENSEN, Trent..... 2| 2 0 6 .333| 2| 0 2| 1| 0| 1 1 0| 0
8 PEREZ, Ivan......... 3| 15 5 25 .400| 0| 0 2| 2| 4| 0 6 0| 0
11 HOLMES, Russell..... 3| 3 2 9 .111| 1| 1 5| 0| 1| 4 7 0| 0
13 STOWELL, Robby...... 3| 13 5 22 .364| 0| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 2 0| 0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 3| 1 1 2 .000| 44| 0 3| 0| 8| 0 2 2| 0
2 SANTOS, Rodnei...... 3| 2 2 4 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
5 COX, Scott.......... 3| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 2| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
6 SILVA, Joel......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 14| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 48 19 92 .315| 48| 1 19| 3| 39| 5 18 2| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 5 27 .481 Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 15 6 30 .300 Date: Feb 24, 2007 Attend: 2905 Time: 1h 50m
3 15 8 35 .200 Referees: Maile Jewkes, Les Calles