STANFORD -- The sixth-ranked BYU men’s volleyball team recorded a five-set win (26-30, 33-31, 30-24, 26-30, 15-11) over No. 5 Stanford Friday night, breaking the Cardinal’s previous five-match win streak. The win at Maples Pavilion improved the Cougars’ season record to 15-10 and 12-7 against MPSF opponents.
BYU also spoiled the Cardinal’s eight-match win streak against MPSF opponents as well as its 10-match undefeated record at Maples Pavilion, dating back to 2007.
Team captain Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 16 kills and 13 digs, marking his first double-double of the 2009 season and second of his career. Futi Tavana and Mat Taylor each contributed 13 kills apiece, with Russell Lavaja recording 10 blocks, both match- and career-highs. Tavana also recorded eight blocks, including a career-high three block solos.
The opening set started with three consecutive service aces by Kent Tuttle--a new career-high for the junior opposite--to give BYU an 8-6 lead. The Cougars led by as many as four points before Stanford tied things up 15-15. The Cardinal’s .519 hitting percentage and BYU’s 10 attack errors were enough to give Stanford the set win at 30-26.
Stanford jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second set before a kill by Stewart put BYU on the board. A kill from Alex Da Pron knotted the score 13-all. An into-the-net violation called on Stanford gave the Cougars their first lead of the set, but the advantage was short-lived as the Cardinal scored four-straight points. Trailing 25-19, four consecutive BYU blocks brought the Cougars to within one point, forcing a Cardinal timeout. Lavaja and Yamil Perez contributed kills to put the Cougars up 28-26, but Stanford clawed back to force set-point after scoring three-straight points. The two teams combined for four set-point scenarios before a block by Taylor and Tavana claimed the 33-31 win for BYU.
Ten tied scores was the story to start the third set before the Cougars went up 17-15. Consecutive kills from Stewart extended the lead to four. The Cardinal narrowed BYU’s lead to two points after a service ace, but could not completely close the gap. Perez and Stewart both knocked down kills, but it was five Stanford errors, including a service error on set-point, that secured the BYU win and gave the Cougars a 2-1 advantage in the match.
BYU’s strong blocking continued in the fourth set as the team scored four unanswered points to start. The momentum stayed in the Cougars’ favor with back-to-back kills from Tavana and a service ace from Stewart. With BYU leading 19-14, the two teams traded points back-and-forth as the Cardinal started seeing offensive success with four kills. After trailing by as many as five, Stanford’s first lead of the game came at 25-24 after a kill by Evan Romero. The Cardinal went on to win 30-26 to tie the match at two games-all.
After trailing 3-0 in the final set, the Cougars came back to tie it up 5-5 before two kills by Tavana gave BYU an 8-6 advantage. Taylor contributed his 13th kill of the night to put his team within two points of a win. A Stanford attack into the net set up match-point in favor of the Cougars. Another Cardinal attack error proved fatal as BYU claimed the 15-11 victory.
The Cardinal and Cougars meet again Saturday night at 7 p.m. PT.
Volleyball Box Score
Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
#6 BYU Cougars vs #5 Stanford (Apr 10, 2009 at Stanford, Calif.)
BYU Cougars | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 TUTTLE, Kent........ 3| 6 5 19 .053| 0| 3 2| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
3 CHILTON, Reed....... 4| 1 1 2 .000| 23| 0 1| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0
9 SOUZA, Otavio....... 1| 3 0 4 .750| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 1 1| 0
11 SAGERS, Kevin....... 2| 3 4 9 -.111| 0| 0 2| 1| 2| 0 0 0| 0
17 TAVANA, Futi........ 5| 13 2 23 .478| 3| 1 3| 0| 2| 3 5 1| 0
23 DA PRON, Alex....... 5| 7 9 29 -.069| 2| 0 0| 2| 9| 0 7 0| 0
4 SILVA, Joel......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 9| 0 0 0| 0
5 LAVAJA, Russell..... 5| 7 2 14 .357| 1| 0 3| 0| 4| 0 10 0| 0
8 KAULIAKAMOA, Joe.... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
10 TAYLOR, Mat......... 4| 13 9 33 .121| 0| 0 0| 0| 6| 0 6 0| 1
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 4| 2 0 2 1.000| 37| 0 2| 0| 5| 0 2 0| 1
15 STEWART, Andrew..... 4| 16 6 34 .294| 0| 1 1| 0| 13| 0 4 0| 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 5| 71 38 169 .195| 66| 5 14| 4| 60| 3 35 2| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 20.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 10 33 .212 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 15 11 45 .089 BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 33 30 26 15 16-10, 12-7 MPSF
3 17 3 31 .452 Stanford............ (2) 30 31 24 30 11 19-9, 12-7 MPSF
4 13 10 39 .077
5 9 4 21 .238
Stanford | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Romero, Evan........ 5| 15 10 49 .102| 2| 0 4| 0| 3| 0 5 0| 0
9 Lawson, Brad........ 5| 14 9 39 .128| 4| 3 5| 1| 9| 0 1 0| 0
12 Shoji, Kawika....... 5| 7 3 11 .364| 55| 1 1| 0| 9| 0 2 0| 0
14 Werner, Garrett..... 5| 4 2 11 .182| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 7 1| 0
21 McLaughlin, Spencer. 5| 20 7 50 .260| 3| 0 4| 2| 3| 0 5 1| 0
25 Ellis, Gus.......... 3| 3 0 6 .500| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 3 2| 0
1 Shoji, Erik......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 2| 24| 0 0 0| 0
3 Groppi, Miki........ 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
6 Inafuku, Jordan..... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
7 Williams, Brandon... 4| 5 2 7 .429| 1| 0 3| 0| 1| 0 2 1| 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 5| 68 33 173 .202| 66| 4 19| 5| 53| 1 25 5| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 2 27 .519 Site: Stanford, Calif. (Maples Pavilion)
2 12 13 45 -.022 Date: Apr 10, 2009 Attend: 1100 Time: 2:36
3 15 6 37 .243 Referees: Brian Brink, John Kinyon
4 19 7 41 .293 ID-739014
5 6 5 23 .043