NORTHRIDGE -- The 2009 season came to an end on Saturday as the No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss (30-26, 30-24, 27-30, 30-27) to No. 2 CSUN in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament.
After losing the first two sets, the Cougars attempted a comeback by winning the third, but eventually dropped the fourth. With the loss BYU falls to 17-13 on the season.
Second-team All-MPSF selection Andrew Stewart led the Cougars with 17 kills on the night, marking his 22nd double-digit kill match of the season. Also recording double-digit kills for BYU was freshman Russell Lavaja and junior Kent Tuttle with 13 and 10, respectively. Lavaja also led the Cougars with nine blocks against the Matadors.
Four consecutive CSUN points early in the first set forced BYU to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Cougars recorded their own 4-0 run with kills from Tuttle and Futi Tavana, as well as several Matador attack errors. While CSUN’s Jacek Ratajczak provided points offensively for his team, costly Matador service errors kept the score close—tied at 17-17. Trailing 25-20, Lavaja knocked down a pair of kills, before the Matadors claimed the set 30-26.
Trailing early in the second set, Tuttle and Alex Da Pron knocked down two kills apiece to bring the Cougars within two at 8-6. CSUN pulled away after attacks by Kevin McKniff and Mike Gaudino, extending its lead to four points. Down 19-14, BYU capitalized on another Matador service error to build some momentum, as Kevin Sagers and Stewart recorded three consecutive kills. Despite the run, the Cougars failed to overtake the lead, coming within one point on two occasions. A pair of Matador service aces extended their advantage to 25-19. Despite a .400 hitting percentage the Cougars lost 30-24, down two sets to none.
BYU opened the third set with back-to-back kills from Sagers and Lavaja and a pair of CSUN service errors. Two more kills from Lavaja and a Matador attack error gave the Cougars a 16-8 advantage, their largest lead of the match. Despite the lead, errors continued to plague BYU, giving CSUN the opportunity to cut it to four. The Matadors knotted the score 25-25 and again two more times before a kill from Sagers and a block from Lavaja and Stewart brought up set point for BYU. Tuttle, Lavaja and Stewart finished the Matadors off with a block for the 30-27 win.
CSUN’s Eric Vance dominated early in the fourth set, recording four kills, one block and one service ace, helping his team pull out to a 12-7 lead. After calling a timeout, trailing 18-12, the Cougars went on to score five of the next seven points. An attack error from CSUN’s Vance and subsequent block by Tavana and Da Pron evened the score 24-24, but the Matadors eventually pulled out the 30-27 win.
Though Saturday marked the end of the Cougars' season, BYU's Smith Fieldhouse will serve as the host facility for the NCAA National Championships on May 7-9.
Volleyball Box Score
Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
#5 BYU vs #2 Cal State Northridge (Apr 25, 2009 at Northridge, Calif.)
BYU | 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| 10 6 27 .148| 0| 2 4| 0| 6| 0 3 1| 0
5 LAVAJA, Russell..... 4| 13 2 16 .688| 1| 0 2| 0| 2| 1 8 1| 0
11 SAGERS, Kevin....... 4| 9 9 23 .000| 0| 0 2| 1| 4| 0 0 0| 0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 4| 0 0 1 .000| 57| 0 6| 0| 7| 0 1 0| 0
15 STEWART, Andrew..... 4| 17 4 36 .361| 1| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 6 0| 0
17 TAVANA, Futi........ 4| 9 2 14 .500| 2| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 3 1| 0
3 CHILTON, Reed....... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
4 SILVA, Joel......... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 2| 11| 0 0 0| 0
8 KAULIAKAMOA, Joe.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 2| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
10 TAYLOR, Mat......... 2| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
23 DA PRON, Alex....... 3| 4 1 6 .500| 0| 0 2| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 0
TEAM................ | | | | 1| | |
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Totals.............. 4| 62 25 124 .298| 61| 2 19| 4| 37| 1 23 3| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 11 7 27 .148 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS
2 16 4 30 .400 BYU................. (1) 26 24 30 27 17-13
3 18 5 34 .382 Cal State Northridge (3) 30 30 27 30 24-6
4 17 9 33 .242
Cal State Northridge | 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 Nua, Tanner......... 3| 5 6 18 -.056| 1| 0 2| 0| 2| 0 3 0| 0
10 McKniff, Kevin...... 4| 11 2 18 .500| 0| 3 6| 0| 2| 0 4 2| 0
11 Gaudino, Mike....... 4| 13 2 22 .500| 3| 0 5| 0| 9| 0 2 0| 0
12 Stork, Matt......... 4| 1 2 3 -.333| 57| 0 1| 0| 3| 0 2 0| 0
14 Vance, Eric......... 4| 21 7 45 .311| 1| 1 4| 0| 4| 1 2 0| 0
17 Ratajczak, Jacek.... 4| 13 0 17 .765| 0| 0 3| 0| 0| 0 7 1| 0
4 Edwards, Theo....... 4| 3 2 7 .143| 0| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 4 0| 0
7 Keohohou, Ali'i..... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 11| 0 0 0| 0
TEAM................ | | | | 1| | |
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Totals.............. 4| 67 21 130 .354| 62| 4 22| 2| 33| 1 24 3| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 19 7 35 .343 Site: Northridge, Calif. (The Matadome)
2 15 2 26 .500 Date: Apr 25, 2009 Attend: 1056 Time: 2:12
3 17 7 36 .278 Referees: Verna Klubnikin, Marvin Hall
4 16 5 33 .333 Cal State Northridge advances to the MPSF semi-
finals.