PROVO -- In an exhilarating five-set match on Senior Night at the BYU Smith Fieldhouse, the No. 2 ranked BYU men's volleyball team (21-7, 15-7) fell to the No. 3 Cal State Northridge Matadors (21-8, 15-7) 3-2 in its final regular season match.
Seniors Reed Chilton and Andrew Stewart led the team in assists and kills, respectively. Chilton finished with 42 assists and Stewart with 18 kills.
Fellow senior Joel Silva finished with double-digit digs for the eighth time this season with 14. The performance marks his 37th career double-digit dig game.
“Northridge played better tonight,” BYU head coach Shawn Patchell said. “We could not get the ball in the court and never got in a consistent pace, and really played tentative.”
The first set of the match went back and forth throughout, with neither team taking a commanding lead. BYU pulled ahead by five at 25-10, before the Matadors came charging back to tie it up at 28-28. The Cougars took the set 30-28 with two consecutive points, one a kill by Kent Tuttle and the other on an attack error by the Matadors.
Stewart was credited with five kills in the first set, and the team finished with a .407 attack percentage compared to a .182 percentage for Cal State Northridge.
Game two ended with the Cougars going down 29-31 despite finishing with five more kills (18-13) and three more assists (15-12) in the set. Futi Tavana started 7-7 until the 18-18 mark and Chilton finished with all 15 assists for the Cougars in the set.
The key for Cal State Northridge in game two was a lack of serving errors. BYU committed nine serving errors in the game while the Matadors had only four.
Set three started with neither team taking a major advantage, with the score being tied as late as 20-20. The Matadors took the lead for good at 21-20, and fought off the Cougars to win the set 30-27.
For the first time in the match the Cougars were unable to secure the offensive advantage. Cal State Northridge had 18 kills to the Cougars 11 and finished with a .308 attack percentage while BYU ended at .129.
Set four was evenly matched from beginning to end, with BYU not taking a permanent lead until 28-27. The set ended 30-28 BYU, and both teams finished with 15 assists in the set, while BYU held a slight advantage in kills at 17-15.
Yamil Perez finished with all 15 assists for the Cougars in the set and Stewart led the team with five kills.
The Cougars got off to a slow start in the fifth and final set, falling behind 1-5 and then 2-7. BYU mounted a comeback after a timeout, coming within one point at 8-9. The Matadors never relinquished the lead, and won the set 15-10 to end the Cougars 11-game win streak.
“The fifth set started bad,” Patchell said. “We had some missed serves and they made some plays. They are really a gritty team.”
BYU will be back in action next weekend in the MPSF Quarterfinals, which will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.
Volleyball Box Score
The Automated ScoreBook
#3 Cal State Northridge vs #2 BYU (Apr 17, 2010 at Provo, Utah)
Cal State Northridge | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name SP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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3 Tanner Nua.......... 5| 15 14 48 .021| 0| 0 5| 0| 6| 1 2 0| 0
10 Kevin McKniff....... 5| 16 1 25 .600| 0| 1 8| 0| 0| 1 6 2| 0
11 Mike Gaudino........ 5| 13 8 32 .156| 1| 0 3| 1| 7| 1 2 3| 0
12 Matt Stork.......... 5| 2 0 3 .667| 62| 0 2| 0| 9| 0 3 1| 0
14 John Baker.......... 5| 3 3 13 .000| 0| 0 5| 1| 8| 1 1 0| 0
17 Jacek Ratajczak..... 5| 17 4 30 .433| 1| 3 2| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0
1 Jim Wielebnicki..... 4| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 1 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
2 Jeff Baxter......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
7 Ali'i Keohohou...... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 67 30 152 .243| 65| 5 26| 2| 38| 4 15 6| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER SET TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
Set K E TA Pct
1 14 8 33 .182 SET SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 13 6 29 .241 Cal State Northridge (3) 28 31 30 28 15 21-8, 15-7 mpsf
3 18 6 39 .308 BYU................. (2) 30 29 27 30 10 21-8, 15-7 mpsf
4 15 7 37 .216
5 7 3 14 .286
BYU | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name SP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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3 CHILTON, Reed....... 4| 2 1 4 .250| 42| 1 4| 0| 5| 0 4 0| 0
5 LAVAJA, Russell..... 5| 8 2 14 .429| 1| 0 7| 1| 2| 0 4 1| 0
10 TAYLOR, Mat......... 5| 2 3 7 -.143| 0| 0 2| 1| 4| 0 2 0| 0
13 STOWELL, Robb....... 5| 17 6 36 .306| 0| 0 5| 0| 7| 0 1 2| 0
15 STEWART, Andrew..... 5| 18 10 42 .190| 1| 0 1| 1| 2| 1 6 0| 0
17 TAVANA, Futi........ 5| 12 1 19 .579| 0| 1 3| 0| 4| 1 7 2| 0
1 TUTTLE, Kent........ 1| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
4 SILVA, Joel......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 14| 0 0 0| 0
7 ROBINSON, Jeff...... 2| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
8 KAULIAKAMOA, Joe.... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
11 SAGERS, Kevin....... 4| 6 6 19 .000| 0| 0 3| 1| 1| 1 0 0| 0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........ 4| 0 0 0 .000| 17| 0 3| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 66 29 143 .259| 61| 2 28| 5| 42| 3 24 5| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER SET TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.0
Set K E TA Pct
1 16 5 27 .407 Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 18 7 35 .314 Date: Apr 17, 2010 Attend: 2012 Time: 2h 50m
3 11 7 31 .129 Referees: Les Calles, Maile Jewkes, Trent Mano
4 17 6 38 .289
5 4 4 12 .000