PROVO -- The Cougars have been waiting for this night for 10 months, a rematch against Lewis University. The Flyers upset the top-seeded Cougars, 3-2, in the NCAA National Championship match last May in Long Beach, Calif. Tonight however, the top-ranked Cougars put together a 3-1 victory over Lewis to notch their nation's leading 17th straight victory and improve to 18-3 on the season.

"We try not to think about winning streaks, rankings or revenge," Peterson said. "What we're concerned about is how well we perform each night, one match at a time. Everything else will just take care of itself."

After dropping the first game, 28-30, the Cougars put together three straight wins, 30-25, 30-28, 30-20 to dash the un-ranked Flyers' hopes of another upset in front of a season-high 4,342 fans in the Smith Fieldhouse.

"The crowd was fabulous," Peterson said. "Especially since the match started so late, the fans deserve a lot of credit for coming out and really helping us."

National Player-of-the-Year candidate Fernando Pessoa led the Cougars with a match-leading 21 kills, including a team-high six kills in the fourth and decisive game. Pessoa's kill total marks the 18th double-digit tally of the season, including his 11th straight match with 10 or more kills. Tonight's match also marks the fifth time this season Pessoa has racked up 20 or more kills. Defensively, Pessoa was credited with six digs and two blocks.

Three other BYU players posted double-digit kills, including Joe Hillman (11), Jonathan Alleman (12) and Victor Batista (10). Carlos Moreno has 41 assists.

Despite being out-blocked 12-11, the Cougars came up with big blocks at the right times. Batista led all defenders with six blocks, while Alleman added five.

In game one, the Flyers jumped out to a four-point lead before the Cougars came clawing back to tie things up at 12-12 after an Alleman ace. The two teams traded serves through a 24-24 tie when Lewis mounted another 3-0 run. James Elsea blocked Michael Burke to extend the Flyers' lead to 24-27. After a BYU timeout, the Cougars scored two straight points to cut the LU lead to 26-27. However, Lewis outlasted the Cougars to take a 30-28 victory in game one after Enrique Escalante picked up his third kill of the game.

"We weren't moving the ball very well in the first game," Peterson said. "We're still not satisfied with some things. We still have areas we need to work on."

In game two, Lewis jumped out to another quick lead, posting an 11-7 advantage. Behind back-to-back Lewis hitting errors, a Burke ace and a Batista kill, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run to take a 16-14 lead. After BYU took a 20-17 lead on a Lewis attack error, the Flyers went on a 4-1 run of their own to even things up at 21-21. Alleman, who had a game-high five kills, fueled another run for the Cougars to take a 25-22 lead. After the Flyers got within two points, 25-23, BYU poured on the offense and took a 28-24 lead before a Fabiano Barreto attack error gave the Cougars a game-high five-point lead at 29-24. Batista ended game two with his second kill of the game to give BYU the 30-25 win.

In game three, the Flyers took a commanding six-point lead. The Cougars, however, slowly chipped away at the Flyers' advantage with outstanding defense, eventually tying things up at 16-16 on the first of four-and-a-half blocks in the game. The Lewis offense got back on track behind Barreto, as the Flyers climbed back to a 25-21 lead. Trailing by three, 24-27, the Cougars went on a 3-0 run to tie things up on a Burke kill. Even at 28-28, Moreno and Burke stuffed Jeff Soler to take a 29-28 lead. After a Lewis timeout, the BYU defense came up big again. Pessoa, Burke and Moreno teamed up to block Soler for a second straight play for the 30-28, come-from-behind victory.

In the final game of the match, it was all BYU. The Cougars cruised to a 10-point lead at 25-15 and held that advantage through match point. Alleman clinched the contest with his 12th kill of the night.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday as they play host to George Mason. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. (MT) in the Smith Fieldhouse.

For detailed boxscore, click the pdf version link above.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        2004 BYU Men's Volleyball Stats
          Lewis vs BRIGHAM YOUNG (Mar 26, 2004 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    Lewis                  |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  ESCALANTE, Enrique..  4| 10   4  17  .353|  0|  0   4|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 4  DAYTON, Jared.......  4|  4   6  15 -.133|  1|  0   0|  2|  4| 0  1  0|  1|   4.5
 7  SOLER, Jeff.........  4| 16   9  34  .206|  2|  4   3|  0|  3| 2  1  0|  0|  22.5
 10 BARRETO, Fabiano....  4| 18  11  39  .179|  2|  0   3|  0|  4| 2  2  0|  0|  21.0
 14 SISK, Brandon.......  4|  4   1   7  .429| 46|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  2  1|  1|   6.0
 17 ELSEA, James........  4|  4   0   7  .571|  1|  0   4|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  1|   6.5
 3  CASTELLANO, JJ......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  STUNTZ, Ryan........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 POCHOPIEN, Greg.....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 56  32 121  .198| 54|  4  14|  4| 26| 6 12  2|  3|  72.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  6  29  .448   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  9  31  .129   Lewis............... 30 25 28 20  13-11,8-3 MIVA
   3  14  8  35  .171   BRIGHAM YOUNG....... 28 30 30 30  18-3,15-1 MPFS
   4  10  9  26  .038
    BRIGHAM YOUNG          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BURKE, Michael......  4|  8   3  16  .312|  0|  1   3|  1|  2| 0  3  1|  0|  10.5
 11 HILLMAN, Joe........  4| 11   7  26  .154|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  4  1|  0|  14.0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  4| 12   3  19  .474|  1|  3   5|  2|  3| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  1   0   2  .500| 11|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4| 21   7  34  .412|  1|  0   8|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  22.0
 18 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 10   3  19  .368|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  6  1|  0|  13.0
 5  MORENO, Carlos......  4|  1   0   2  .500| 41|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0|   2.5
 8  HYTE, David.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 OLMSTEAD, Shawn.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 64  23 118  .347| 56|  4  20|  4| 23| 1 20  3|  0|  79.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  26  .308   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  17  7  32  .312   Date: Mar 26, 2004   Attend: 4342   Time: 2H 5M
   3  16  6  33  .303   Referees: BURT FULLER, MAILIE JEWKES
   4  17  4  27  .481

PROVO -- With the 2003 NCAA National Championship match still fresh on their minds, the top-ranked Cougars will host Lewis University on Friday, March 26 in the Smith Fieldhouse. The match, which will be broadcast nationally on CSTV, will begin at 9 p.m. (MDT). The Flyers edged BYU last year in an exciting five-game match to claim their first-ever NCAA National Championship.

"We're excited to play Lewis because they are a good team and it will be an interesting match between last year's championship teams," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "We hope fans will come out and enjoy the match. We're looking forward to having them come to Provo."

At last season's national championship tournament in Long Beach, Calif., Lewis outlasted the Cougars for the five-game victory. After dropping a hard-fought 42-44 loss in game one, the Flyers rallied to take games two and three, 30-27, 30-21.

The Cougars bagged game four. But a 7-1 run in the fifth set propelled Lewis to its first-ever NCAA National Championship with the 15-13 win in the fifth and decisive game. In the process, the Flyers became the first Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association team, and non-Division I school, to win the NCAA National Championship.

Jonathan Alleman, a senior on this year's squad, was named to the 2003 NCAA All-Tournament team after posting 18 kills, seven digs and five blocks against Lewis. He was also credited with 17 kills on 30 attempts in the semi-final win over Penn State, while adding four aces and 10 digs for his third-straight double-double in post-season play.

Other Cougars this season who played against Lewis include All-American Carlos Moreno and returning starters Chris Gorny, Michael Burke and Fernando Pessoa.

Currently the Cougars are riding a 16-match win streak, the longest active win streak in the nation and the second longest in the program's history. BYU's 1999 national championship team holds the record with an 18-match win streak.

Earning 13 of the possible 16 first-place votes in this week's USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll, the Cougars enter their third week as the top-ranked team in the nation. The Cougars also hold a three-match lead over Long Beach State for the league lead in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The Cougars have posted a mark of 15-1 against teams ranked in the top-15, including wins over Hawaii, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford and UC Irvine. Most recently, BYU held on for back-to-back wins against fifth-ranked Hawaii in Honolulu, site of the 2004 NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Four.

The match on Friday will be the seventh meeting between the two teams, with BYU holding a 5-1 overall record against the Flyers. The Cougars' five wins have all come in Provo, while the only loss was in last year's championship match.

Lewis enters Friday's match-up after winning its third straight match on Saturday, defeating conference foe Quincy in four games. Lewis (11-10, 7-3) was led by senior opposite Fabiano Barreto, who had a match-high 25 kills, hitting .452, with one service ace, seven digs, five block assists, and 28.5 total points.

The Lewis match will be broadcast live at 9 p.m. on College Sports TV, available on DirecTV, channel 610. BYU will also host George Mason on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. George Mason will play Lewis on Thursday, Mar. 25 at 7 p.m.