PROVO -- The BYU men's volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season in a five-game heart breaker to the Cal Baptist Lancers Friday, ending the Cougars 10-match win streak. BYU, which started 3-0 in 2005 and won its last seven contests in 2004, dropped to 3-1 while the Lancers improved to 3-1.

BYU head coach Tom Peterson attributed the loss to making errors at the wrong time and credited the Lancers for making big plays.

"We made too many errors at the wrong time," Peterson said. "Physically, they didn't beat us. They are an experienced group and made plays that our guys had never seen before."

After splitting the first four, BYU and Baptist squared off in the deciding fifth game. The Cougars appeared to have everything in their favor, winning the fourth 30-22 and having 4,030 screaming fans cheering them on. BYU fell behind, making costly errors that allowed the Lancers to jump ahead 10-7.

Senior middle blocker Michael Burke, who had four kills in the fifth, came up with a kill that started a 3-0 run that tied the game at 10. After a Baptist kill, Burke tied the game at 11. The kill would be BYU's last point as the Lancers reeled off four straight to take the game and the match.

Burke finished the match with 14 kills and a match-high .571 (14-2-21) hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Victor Batista had 17 kills on the night while freshman Ivan Perez added career-high 15 kills while hitting .423 (15-4-26). Junior libero Brian Rowley finished with a match and career-high 12 digs while Burke chipped in a match-high six blocks.

Seidu Ajanako's 23 kills led Baptist while Shamsu Awudu notched 13 and Shaun Dyk had 18.

The Cougars hit .307 (68-26-137) on the night as the Lancers hit at a .322 clip (75-28-146). BYU had 11 blocks compared to 10 for Baptist but the Lancers had four in the deciding fifth game.

The first game started out much like the fifth, with the Cougars falling behind early and never recovering. BYU was within a point at 14-15 but never got closer as the Lancers won 30-25. Both teams hit for high percentages, with Baptist finishing with 23 kills and a .471 hitting percentage. Seidu Ajanako was a perfect 9-for-9 hitting the ball while Shaun Dyk added seven kills. The Cougars hit .435 and were led by Burke's four kills.

Game two was close at 10-8 until Perez scored four of the next five points, getting three kills and an ace, to give BYU the 14-9 lead. The Lancers would not go away as they tied the game at 15. With the score at 17-16, the Cougars ran off four straight and took control, coasting to the 30-23 win. Perez finished the game with seven kills.

With the match tied at one game each, each team fought hard to take control in the third. Neither side was able to get the advantage as the score was tied 15 times and the lead changed hands on six occasions. Baptist was able to sneak ahead 30-29 and a solo block by Ajanako gave the game to the Lancers.

BYU was in control throughout the fourth, taking the early 10-5 lead. Baptist inched its way back in, cutting the gap to 15-13 before the Cougars ran away with the 30-22 win.

Despite the loss, Peterson remained optimistic about the team and was pleased with the crowd support.

"This is a very young team," Peterson said. "These guys will continue to learn and get much better. Baptist is one of the best teams in the country. Most people don't know that. The crowd was great tonight. It's nice to have 4,000 screaming fans in your favor."

The Cougars and Lancers will be back in action Saturday night at 7 in the Fieldhouse.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                           The BYU Cougars Volleyball
      Cal Baptist vs Brigham Young Univ. (Jan 14, 2005 at Provo UT 84602)
    Cal Baptist            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  AJANAKO, Seidu......  5| 23   9  45  .311|  1|  2   6|  1|  8| 1  1  0|  0|  26.5
 2  LAYTON, Tim.........  5|  6   1  12  .417|  1|  1   4|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  1|   9.5
 4  JOHNSON, Trever.....  5|  4   1   7  .429| 64|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  4|  0|   4.5
 8  ROSE, Sergio........  5|  7   4  16  .188|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 2  2  0|  0|  11.0
 11 AWUDU, Shamsu.......  4| 13   4  23  .391|  0|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  0|  14.0
 18 DYK, Shaun..........  5| 18   6  35  .343|  2|  1   6|  3|  3| 0  1  0|  0|  19.5
 3  PLUNKETT, Eric......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  SCOTIA, Dan.........  1|  2   2   4  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 10 VETTER, Romain......  2|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 12 HAGSTROM, Tyler.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 SPENCE, Corey.......  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 75  28 146  .322| 70|  5  21|  5| 35| 4 12  5|  1|  90.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23  7  34  .471   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  5  32  .344   Cal Baptist......... (3) 30 23 31 22 15  3-1; 0-0 Ind
   3  17  9  38  .211   Brigham Young Univ.. (2) 25 30 29 30 11  3-1; 0-0 mpfs
   4  11  5  29  .207
   5   8  2  13  .462
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     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......  5| 14   2  21  .571|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 1  5  1|  0|  19.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  5| 15   4  26  .423|  2|  1   5|  0|  3| 1  1  3|  0|  17.5
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  5| 10   5  26  .192|  3|  0   1|  2|  4| 1  1  0|  0|  11.5
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  5|  9   2  13  .538|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 1  2  0|  0|  11.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  5|  3   3   7  .000| 61|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  1  1|  1|   3.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  5| 17   6  33  .333|  0|  2   4|  1|  9| 0  4  2|  0|  21.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  5|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  5|  0   3   9 -.333|  0|  0   2|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 68  26 137  .307| 67|  5  14|  5| 41| 4 14  7|  1|  84.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  3  23  .435   Site: Provo UT 84602 (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  15  4  31  .355   Date: Jan 14, 2005   Attend: 4038   Time: 2H 30M
   3  14  9  31  .161   Referees: TOM GIVEN, MAILEE JEWKES
   4  17  5  34  .353
   5   9  5  18  .222
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       0   5  15   0   4    24
                        Lead changes     1   1   6   1   1    10

PROVO -- After finishing the Outrigger Tournament with an unblemished 3-0 record, the BYU men's volleyball team returns to Provo to play its first home matches of the season at the Smith Fieldhouse against California Baptist University Friday and Saturday night. Friday's match will begin at 7:30 p.m. while the Saturday match will start at 7:00 p.m.

Despite only returning two starters from the 2004 National Championship squad, the Cougars defeated Lewis, Penn State, and Hawai'i and are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation by Volleyball Magazine, after starting the season at No. 5. Senior Michael Burke was named the tournament MVP while junior Victor Batista and senior Casey Patterson were also named to the All-Tournament team.

This weekend's matchup against the Cal Baptist Lancers will be BYU's final tune-up before beginning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play Jan. 21 and 22 at UC Santa Barbara. The Lancers come in as one of the powerhouses of the NAIA, having won three championships in the past six seasons.

"Cal won the NAIA and they are very, very good," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said. "They're one of the top teams in the country. They have different rules that give them more access to the foreign players so they have some very good players."

Cal Baptist opened the season with matches against UC Irvine and UC San Diego, two MPSF teams. The Lancers made quick work of both teams, earning the 30-24, 30-24, 30-17 sweep of UC Irvine and defeating UC San Diego in three games (30-23, 30-22, 30-25). The Lancers will play two more MPSF teams, Pepperdine and UCLA, before playing the Cougars.

While this is only the second meeting between the two teams, with BYU sweeping the first match in 2001, there are a few connections between Cal Baptist and the Cougars. Rafael Paal, who played for BYU from 2002-03, started his career with the Lancers. Tim Layton, who was also a member of the Cougars from 2002-03, now plays for Cal Baptist.

BYU's trip to Hawai'i was successful not only because the Cougars finished undefeated, but because many new players gained experienced and the coaches were able to try players in different spots in the rotation. Patterson was one player who came up big when given the chance. He came off the bench in the first two matches and provided a needed spark when BYU was struggling with errors and inconsistency. On Friday, he earned the first start of his career and finished with career highs of 19 kills and 10 digs.

"It is nice to see the depth we have at outside and opposite with Casey coming in," Peterson said. "He played both positions coming in for Ivan (Perez) and Taylor (Evans) when they had down periods. Having three guys for two positions is just wonderful."

Peterson was happy with the wins but does not want to get too excited over the recent success.

"It's a cautious optimism just because of momentum swings in volleyball," he said.

Burke hit .439 for the week and averaged 3.38 kills, 1.15 digs, and 1.15 blocks per game. Batista led the Cougars with 4.15 kills per game despite struggling at times with his hitting. Junior setter Rob Neilson was also impressive in his debut as the starting setter. While guiding the BYU offense, he averaged 13.62 assists per game and finished second on the team with .77 blocks per game and third on the team with 1.69 digs per game. He also had kills at key times during the match versus Hawai'i to help the Cougars take the tournament.

The 2005 season marks the third with Peterson at the helm. In 2003, the BYU finished 23-7 and second in the nation after losing to Lewis in the NCAA Championship match. The Cougars returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and defeated Long Beach State in the championship match, giving BYU its third National Championship in six seasons. The Cougars finished the 2004 season with a 29-4 record.