SANTA -- Senior outside hitter Victor Batista led a strong BYU offensive attack as the Cougars rebounded from a disappointing loss Friday to sweep the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 30-18, 32-30, 30-26, Saturday night in Robertson Gym. BYU is now 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Gauchos stand at 3-4 overall and 3-1 in the MPSF.

Batista, who struggled on Friday, had a career-high 23 kills while finishing with a scorching .656 (23-2-32) hitting percentage.

"Victor had a very nice match for us," BYU Coach Tom Peterson said. "It was nice to come back. We made some adjustments and played better and they couldn't get on a run like they did last night."

The Cougars came out hungry in game one, never giving the Gauchos a chance as they won 30-18. BYU hit .692 (20-2-26) for the game. The second and third games were much closer but the Cougars held on for the sweep.

Junior setter Rob Neilson, who dished out 45 assists, directed a potent BYU offense that finished with a season-best .506 (52-10-83) hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Taylor Evans joined Batista as the only other Cougars with double-digit kills as he contributed a season-high 13.

The Gauchos struggled to a .256 hitting percentage and Evan Patak followed his 32-kill performance with 11 on Saturday. He was the only Santa Barbara player in double digits.

Along with the strong attack, the BYU blocking and service games were on target. Middles Michael Burke and Russell Holmes each had five stuffs to lead the Cougars to 12 team blocks. Holmes was especially impressive picking up three solo blocks, a career high. Evans had three service aces to lead BYU.

The Cougars now turn their attention to UCLA, the No. 1 ranked team in the country. The Bruins will be in Provo for matches Friday and Saturday. The 2004 National Championship banner will be dropped from the rafters of the Smith Fieldhouse before Friday's match.

Peterson said he hopes his team will concentrate on the matches and be ready to play.

"We need to stay very focused and not let everything distract us," Peterson said. "They will for sure be favored and we need to play much better to win."

Peterson said he invites everyone to come out and help the 2004 team celebrate and cheer the current team on to victory.

"It will be a fun night for the crowd," Peterson said. "I hope we are at capacity and have to turn people away at the gates because it is so full."

Friday and Saturday's matches will begin at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for Friday's match to ensure a seat.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                      Briham Young University - Volleyball
                    Brigham Young Univ. vs UC Santa Barbara
                     (Jan 22, 2005 at Santa Barbara, Calif)
    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......  3|  3   1   6  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  4  0|  0|   6.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3|  7   4  14  .214|  0|  2   1|  2|  4| 0  2  0|  1|  10.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  4   0   6  .667|  0|  0   4|  0|  1| 3  2  0|  0|   8.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  2   0   3  .667| 45|  1   3|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  1|   5.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  3| 23   2  32  .656|  2|  2   2|  2|  8| 1  2  1|  0|  27.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3| 13   3  22  .455|  2|  3   2|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|  16.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Robert.  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 5  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 52  10  83  .506| 51|  8  14|  6| 25| 5 14  1|  3|  72.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  2  26  .692   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  4  32  .438   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 32 30  5-2, 1-1 MPSF
   3  14  4  25  .400   UC Santa Barbara.... (0) 18 30 26  3-4, 3-1 MPSF
    UC Santa Barbara       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Berman, Bryan.......  3|  5   3  14  .143|  2|  1   3|  0|  4| 0  1  1|  0|   6.5
 6  Jensen, Dane........  2|  0   0   1  .000| 15|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  0  0|  1|   1.0
 7  Patak, Evan.........  3| 11   5  23  .261|  0|  1   2|  0|  3| 1  0  0|  0|  13.0
 13 Wack, Nate..........  3|  4   1   9  .333|  0|  1   2|  2|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 21 Brunner, Theo.......  3|  7   2  12  .417|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 25 Kennedy, Michael....  3|  8   3  16  .312|  0|  2   1|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0|  11.5
 1  Kowalski, Bart......  3|  0   0   0  .000| 19|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 8  Fisher, Michael.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 Ulfers, Adam........  2|  2   3   8 -.125|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 19 Mansfield, Aaron....  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  3|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 33 Richman, Aaron......  2|  2   0   6  .333|  0|  1   3|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 40  17  90  .256| 37|  6  13|  8| 18| 3  2  1|  1|  50.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  4  25  .240   Site: Santa Barbara, Calif (Robertson Gym)
   2  15  7  34  .235   Date: Jan 22, 2005   Attend: 342   Time: 1:35
   3  15  6  31  .290   Referees: Brandt Lee, Rick Olmstead

PROVO -- After splitting two matches with the Cal Baptist Lancers, the BYU men's volleyball team will go on the road to open Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play against the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara at Robertson Gym, Friday and Saturday. The Cougars won the 2004 MPSF regular season championship with a 20-2 record.

This weekend's matches (Jan. 21 and 22) will be the 31st and 32nd between BYU and UCSB, with BYU owning the series lead at 17-13. Although the Gauchos hold the advantage in Santa Barbara with an 8-6 record against the Cougars, BYU has won four of five in Robertson Gym.

UCSB opened the season by being swept in three straight matches at its own tournament, the Elephant Bar Invitational. The Gauchos avenged one of those losses against Long Beach State on Saturday, Jan. 15 with a 3-1 win to open conference play. UCSB, 2-3 overall and 2-0 in the MPSF, defeated UC San Diego in a thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 win on Monday.

Leading the way for the Gauchos is sophomore opposite Evan Patak, who averages 4.93 kills per game and hits .341. Theo Brunner, a freshman middle blocker, leads the team with a .435 hitting percentage while averaging 2.40 kills per game. UCSB hits .310 as a team while allowing opponents to hit at a .336 clip.

According to BYU Coach Tom Peterson, playing at Santa Barbara will be a big test for his young team. He said his team will need to adjust to not having the support of the home crowd when playing on the road and focus on playing consistently.

"They get pretty rowdy at Santa Barbara," Peterson said. "That's kind of a worry to us, that we're so young, so many new faces in the lineup and all. We can't get caught up going to Santa Barbara, where it's a little bit different atmosphere."

BYU entered last weekend's matches undefeated at 3-0 but lost Friday night in five games. The Cougars looked strong at times but Peterson said they were too inconsistent to beat the Lancers, the top team in the NAIA. On Saturday they came out with much more confidence and swept Cal Baptist, 30-22, 30-21, 30-27.

Peterson said the key to Cougar's win on Saturday was playing with more consistency and relying on the team's depth.

"Depth is the strength of our team," Peterson said. "If everyone plays at a high level, it will be a strength all season long."

BYU hit .463 on the match and junior setter Rob Neilson had various options, with three players finishing with double figure kills and senior middle blocker Michael Burke hitting .667 (8-0-12).

So far this season the Cougars are getting contributions from various players, led by Burke. He leads the team with a .487 hitting percentage and a 1.24 blocks per game average. His 3.14 kills per game average is second best. Junior outside hitter Victor Batista leads BYU in kills with a 3.90 average and junior libero Brian Rowley is averaging a team best 2.10 digs per game.

Peterson said he is pleased that his team is making progress and many players are contributing but added the Cougars will need to play better to compete in the MPSF.

"I know we're not playing good enough to win all of our matches right now," Peterson said. "To beat UCLA and UCSB coming up, we'll have to play better than what we did tonight (Jan. 15). This team does have a tremendous upside and will be very good if we continue to work hard."

Friday and Saturday's matches against UC Santa Barbara will begin at 7 p.m. (CST). There will not be any live stats or broadcast.