PROVO -- BYU took control early and rode the momentum to a 3-0 (30-28, 30-24, 30-26) win over UC Irvine Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse to complete a weekend sweep of the Anteaters and improve to 9-6 overall and 4-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Irvine is now 6-12 and 4-9.

BYU Coach Tom Peterson said his team played much better Saturday after an error-filled win Friday. He credited the improvement to better team chemistry on the court.

"I asked the guys what they thought and they said they were having fun," Peterson said. "The atmosphere on the court was different tonight. They felt they liked each other again and didn't get frustrated."

After a close game one, BYU took control and rode the momentum through games two and three to finish the sweep. The Cougars again relied on a balanced attack as four players recorded double-digit kills. Ivan Perez was the leader with 13 and Taylor Evans was next with 12. Michael Burke and Casey Patterson had 10 each while Victor Batista, again playing middle blocker, had eight. Burke was again on fire, finishing without an error and hitting a blazing .769 (10-0-13). He also registered the winning kill in each game.

"It's huge for out opposite hitter, Casey Patterson, to have a good night," Peterson said. "When we get everyone involved and hitting for good percentages, we are a tough team."

Rob Neilson guided the Cougar attack to an impressive .436 hitting percentage (56-12-101). He also added three kills and a match-high seven digs. Brian Rowley and Perez added six digs apiece, helping BYU keep the Anteater hitters in check.

Jayson Jablonsky was UC Irvine's main offensive weapon as he recorded 17 kills and a .481 hitting percentage. Former Cougar Steffin Rangel had eight kills on the night. As a team, the Anteaters hit .309 (45-16-94) and recorded 26 digs and six team blocks.

In the first, BYU came out hitting, registering 20 kills while recording a .429 (20-5-35) hitting percentage. The game remained tight throughout however, as the Anteaters benefited from seven Cougar service errors. Down 25-27, BYU took control as Evans started a 5-1 run that Burke ended with a kill down the middle to seal the win, 30-28. Perez led the Cougars with seven kills while Patterson and Evans recorded four each.

The Cougars followed up a tight game one by getting ahead early in the second, jumping out to an 8-4 lead over the Anteaters behind three kills by Evans. BYU kept its momentum going, going on various runs to extend the lead to 12-7 and then 17-10 on another Evans kill. The Anteaters showed signs of life down 28-20, getting as close as 29-24 before falling 30-24 on a kill by Burke. UC Irvine never got a rhythm going, allowing every Cougar on the court to get into the action. Burke, Patterson and Evans recorded six kills each while Batista recorded three and Neilson two. For the game, BYU had 23 kills, hit .513 (23-3-39) and connected on 16 kills before recording a hitting error.

The first half of game three was close with the Cougars managing to stay ahead and take an 18-17 lead. From there BYU caught fire and went on a 9-4 run, which included consecutive aces by Patterson, to go ahead 28-21. UC Irvine managed to get within four at 29-25 but Burke again ended the game with a kill. Perez led the Cougars with six kills for the game while Batista added three.

BYU will look to continue its winning ways against the University of Southern California Trojans next Friday and Saturday, Mar. 4 and 5, in Los Angeles. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. PST.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                      Briham Young University - Volleyball
             UC Irvine vs Brigham Young (Feb 26, 2005 at Provo, UT)
    UC Irvine              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  STELLER, Jon........  2|  4   3  13  .077|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 7  THORNTON, Brian.....  3|  1   0   2  .500| 40|  1   0|  1|  6| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 11 JABLONSKY, Jayson...  3| 17   4  27  .481|  0|  0   3|  1|  6| 1  0  4|  0|  18.0
 15 SMITH, Brandon......  3|  5   1  12  .333|  2|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 21 HARRELL, Aaron......  3|  5   3  11  .182|  1|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  4  0|  0|   7.0
 25 RANGEL, Steffin.....  3|  8   3  20  .250|  0|  1   3|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   9.0
 10 SPITTLE, Paul.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 SIMPSON, Brett......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 13 WEBBER, Matt........  2|  5   2   9  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   6.5
 14 MEL, Brandon........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 45  16  94  .309| 45|  2  12|  4| 26| 1 10  4|  1|  53.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  5  31  .290   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  4  35  .314   UC Irvine........... (0) 28 24 26  6-12, 4-9 MPSF
   3  16  7  28  .321   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  9-6, 4-4 MPSF
    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......  3| 10   0  13  .769|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  2  1|  0|  12.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3| 13   4  24  .375|  0|  1   5|  0|  6| 1  2  1|  0|  16.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  3| 10   3  20  .350|  5|  2   3|  0|  4| 0  3  1|  0|  13.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  3   0   5  .600| 46|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  3|  8   1  17  .412|  0|  0   5|  0|  1| 0  4  3|  0|  10.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3| 12   3  21  .429|  0|  0   3|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0|  13.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 56  12 101  .436| 53|  4  18|  2| 28| 1 13  6|  0|  67.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  5  35  .429   Site: Provo, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  23  3  39  .513   Date: Feb 26, 2005   Attend: 2770   Time: 1H 40M
   3  13  4  27  .333   Referees: LES CALLES, MAILE JEWKES
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores      22   1   3    26
                        Lead changes     7   1   2    10

PROVO -- After a week of rest and practice, the No. 7 BYU Cougars will look to get back into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation race as they take on the No. 10 Anteaters of UC Irvine Friday and Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.

The Cougars are 7-6 overall and 2-4 in the MPSF after dropping two matches to Pepperdine before their week off. BYU has the chance to pick up lost ground in the MPSF regular season race with the two matches against UC Irvine.

"It was a good weekend to have off," BYU Coach Tom Peterson said. "We tried to concentrate on going longer periods without making errors. We hope that the extra practice will help. Also, it was nice for the guys to be able to catch up on school and get healthy."

The Anteaters have had an up-and-down first half of the 2005 season. While Irvine has struggled to a record 6-10 overall and 4-7 in the MPSF, the Anteaters have earned two wins over No. 7-ranked UC Santa Barbara. Of their ten losses, three have come at the hands of UCLA, Long Beach State and Pepperdine, three of the top five teams in the country. Irvine also dropped a match against Cal Baptist, a very tough NAIA team that split with the Cougars.

Last weekend, Feb. 18 and 19, the Anteaters defeated No. 11 Pacific and were swept by No. 9 Stanford. On Friday, Irvine beat Pacific 3-1 and hit .400 as a team while many players had impressive nights. The Anteaters were a completely different squad Saturday, getting swept by Stanford. Much of Irvine's inconsistent play could be attributed to its youth, as the Anteaters start two freshman, four sophomores and one junior. Their roster does not include a single senior.

"I know that they're a good team but also very young," Peterson said. "It's just a matter of time before they get to be very good. They play teams very tough but lose because of inexperience. We want to make sure they don't become a mature team against us."

Jayson Jablonsky has been the top producer for Irvine, averaging 3.73 kills per game and hitting .318. Fellow outside hitter Jon Stellar is second on the team with 3.40 kills per game. The Anteater's middle blockers Aaron Harrell and David Smith have been impressive all season, leading the team in hitting percentage and blocks per game. Harrell is hitting a team-high .487 and averages a team-best 0.92 blocks per game. Smith is second in both categories, hitting .460 and averaging 0.91 blocks.

The Cougars own a 26-5 advantage in the series between the teams, having won nine consecutive overall against the Anteaters and 13 in a row in the Smith Fieldhouse. The last time the teams met, BYU swept Irvine in the first round of the 2004 MPSF Tournament.

Victor Batista is leading the Cougar offensive attack with an average of 4.08 kills per game, which ranks No. 13 in the country. Ivan Perez is second with a 2.76 average while Michael Burke continues to lead the team with a .476 hitting percentage, the eighth best in the nation. He also leads BYU in blocks, averaging 1.22, good for No. 17 nationally. Also among the national leaders for the Cougars is Rob Neilson, whose 13.36 assists per game is second best.

Peterson said these matches are very important for his team and hopes that the crowd will continue to support the Cougars. BYU is leading the nation in attendance with an average of 4,765 fans per match.

"We can't afford to lose more matches, especially at home," Peterson said. "You've got to win league matches to set yourself up to be in a good position for the postseason tournament. We are hoping for another big crowd. It really does help to have all those screaming fans behind us."

Friday's match can be seen on BYU-TV and KBYU-TV. To view the broadcast online, visit www.byutv.org/streaming/ or click here. Both matches will also be broadcast on BYU radio. To listen, visit http://www.byuradio.org/ or click here. To follow the matches online, visit http://www.byucougars.com/ or click here.