PALO ALTO -- The Cougars are one win away from clinching third place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after defeating the Stanford Cardinal in four games, 30-28, 18-30, 30-26, 32-30, Friday night in Burnham Pavilion. BYU is now 19-9 overall and 14-7 in the MPSF and will conclude the season with a second match against Stanford. The Cardinal fell to 11-13 and 10-11.

"It was a great exciting match," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "The ups and downs were almost too much to take but it's nice to come out on top. Tomorrow night is huge. If we win then we clinch the third seed but if we lose then we would probably play Long Beach at Long Beach."

Ivan Perez led the Cougars with 19 kills and a .353 hitting percentage (19-7-34). Casey Patterson came through with a solid match overall, contributing 12 kills, four assists, 10 digs and match-highs with four aces and six blocks. His ace and block totals both tie career highs. Victor Batista was second on the team with 14 kills and Michael Burke was also in double-digits with 10. Brian Rowley had an impressive match at the libero position, tying a career high with 14 digs and recording 38 service receptions without a return error. Russell Holmes continued his strong play off the bench with four kills and four blocks.

As a team BYU hit .274 (67-27-146) and had eight aces and 42 digs. The Cougars out-blocked the Cardinal 12.5 to 8.0.

Stanford was led by Ben Reddy's 19 kills while Chris Ahlfeldt had 10 and Craig Buell added 11. David Vogel led his team with 13 digs.

After winning two of the first three games, BYU controlled the fourth early on as Batista helped his team jump out to a 5-2 lead with an ace and a kill. The strong Cougar start was followed with an identical run by Stanford to knot the score at seven apiece. The Cardinal were able to control the game for a while after tying the score, building leads as big as three, the last at 18-15.

BYU was determined not to let the game get away as Burke started a three-point run with a thunderous kill. Holmes, Neilson and Batista followed Burke's kill with a triple block before Perez tied the score at 18 by finding the floor on the Stanford side of the net. The game would remain close the rest of the way as the two teams traded one-point leads before the Cougars moved ahead by two on three occasions at 27-25 on a Patterson kill, 28-26 on a Batista kill and 29-27 on a Cardinal hitting error. After Stanford scored the next two to tie the score at 29, Burke recorded a kill but was followed by a Buell kill for the Cardinal. With the scored tied at 30, Reddy had a service error and a hitting error to give the game and the match to BYU.

Perez and Taylor Evans combined for 13 kills on 17 errorless swings to help the Cougars win a back-and-forth game one, 30-28. Perez, who had seven kills on ten attempts, finished the game with a kill coming out of a BYU timeout. The score was close throughout, with neither team able to get ahead by more than one point until back-to-back kills by Evans gave BYU the 21-19 advantage. Stanford proved resilient, fighting back to tie the game at 26 before the Cougars scored three straight on a Cardinal hitting error and two kills in the middle by Burke to take the 29-26 lead.

Stanford fought off two game points before Perez came through with the game winner. Patterson had a solid all around game one, charting four kills, two assists, two digs and two blocks while Neilson set BYU to a .541 (23-3-37) hitting percentage and registered 19 assists. Reddy from Stanford was nearly perfect in the opening frame, recording six kills on seven errorless swings.

Game two was controlled by the Cardinal from the first point as Stanford built an early 7-2 lead by making plays and taking advantage of Cougar errors. BYU fought back to cut the lead to one at 9-8. The Cardinal dominated the rest of the way though, outscoring the Cougars 21-10 to close out the game, 30-18. BYU managed to tally just eight kills and a -.094 (8-11-32) hitting percentage while Stanford hit .292 (11-4-22).

After a dismal game two, the Cougars came out and competed in the third, keeping the score close before building a five-point lead at 18-13 with an 8-3 run, equaling its point total from second game. BYU led by as many as six at 20-14 on a Reddy attack error. The Cougars led by as many as five late in the game at 25-20 before Stanford made a run of its own, running off four straight to cut the deficit to one point. BYU weathered the rally and recovered to win the game 30-26, scoring five of the last seven points including a kill by Perez on game point. The Cougars out-hit the Cardinal .290 (17-8-31) to .231 (12-6-26) in the game.

BYU and Stanford will both conclude regular season play in the second match between the teams. The match will begin at 7 p.m. (PST) and can be followed online by visiting BYUCougars.com.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
     #6 Brigham Young vs #9 Stanford (Apr 15, 2005 at Stanford University)
    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| 10   3  20  .350|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|  12.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 19   7  34  .353|  0|  1   5|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0|  20.5
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  4| 12   5  25  .280|  4|  4   5|  2| 10| 2  4  0|  0|  20.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  2   0   4  .500| 57|  1   3|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  2|   5.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 14   8  41  .146|  0|  1   5|  0|  7| 0  5  0|  1|  17.5
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3|  6   3  11  .273|  0|  0   2|  3|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  2|  4   1   9  .333|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|   6.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 67  27 146  .274| 63|  8  22|  5| 42| 3 19  0|  3|  87.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23  3  37  .541   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2   8 11  32 -.094   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 18 30 32  19-9 (14-7)
   3  17  8  31  .290   Stanford............ (1) 28 30 26 30  11-13 (10-11)
   4  19  5  46  .304
    Stanford               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Buell, Craig........  4| 11   2  20  .450|  1|  1   1|  1|  5| 0  5  0|  0|  14.5
 2  Ahlfeldt, Chris.....  4| 10   0  18  .556|  2|  1   0|  0|  2| 1  2  1|  0|  13.0
 5  Vogel, David........  4|  9   5  25  .160|  0|  1   2|  1| 13| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 8  Clayton, William....  4|  5   8  21 -.143|  1|  1   3|  4|  7| 0  3  0|  0|   7.5
 15 Reddy, Ben..........  4| 19   7  38  .316|  1|  1   6|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|  20.0
 17 Hansen, Kevin.......  4|  3   0  10  .300| 46|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  1|   3.5
 11 Lindberg, Brian.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 57  22 132  .265| 52|  5  12|  8| 44| 1 14  1|  1|  70.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  4  29  .379   Site: Stanford University (Maples Pavilion)
   2  11  4  24  .292   Date: Apr 15, 2005   Attend: 725   Time: 2:00
   3  12  6  26  .231   Referees: Eric Asami, John Kinyon
   4  19  8  53  .208

PALO ALTO -- Playing in its final matches of the regular season, the BYU men's volleyball team will look to lock up a third-place finish in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with two contests against the Stanford Cardinal this weekend at 7 p.m. (April 15 and 16) in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Cougars are 18-9 overall and are tied with the University of Hawai'i at 13-7 in the MPSF. BYU owns the advantage between the two teams, having defeated the Warriors in three meetings this season. Two wins this weekend would likely mean a potential match-up with Long Beach State or UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the MPSF tournament, depending on the outcomes of matches around the league.

"Obviously these are the most important matches to date," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for us to not only secure a high seed but also play well to go into the playoffs next week with momentum. To be able to host is huge. We don't want to have to start on the road. We have a big advantage playing in the Smith Fieldhouse, and it would be great to give the fans one last chance to see us play."

BYU is coming off two dominant wins over MPSF cellar-dweller UC San Diego. The Cougars swept the Tritons both nights last weekend while several players turned in strong performances.

Stanford (11-12, 10-10) has won four of five and is also fighting for postseason seeding. The Cardinal are currently one match ahead of CS Northridge for the seventh spot and two behind UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State. The seventh- and eighth-place teams will play for the chance to square off with the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Cardinal setter Kevin Hansen is hailed by many coaches as the best setter in the nation despite playing under the radar in Palo Alto. Averaging 12.79 assists, 1.92 digs and 0.24 aces, his competitive drive is the key to Stanford's success.

"They have one of the best players in the country with national team potential," Peterson said of Hansen. "Many of the coaches say he's the best setter in the league. He's very competitive and is a big part of why they get going. We have to make sure we don't let him do all of his tricks."

Hansen keeps the opposition guessing by evenly distributing the sets as three Cardinal players average over three kills per game. Ben Reddy leads the way at 3.79 and also adds a team-high 0.31 aces and 1.55 digs. David Vogel is second in kills at 3.12 and tallies 2.01 digs per game. Craig Buell is the third player in the three kills per game club at 3.04 while leading the team in blocks per game at 1.09 and coming in second on the team in hitting percentage at .393.

"They're a good team, and they're getting better," Peterson said. "They've had some down years, but they're getting back to where they used to be. They're a well-coached team."

The Cardinal are coached by Don Shaw, who is in his sixth year coaching the men at Stanford after coaching the women's team for 16 years (1984-1999). During his tenure with the women he guided the Cardinal to four NCAA titles and 10 conference championships.

This weekend's matches will mark the 25th and 26th meetings between the schools, with BYU owning a 16-8 advantage. Since the 1999 season, when the Cougars won their first national title, BYU has won 10 of 11, including the last six.

Victor Batista is coming off a strong weekend in which he had 21 kills, hit .545 (21-3-33) and recorded five aces and seven blocks. His fourth and fifth aces tied and set the record for most service aces in a season by a BYU team at 152 and 153. The 2003 team registered 152 aces.

Peterson said this weekend's matches will test his team's character and determine whether or not they are prepared to make a run at the national championship.

"This is the end of the season, and this is why we play," he said. "It comes down to these two matches and the playoffs. This is where everyone's character shows, and we'll know if we have the character to be on track to win a championship. It boils down to our character as much as anything else."

Both matches will begin at 7 p.m., and Saturday's match will be televised on CSTV. Check your cable or satellite provider for local listings. To follow the matches online, visit http://www.byucougars.com/ or click here.