PALO ALTO -- The No. 6 Cougars clinched third place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and home-court advantage in the first round of the league postseason tournament with a 3-1, 30-27, 34-32, 28-30, 30-20, win over the No. 9 Stanford Cardinal Saturday night at Burnham Pavilion. BYU concludes the regular season on a four-match winning streak and with a 20-9 overall record and 15-7 in the MPSF while Stanford finishes at 11-14 and 10-12.

"It's very satisfying to finish the season the way we have," BYU coach Tom Peterson. "It's a nice feeling to be able to come home and host the first round of the tournament. I'm very proud of our guys. The whole season we've been getting better and better. They've worked very hard to get to this point."

The 2005 season marks the fifth consecutive the Cougars have finished with 20 wins. BYU has now finished at least fourth in the MPSF regular season for nine-straight seasons.

After winning the first two and falling short on a comeback bid in the third, the Cougars won the fourth game 30-20 to clinch the victory and the third-place finish. BYU fell behind early but came back and took a four-point lead at 13-9 on a 4-0 run. The Cougars continued to build their lead and won going away.

Victor Batista led BYU with a match-high 21 kills, while adding seven digs and two aces. Ivan Perez was not far behind, registering 19 kills, eight digs and two aces. Michael Burke was a force in the middle, tallying eight kills and nine blocks. Rob Neilson had 56 assists while setting the Cougars to a .298 (64-25-131) hitting percentage. BYU out- blocked the Cardinal 14.5 to 7.0 and had more aces, eight to seven.

"Our serving made a big difference tonight," Peterson said. "It was maybe the difference in a close match. They're (Stanford) a very good and smart defensive team, maybe the best in the league. That and the play of their setter kept it close tonight."

The Cardinal were led by Craig Buell's 20 kills and .630 (20-3-27) hitting percentage. Kevin Hansen registered 48 assists while directing the offense.

Game one seemed to be a continuation of the previous night's match when the lead changed hands several times. BYU jumped out to an early 4-1 lead as Batista registered an ace and a kill. Stanford would not let the game get out of its hands, however, running off six straight to take the lead at 7-4. The Cougars would come back and take the lead, which they would hold much the rest of the game. Leading 27-24, BYU faltered and allowed the Cardinal to run off three consecutive points to tie the score. Burke made sure the Cougars would hold on though, serving and ace and getting a kill before Batista finished it off at 30-27 will a kill of his own. BYU pulled out the win despite hitting just .088 (12-9-34).

The second game was another back-and-forth contest as both teams held three-point leads, the Cougars at 18-15 and Stanford at 29-26. The Cardinal squandered three game-point opportunities by registering two attack errors and allowing Batista to get a kill. Stanford did have three more chances to clinch the game at 30-29, 31-30 and 32-31 but the BYU was equal to the task on every point and then scored the final two on Cardinal errors to win 34-32. The Cougars were much improved hitting the ball, registering a .324

(19-7-37) percentage while limiting Stanford to a .095 (16-12-42) clip.

In the third game, BYU did not play like a team that had just won the first two, falling behind early and trailing by nine as late as 20-11. The Cougars refused to get blown out, cutting the lead to one at 27-26 before allowing Stanford to jump back ahead by three at 29-26. BYU made a run to get back within a point at 29-28 but could not complete the comeback, losing 30-28 on a Clayton kill. Before the game winner, the Cardinal had failed to convert on five-straight game points. The Cougars hit .289 (19-8-38) on the game.

BYU will return home and host either UCSB or Long Beach State, depending on the outcome of Long Beach's Saturday night match with Pacific. Should the 49ers win, UCSB would go to Provo. A Long Beach loss would send the 49ers to Provo.

"This is a huge deal for us," Peterson said. "We need to get to the finals minimum to even have a shot at the NCAA Final Four. It all starts in the Fieldhouse. Our fans are the best in the nation and their support will be a big boost on Saturday."

The match will be played Saturday, April 23 in the Smith Fieldhouse. The time is still to be determined.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
         #6 Brigham Young vs #9 Stanford (Apr 16, 2005 at Stanford, CA)
    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   2  13  .462|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 1  8  2|  0|  14.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  4| 19   6  34  .382|  1|  2   3|  1|  8| 0  3  0|  0|  22.5
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  4|  6   6  18  .000|  2|  3   4|  2|  5| 1  2  0|  0|  11.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  4|  6   3  15  .200|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  2|  0|   7.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  4|  1   1   3  .000| 56|  0   3|  0|  2| 1  5  0|  3|   4.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  4| 21   6  40  .375|  0|  2   2|  1|  7| 0  1  2|  0|  23.5
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  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|  0|  0   0|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  4|  3   1   7  .286|  1|  0   3|  2|  4| 0  1  1|  0|   3.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 64  25 131  .298| 61|  8  16|  7| 38| 3 23  8|  3|  86.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  9  34  .088   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  19  7  37  .324   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 34 28 30  20-9 (15-7)
   3  19  8  38  .289   Stanford............ (1) 27 32 30 20  11-14 (10-12)
   4  14  1  22  .591
    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| 20   3  27  .630|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 2  1  0|  0|  22.5
 2  Ahlfeldt, Chris.....  4|  6   5  18  .056|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   7.0
 5  Vogel, David........  4|  7   7  23  .000|  1|  2   1|  2| 10| 0  3  0|  0|  10.5
 8  Clayton, William....  4|  8   8  25  .000|  0|  0   3|  5|  6| 1  0  0|  0|   9.0
 15 Reddy, Ben..........  4| 12  10  35  .057|  0|  2   4|  0|  5| 0  0  1|  0|  14.0
 17 Hansen, Kevin.......  4|  2   1   6  .167| 48|  2   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  2|   4.0
 3  Manov, Nick.........  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  1   1|  1|  0| 1  0  0|  0|   2.0
 11 Lindberg, Brian.....  4|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 18 Meredith, Jesse.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 56  35 136  .154| 50|  7   9|  8| 35| 4  6  1|  2|  70.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  8  28  .107   Site: Stanford, CA (Maples Pavilion)
   2  16 12  42  .095   Date: Apr 16, 2005   Attend: 912   Time: 2:15
   3  19  7  38  .316   Referees: John Kinyon, Eric Asami, Gary Wakai
   4  10  8  28  .071

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.