NORTHRIDGE -- BYU’s four-match win streak was snapped as the No. 8 men’s volleyball team dropped a 3-0 contest to No. 1 Cal State Northridge on Thursday night, 30-24, 30-28, 30-25. With the loss the Cougars drop to 9-7 on the season and 7-4 in MPSF play.

Junior opposite Mat Taylor recorded 11 kills in the loss, the lone Cougar to reach double-digit kills as BYU hit .089 on the night. Freshman middle blocker Russell Lavaja’s seven blocks led both teams as BYU outblocked CSUN 13 to 10.5.

BYU found itself trailing 7-5 early in the first set, with three of its points coming off CSUN service errors. The Matadors struggled from the service line all night, recording 24 total service errors. Seven blocks by BYU could not compete with CSUN’s 17 kills, five of which came from Tanner Nua. A kill by the Matadors’ Mike Gaudino ended the 30-24 set.

The Cougars came out stronger in the second set, maintaining a steady lead nearly the entire game. They held as much as a five-point advantage late in the set before the Matadors regained momentum and built a 4-0 run to come within one at 25-24. Both teams traded several service errors and kills back-and-forth, enabling CSUN to come back and lead 29-28. The Matadors secured the 2-0 match lead off a BYU attack error.

Unable to get its offense rolling, BYU continued to struggle in the third set, hitting -.029. The Matadors hit only .088, but still managed to clinch the match with a 30-25 win.

The Cougars and Matadors meet again on Friday at 7 p.m. PT in the Matadome.

Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young Univ. Cougar VolleyBall
                   #8 BYU Cougars vs #1 Cal State Northridge
                      (Mar 05, 2009 at Northridge, Calif.)
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  3|  3   4   7 -.143|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  3| 11   2  23  .391|  0|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  3|  1   5  12 -.333|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  2  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   1   1-1.000| 21|  1   5|  0|  4| 0  0  1|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  3|  8   6  21  .095|  0|  0   0|  1|  9| 0  4  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  3|  4   1   7  .429|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 1  3  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  2   0   3  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  5|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  5| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  1   2   4 -.250|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
23 DA PRON, Alex.......  1|  3   4  12 -.083|  0|  0   0|  3|  1| 0  1  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 33  25  90  .089| 28|  2  12|  8| 29| 2 22  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   7  6  26  .038   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  7  29  .276   BYU Cougars......... (0) 24 28 25  9-7, 7-4 MPSF
   3  11 12  35 -.029   Cal State Northridge (3) 30 30 30  14-2, 10-2 MPSF
   Cal State Northridge   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  Nua, Tanner.........  3|  8   7  22  .045|  0|  1   4|  0|  1| 0  3  1|  0
10 McKniff, Kevin......  3|  7   3  14  .286|  0|  3   3|  0|  2| 2  3  0|  0
11 Gaudino, Mike.......  3|  6   3  19  .158|  1|  1   4|  1|  6| 0  3  0|  0
12 Stork, Matt.........  3|  2   0   2 1.000| 35|  0   4|  0|  1| 0  3  1|  0
14 Vance, Eric.........  3| 15   2  29  .448|  1|  2   4|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0
17 Ratajczak, Jacek....  3|  7   1  12  .500|  0|  1   5|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0
2  Baxter, Jeff........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  Edwards, Theo.......  2|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
7  Keohohou, Ali'i.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 45  17 100  .280| 39|  8  24|  2| 27| 2 17  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  7  35  .286   Site: Northridge, Calif. (The Matadome)
   2  17  2  31  .484   Date: Mar 05, 2009   Attend: 515   Time: 1:35
   3  11  8  34  .088   Referees: Marvin Hall, John Martin

The No. 8 ranked BYU men’s volleyball team (9-6, 7-3 MPSF) stays on the road this weekend as it competes against No. 1 Cal State Northridge (13-2, 9-2 MPSF) for two matches on Thursday and Friday nights. The Cougars are coming off back-to-back wins at Pacific last weekend, extending their win streak to four matches.

CSUN enters this week with the second-best record among all MPSF teams, most recently sweeping No. 5 USC for its seventh consecutive win dating back to a loss at Hawai’i back in January.

The last time BYU faced a No. 1-ranked team was on Feb. 4, 2006 when it hosted No. 1 Pepperdine. It has been even longer since the Cougars have visited a top-ranked team, six years to be exact. BYU split two matches when it paid a visit to No. 1 Pepperdine on April 10-11, 2003.

Series Information

BYU holds a 25-15 lead in the series between these two teams dating back to April. 11, 1990. The Cougars recorded a perfect 3-0 record against the Matadors in 2008, winning back-to-back matches at home in the Smith Fieldhouse during the regular season and also posting a 3-0 sweep over CSUN in the semifinal match at the MSPF Championships in Long Beach. With those wins, BYU has won seven of the last eight matches, including five consecutive. Of those seven wins, only one has gone to five sets. Between 1997-2003 the Cougars recorded a series-leading 12-match win streak over the Matadors, including nine sweeps.

Match Coverage

Live stats can be accessed by visiting CSUN’s men’s volleyball schedule page at www.GoMatadors.com. The live stats can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule page.

Coming Off...A Tiger Sweep

The No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball team recorded its second consecutive undefeated weekend after a 3-0 sweep over the Pacific Tigers on Saturday night (30-22, 30-27, 30-28). With the win the Cougars improve to 9-6 overall, 7-3 in MPSF play. Andrew Stewart recorded 17 kills on the night, a match-high for the second night in a row. Sophomore Alex Da Pron finished with 10 kills, marking the second consecutive night he has knocked down double-digit kills.

BYU defeated Pacific 3-1 the night prior, with Stewart knocking down a match-leading 21 kills with a .432 hitting percentage. Other Cougars recording double-figure kills included opposite Mat Taylor with 15 and Da Pron with 12. Da Pron’s 12 kills set a new career high, as did his 11 digs, marking his first career double-double. Freshman Russell Lavaja also set a new career-high with eight blocks to go along with nine kills.

Up Next

The Cougars stay on the road, participating in the Active Ankle Tournament hosted by Long Beach State on March 13-14. The Cougars will face Penn State in their opening match.