LA JOLLA -- Playing in its first match in nearly two weeks, the No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team secured a 3-1 victory (26-30, 32-30, 30-28, 30-27) over No. 14 UC San Diego Friday night.

With the win the Cougars improve to 8-4 on the season and 6-3 against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponents.

BYU was led by sophomore opposite Robb Stowell and his match-leading 22 kills. He also added a career-high 20 digs. Other Cougars recording double-digit kills were Andrew Stewart with 18, Futi Tavana with 12 and Russell Lavaja and Kevin Sagers adding 11 apiece. Friday marks the first match this season the Cougars have had five players with 10 kills or more.

Setter Reed Chilton’s 72 assists mark a new career high and are the most by a Cougar this season.

The Tritons led the entire first set on way to a 30-26 win. BYU managed to close in at 27-26 after a kill from Stowell and UCSD attack error, but was unable to pull ahead.

Set two started with kills from Lavaja, Tavana and Joe Kauliakamoa as the Cougars took an 8-5 lead. The Tritons knotted the score at 15-15, and again eight more times before the end of the set. A kill by Stowell put BYU up 31-30, but it was a solo block from Chilton that won the set and tied the match.

The third set was even more competitive than the first two as each team matched point-for-point, seeing 23 tied scores. Neither team gained more than a one-point advantage until a kill from Stewart and timely UCSD attack error put the Cougars up 12-10. The Tritons took a two-point lead of their own at 18-16, but Stewart’s back-to-back kills tied things up 18-18. The set ended like it started with back-and-forth scoring. Stowell recorded his 20th kill of the night to bring up set point. He and Lavaja combined for a block to seal the win.

Momentum continued in the Cougars’ favor as they took an early 5-1 lead to start the fourth set. Sagers and Stowell each recorded a pair of kills to put BYU ahead 18-12. The Tritons battled back from a seven-point deficit to cut the Cougars’ lead to one point several times late in the set. Attack errors plagued both teams down the stretch, but it was two successful attempts by Tavana that clinched the 30-27 victory and overall win for BYU.

The Cougars and Tritons meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT for the second of this two-match series.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
         #5 BYU vs #14 UC San Diego (Feb 19, 2010 at La Jolla, Calif.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  4|  0   0   0  .000| 72|  1   3|  0|  7| 1  1  0|  0|   2.5
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4| 11   2  15  .600|  0|  0   6|  0|  3| 0  6  0|  0|  14.0
8  KAULIAKAMOA, Joe....  3|  6   5  15  .067|  0|  0   0|  3|  3| 1  2  0|  0|   8.0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  4| 22   4  43  .419|  0|  0   4|  0| 20| 0  4  1|  1|  24.0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 18   8  45  .222|  1|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  20.0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4| 12   2  16  .625|  1|  2   3|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0|  15.0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
9  SOUZA, Otavio.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  2| 11   4  17  .412|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|  11.0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
18 HIAPO, BJ...........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 80  25 151  .364| 78|  4  22|  3| 56| 2 18  2|  1|  95.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  18 10  38  .211  17-29  58%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  21  5  34  .471  22-31  70%   BYU................. (3) 26 32 30 30  8-4, 6-3 MPSF
   3  21  5  38  .421  23-28  82%   UC San Diego........ (1) 30 30 28 27  4-10, 1-8 MPSF
   4  20  5  41  .366  21-28  75%
   UC San Diego           |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6  DAVIDSON, Joel......  4| 18   5  40  .325|  0|  1   4|  3|  5| 0  1  0|  0|  19.5
8  BANNAN, Phil........  4|  2   1   5  .200| 44|  2   4|  0|  5| 1  1  0|  0|   5.5
11 GUTHALS, Adrian.....  2|  5   3  10  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
12 SPANGLER, Jason.....  4| 14   3  35  .314|  1|  0   3|  1|  7| 0  2  0|  0|  15.0
13 FRITSCH, Frank......  3|  5   5  26  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  1  1|  0|   5.5
24 KIANI, Cyrus........  4| 12   1  24  .458|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0|  14.5
1  SIMON, Alex.........  2|  2   2   9  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
4  KABAN, Andrew.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  FRISHMAN, Chase.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 SIERKS, Erik........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  9|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  0  0|  0|   1.0
16 ROSS, Calvin........  3|  5   0  10  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   6.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 63  20 159  .270| 56|  3  14|  4| 39| 3 15  1|  0|  76.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  14  5  36  .250  18-27  66%   Site: La Jolla, Calif. (RIMAC Arena)
   2  20  5  44  .341  21-31  67%   Date: Feb 19, 2010   Attend: 229   Time: 2:16
   3  14  4  39  .256  23-31  74%   Referees: Patsy Malta, Tom Saunders
   4  15  6  40  .225  20-29  68%
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       0  12  24   0    36
                        Lead changes     0   4   7   0    11

Following a bye week, the No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball team (7-4, 5-3 MPSF) continues its road swing at No. 14 UC San Diego (4-9, 1-7 MPSF) for a two-match series this weekend. The Cougars had a week to rest after splitting two matches at No. 11 UC Irvine on Feb. 4 and 5. Last week the Tritons lost to No.1 Cal State Northridge and fell in five sets to No. 10 UC Santa Barbara and will be looking for their first program win over BYU.

Series Info

The Cougars boast an undefeated, 26-0 record against UCSD, dating back to 1993. Of those 26 meetings, 20 resulted in sweeps, with the Tritons claiming a total of only five games. No matchup between these two teams has ever gone to a fifth set.

Last season BYU recorded a pair of sweeps over UCSD at home in the Smith Fieldhouse. Andrew Stewart knocked down double-digit kills both nights, while the team put up a combined 35 blocks on the weekend.

Match Coverage

Live stats are available at the UCSD men’s volleyball schedule page at www.ucsdtritons.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the link next to the appropriate game on the schedule.

Coming Off...

The Cougars are coming off a weekend split at No. 11 UC Irvine on Feb. 4-5. Sophomore Robb Stowell knocked down a career-high 26 kills with a .413 attack percentage as BYU pulled out a nail-biting five-set win on Thursday. Besides Stowell, three other Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Kevin Sagers with 14, Andrew Stewart with 12 and Otavio Souza adding 11. Stewart also completed a double-double night with a career-high 17 digs, giving him four double-doubles on the season. Despite suffering a sweep on Friday night, two Cougars recorded double-digit kills, including Stewart with a match-high 15 and Stowell with 12. Stowell also added a career-high three service aces.