LONG BEACH -- Extending its winning streak to seven games, the BYU men’s volleyball team (17-7, 13-6 MPSF) defeated Long Beach State (12-12, 8-9 MPSF) 3-1 Thursday night.

“We weren’t sharp tonight, but we just kept grinding away to come out with the win,” said BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. “We started out a little flat, but we kept working and playing hard. We started out hitting -.065 as a team and then ended up hitting .500 by the end. Our blocking was a definite strength tonight.”

One block shy of last week’s record-breaking performance of 24.5 team blocks, the Cougars posted 23.5 team blocks to defeat the 49ers.

Leading the Cougars on the attack was sophomore Robb Stowell with 19 kills at .389 hitting, 11 digs, two service aces, and nine blocks. One block away from a triple-double, Stowell tallied his second double-double of the season and the fourth of his career.

After earning a new BYU all-time record in blocks in a single game (15) in his last outing, sophomore Futi Tavana posted 12 total blocks (two solo), and added three kills, one service ace and two digs. Senior Andrew Stewart chalked up 10 kills, eight digs and five blocks on the night.

Coming into the game in the middle of set two, senior setter Yamil Perez tallied 28 assists, two blocks, two digs and one kill.

“Perez came off the bench and did a great job,” said Patchell.

BYU started out strong with a 6-1 run to start set one, the 49ers coming back to tie the set at 17. LBSU came back to knot the score at 24, later scoring three-straight points to put them up 27-24. The Cougars clawed back with five-straight points to put them up 29-27, ending the set after one LBSU point and a service error, 30-28.

In set two the Cougars heavily relied upon the mistakes of the 49ers. Out of 28 points scored for BYU, 12 of those points came from LBSU serving and attack errors. BYU scored the first point in the set, but after the 49ers tied the score at six and gained the lead at 7-all, they maintained the lead the remainder of the set, holding off the Cougars 30-28.

After the break BYU ran away with set three after 12-all, blocking the 49ers to the ground. With 14 blocking assists, 2 solo blocks, and nine team blocks, the Cougars defeated LBSU, 30-23. Tavana had four blocks alone in set three.

With solid play from Stowell and Sagers, the Cougars handedly put away set four. With stellar setting from Perez, the outside and opposite positions shut down the 49ers’ defense with seven kills from Stowell and six kills from Sagers, BYU got up early in the set, gaining the largest lead at 24-11. LBSU tried to battle back, but fell to the Cougars 30-18.

The Cougars will take on the 49ers again Friday at 7 p.m. PT to complete the two-match series.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
       #3 BYU vs #8 Long Beach State (Apr 01, 2010 at Long Beach, Calif.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  CHILTON, Reed.......  2|  0   0   1  .000| 15|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0
5  LAVAJA, Russell.....  4|  6   6  16  .000|  2|  3   6|  0|  3| 1  8  0|  0
10 TAYLOR, Mat.........  1|  1   2   7 -.143|  0|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
13 STOWELL, Robb.......  4| 19   5  36  .389|  0|  2   3|  0| 11| 0  9  0|  0
15 STEWART, Andrew.....  4| 10   4  31  .194|  0|  1   2|  0|  8| 0  5  0|  0
17 TAVANA, Futi........  4|  3   4  11 -.091|  0|  1   0|  0|  2| 2 10  0|  0
1  TUTTLE, Kent........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
4  SILVA, Joel.........  4|  1   0   1 1.000|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
7  ROBINSON, Jeff......  2|  2   1   7  .143|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  1  1|  0
11 SAGERS, Kevin.......  4|  8   5  18  .167|  0|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0
14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  1   0   2  .500| 28|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 51  27 130  .185| 47| 10  19|  0| 45| 3 41  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 23.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1   9 11  31 -.065   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  7  45  .133   BYU................. (3) 30 28 30 30  17-7, 13-6 MPSF
   3  13  6  28  .250   Long Beach State.... (1) 28 30 23 18  12-12, 8-9 MPSF
   4  16  3  26  .500
   Long Beach State       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  Baughman, Jim.......  4| 11   8  30  .100|  0|  0   5|  5|  7| 0  2  0|  0
5  Klipsch, Mike.......  4|  0   0   0  .000| 37|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  3  0|  0
9  Riley, Josh.........  1|  0   4   8 -.500|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
11 Aguillard, Antwain..  4| 12   4  20  .400|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 2  3  1|  0
18 Bittner, Dean.......  4| 15  10  41  .122|  0|  0   3|  1|  4| 0  5  0|  0
21 Alexander, Dan......  4|  4   4  13  .000|  0|  0   4|  0|  4| 0  8  0|  0
4  Pestolesi, Tommy....  3|  8   7  29  .034|  0|  0   4|  1|  2| 0  1  1|  0
6  Friend, Kyle........  2|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  1|  0
17 Eaton, Conor........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  8|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
20 Francis, Kirk.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  5|  0   0|  2| 11| 0  0  0|  0
23 Nadazdin, Srdjan....  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 53  38 148  .101| 50|  0  19| 10| 44| 2 23  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  9  34  .118   Site: Long Beach, Calif. (Walter Pyramid)
   2  21  7  53  .264   Date: Apr 01, 2010   Attend: 586   Time: 2:06
   3   7 12  26 -.192   Referees: Jessie Martinez, Scott Hogue
   4  12 10  35  .057   BYU 4 TRIPLE BLOCKS, LBS 1 TRIPLE BLOCK

The No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball team (16-7, 12-6 MPSF) travels to No. 8 Long Beach State (12-11, 8-8 MPSF) for a two-match series on Thursday and Friday nights at the Walter Pyramid. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. PT.

The Cougars moved from tied for fourth to third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after sweeping UC Santa Barbara last week. BYU clinches a spot in the tournament playoffs with one win this week or one loss by both UCSB and UCI.

The 49ers are currently tied with USC in the MPSF standings after beating unranked Pacific last Friday and losing to No. 1 Stanford on Saturday.

Series Information

Long Beach St. holds a slight advantage in the all-time series record over BYU (18-17). In the last two meetings in Provo on March 20 & 21 in 2009, the Cougars swept the 49ers in two 5-set matches. LBSU has won five of the last nine meetings between the two teams, however the Cougars have claimed wins in eight of the last nine meetings in Provo. In total, BYU is 3-6 in three-set matches, 7-8 in four-set matches, and 7-4 in five-set matches against the 49ers.

Match Coverage

Live stats are available at the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com. Gametracker can be launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule.

Coming Off...

BYU is coming off a weekend sweep of No. 10 UC Santa Barbara last weekend in Provo. Sophomore opposite hitter Robb Stowell totaled 37 kills over the two matches, leading the Cougars with 22 kills on Friday. Sophomore middle blocker Futi Tavana led the Cougars to a new all-time BYU record 24.5 team blocks with 15 total blocks on Saturday. The 15 total blocks Tavana tallied was also a new BYU record, breaking his old record of 13 set against LBSU on March 21, 2009. Senior setter Reed Chilton tallied 95-of-111 assists over the two days while senior outside hitter Kevin Sagers came off the bench to led the attack on Saturday with 18 kills. Senior outside hitter Andrew Stewart also posted double-digit kills both nights, while sophomore middle blocker Russell Lavaja totaled 14 blocks on the weekend.