Lancers Top Cougars in Hard Fought Match

PROVO -- The BYU men's volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season in a five-game heart breaker to the Cal Baptist Lancers Friday, ending the Cougars 10-match win streak. BYU, which started 3-0 in 2005 and won its last seven contests in 2004, dropped to 3-1 while the Lancers improved to 3-1.

BYU head coach Tom Peterson attributed the loss to making errors at the wrong time and credited the Lancers for making big plays.

"We made too many errors at the wrong time," Peterson said. "Physically, they didn't beat us. They are an experienced group and made plays that our guys had never seen before."

After splitting the first four, BYU and Baptist squared off in the deciding fifth game. The Cougars appeared to have everything in their favor, winning the fourth 30-22 and having 4,030 screaming fans cheering them on. BYU fell behind, making costly errors that allowed the Lancers to jump ahead 10-7.

Senior middle blocker Michael Burke, who had four kills in the fifth, came up with a kill that started a 3-0 run that tied the game at 10. After a Baptist kill, Burke tied the game at 11. The kill would be BYU's last point as the Lancers reeled off four straight to take the game and the match.

Burke finished the match with 14 kills and a match-high .571 (14-2-21) hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Victor Batista had 17 kills on the night while freshman Ivan Perez added career-high 15 kills while hitting .423 (15-4-26). Junior libero Brian Rowley finished with a match and career-high 12 digs while Burke chipped in a match-high six blocks.

Seidu Ajanako's 23 kills led Baptist while Shamsu Awudu notched 13 and Shaun Dyk had 18.

The Cougars hit .307 (68-26-137) on the night as the Lancers hit at a .322 clip (75-28-146). BYU had 11 blocks compared to 10 for Baptist but the Lancers had four in the deciding fifth game.

The first game started out much like the fifth, with the Cougars falling behind early and never recovering. BYU was within a point at 14-15 but never got closer as the Lancers won 30-25. Both teams hit for high percentages, with Baptist finishing with 23 kills and a .471 hitting percentage. Seidu Ajanako was a perfect 9-for-9 hitting the ball while Shaun Dyk added seven kills. The Cougars hit .435 and were led by Burke's four kills.

Game two was close at 10-8 until Perez scored four of the next five points, getting three kills and an ace, to give BYU the 14-9 lead. The Lancers would not go away as they tied the game at 15. With the score at 17-16, the Cougars ran off four straight and took control, coasting to the 30-23 win. Perez finished the game with seven kills.

With the match tied at one game each, each team fought hard to take control in the third. Neither side was able to get the advantage as the score was tied 15 times and the lead changed hands on six occasions. Baptist was able to sneak ahead 30-29 and a solo block by Ajanako gave the game to the Lancers.

BYU was in control throughout the fourth, taking the early 10-5 lead. Baptist inched its way back in, cutting the gap to 15-13 before the Cougars ran away with the 30-22 win.

Despite the loss, Peterson remained optimistic about the team and was pleased with the crowd support.

"This is a very young team," Peterson said. "These guys will continue to learn and get much better. Baptist is one of the best teams in the country. Most people don't know that. The crowd was great tonight. It's nice to have 4,000 screaming fans in your favor."

The Cougars and Lancers will be back in action Saturday night at 7 in the Fieldhouse.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                           The BYU Cougars Volleyball
      Cal Baptist vs Brigham Young Univ. (Jan 14, 2005 at Provo UT 84602)
    Cal Baptist            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  AJANAKO, Seidu......  5| 23   9  45  .311|  1|  2   6|  1|  8| 1  1  0|  0|  26.5
 2  LAYTON, Tim.........  5|  6   1  12  .417|  1|  1   4|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  1|   9.5
 4  JOHNSON, Trever.....  5|  4   1   7  .429| 64|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  4|  0|   4.5
 8  ROSE, Sergio........  5|  7   4  16  .188|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 2  2  0|  0|  11.0
 11 AWUDU, Shamsu.......  4| 13   4  23  .391|  0|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  0|  14.0
 18 DYK, Shaun..........  5| 18   6  35  .343|  2|  1   6|  3|  3| 0  1  0|  0|  19.5
 3  PLUNKETT, Eric......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  SCOTIA, Dan.........  1|  2   2   4  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 10 VETTER, Romain......  2|  2   1   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 12 HAGSTROM, Tyler.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 SPENCE, Corey.......  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 75  28 146  .322| 70|  5  21|  5| 35| 4 12  5|  1|  90.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23  7  34  .471   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  5  32  .344   Cal Baptist......... (3) 30 23 31 22 15  3-1; 0-0 Ind
   3  17  9  38  .211   Brigham Young Univ.. (2) 25 30 29 30 11  3-1; 0-0 mpfs
   4  11  5  29  .207
   5   8  2  13  .462
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     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......  5| 14   2  21  .571|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 1  5  1|  0|  19.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  5| 15   4  26  .423|  2|  1   5|  0|  3| 1  1  3|  0|  17.5
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  5| 10   5  26  .192|  3|  0   1|  2|  4| 1  1  0|  0|  11.5
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  5|  9   2  13  .538|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 1  2  0|  0|  11.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  5|  3   3   7  .000| 61|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  1  1|  1|   3.5
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  5| 17   6  33  .333|  0|  2   4|  1|  9| 0  4  2|  0|  21.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  5|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  5|  0   3   9 -.333|  0|  0   2|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 68  26 137  .307| 67|  5  14|  5| 41| 4 14  7|  1|  84.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  3  23  .435   Site: Provo UT 84602 (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  15  4  31  .355   Date: Jan 14, 2005   Attend: 4038   Time: 2H 30M
   3  14  9  31  .161   Referees: TOM GIVEN, MAILEE JEWKES
   4  17  5  34  .353
   5   9  5  18  .222
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       0   5  15   0   4    24
                        Lead changes     1   1   6   1   1    10