Another Saturday Sweep for BYU

SANTA -- Senior outside hitter Victor Batista led a strong BYU offensive attack as the Cougars rebounded from a disappointing loss Friday to sweep the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 30-18, 32-30, 30-26, Saturday night in Robertson Gym. BYU is now 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Gauchos stand at 3-4 overall and 3-1 in the MPSF.

Batista, who struggled on Friday, had a career-high 23 kills while finishing with a scorching .656 (23-2-32) hitting percentage.

"Victor had a very nice match for us," BYU Coach Tom Peterson said. "It was nice to come back. We made some adjustments and played better and they couldn't get on a run like they did last night."

The Cougars came out hungry in game one, never giving the Gauchos a chance as they won 30-18. BYU hit .692 (20-2-26) for the game. The second and third games were much closer but the Cougars held on for the sweep.

Junior setter Rob Neilson, who dished out 45 assists, directed a potent BYU offense that finished with a season-best .506 (52-10-83) hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Taylor Evans joined Batista as the only other Cougars with double-digit kills as he contributed a season-high 13.

The Gauchos struggled to a .256 hitting percentage and Evan Patak followed his 32-kill performance with 11 on Saturday. He was the only Santa Barbara player in double digits.

Along with the strong attack, the BYU blocking and service games were on target. Middles Michael Burke and Russell Holmes each had five stuffs to lead the Cougars to 12 team blocks. Holmes was especially impressive picking up three solo blocks, a career high. Evans had three service aces to lead BYU.

The Cougars now turn their attention to UCLA, the No. 1 ranked team in the country. The Bruins will be in Provo for matches Friday and Saturday. The 2004 National Championship banner will be dropped from the rafters of the Smith Fieldhouse before Friday's match.

Peterson said he hopes his team will concentrate on the matches and be ready to play.

"We need to stay very focused and not let everything distract us," Peterson said. "They will for sure be favored and we need to play much better to win."

Peterson said he invites everyone to come out and help the 2004 team celebrate and cheer the current team on to victory.

"It will be a fun night for the crowd," Peterson said. "I hope we are at capacity and have to turn people away at the gates because it is so full."

Friday and Saturday's matches will begin at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for Friday's match to ensure a seat.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                      Briham Young University - Volleyball
                    Brigham Young Univ. vs UC Santa Barbara
                     (Jan 22, 2005 at Santa Barbara, Calif)
    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......  3|  3   1   6  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  4  0|  0|   6.0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3|  7   4  14  .214|  0|  2   1|  2|  4| 0  2  0|  1|  10.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  4   0   6  .667|  0|  0   4|  0|  1| 3  2  0|  0|   8.0
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  2   0   3  .667| 45|  1   3|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  1|   5.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  3| 23   2  32  .656|  2|  2   2|  2|  8| 1  2  1|  0|  27.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3| 13   3  22  .455|  2|  3   2|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|  16.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Robert.  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 5  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 52  10  83  .506| 51|  8  14|  6| 25| 5 14  1|  3|  72.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  2  26  .692   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  4  32  .438   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 32 30  5-2, 1-1 MPSF
   3  14  4  25  .400   UC Santa Barbara.... (0) 18 30 26  3-4, 3-1 MPSF
    UC Santa Barbara       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Berman, Bryan.......  3|  5   3  14  .143|  2|  1   3|  0|  4| 0  1  1|  0|   6.5
 6  Jensen, Dane........  2|  0   0   1  .000| 15|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  0  0|  1|   1.0
 7  Patak, Evan.........  3| 11   5  23  .261|  0|  1   2|  0|  3| 1  0  0|  0|  13.0
 13 Wack, Nate..........  3|  4   1   9  .333|  0|  1   2|  2|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 21 Brunner, Theo.......  3|  7   2  12  .417|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 25 Kennedy, Michael....  3|  8   3  16  .312|  0|  2   1|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0|  11.5
 1  Kowalski, Bart......  3|  0   0   0  .000| 19|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 8  Fisher, Michael.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 Ulfers, Adam........  2|  2   3   8 -.125|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 19 Mansfield, Aaron....  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  3|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 33 Richman, Aaron......  2|  2   0   6  .333|  0|  1   3|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 40  17  90  .256| 37|  6  13|  8| 18| 3  2  1|  1|  50.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  4  25  .240   Site: Santa Barbara, Calif (Robertson Gym)
   2  15  7  34  .235   Date: Jan 22, 2005   Attend: 342   Time: 1:35
   3  15  6  31  .290   Referees: Brandt Lee, Rick Olmstead