Burke Near Perfect in Sweep of Trojans

LOS -- Michael Burke led an unstoppable Cougar offense as BYU swept (30-25, 30-15, 30-28) the Trojans of USC Saturday at the Lyon Center. The Cougars are now 11-6 overall and 6-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while USC is 5-16 and 1-12.

The Trojans had no solution for the Cougar hitters as BYU had a blazing .488 (51-12-80) hitting percentage. Burke was unstoppable, getting nine kills on 10 swings for a season-high .900 hitting percentage. He also added a match-high five blocks.

Victor Batista, the other Cougar middle also had a strong match, hitting .667 (7-1-9). Rob Neilson dished out 45 assists to guide the offense and had two solo blocks. Taylor Evans also registered double-digit kills with 11.

"We passed pretty well tonight," Peterson said. "That allowed us to connect a lot more in the middle."

BYU Coach tom Peterson said his team showed improvement from Friday nights match.

"We played more crisp and a little better," he said. "We hit the ball hard and didn't make too many errors."

For the match, BYU had 18 digs and 10 team blocks. The Cougar defense held the Trojans to a .130 (32-22-77) hitting percentage.

BYU was able to control the first game, hitting .486 (22-5-35) and holding the lead throughout. USC played solid and hit .296 (13-5-27) but could not muster enough big plays to keep up as the Cougars won 30-25.

The second game was all BYU as the Trojans never had a chance. The Cougars got USC out of rhythm early, limiting the Trojans to a hitting percentage of -.292 (4-11-24). BYU cruised to the 30-15 win by capitalizing on the USC errors and hitting .471 (10-2-17).

The third game provided some excitement as the Trojans hung on throughout. The Cougars were never able to build a big lead but stayed ahead with a strong offensive performance, hitting .500 (19-5-28). BYU made plays at the end to win 30-28 and complete the sweep.

The Cougars will take their four-match win streak to the University of Pacific next weekend, March 11 and 12, for two matches with the Tigers.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
             Brigham Young vs USC (Mar 05, 2005 at Los Angeles, CA)
    Brigham Young          |     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|  9   0  10  .900|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0|  12.5
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3| 13   4  22  .409|  0|  0   3|  1|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  14.0
 9  PATTERSON, Casey....  3|  9   3  14  .429|  0|  3   5|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0|  13.5
 14 NEILSON, Rob........  3|  1   0   4  .250| 45|  0   3|  0|  0| 2  0  0|  1|   3.0
 15 BATISTA, Victor.....  3|  7   1   9  .667|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 17 EVANS, Taylor.......  3| 11   4  20  .350|  1|  0   2|  1|  3| 0  2  2|  0|  12.0
 2  STEWART, Bryan......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 4  CONGELLIERE, Robert.  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  HEYES, Matt.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  ROWLEY, Brian.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 51  12  80  .488| 47|  5  18|  4| 18| 2 16  2|  1|  66.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  5  35  .486   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  2  17  .471   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  11-6, 6-4 MPSF
   3  19  5  28  .500   USC................. (0) 25 15 28  5-16, 1-12 MPSF
    USC                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Jimmy Killian.......  3|  0   0   1  .000| 32|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   2.0
 4  Fernando Barron.....  2|  4   3  10  .100|  0|  1   0|  2|  2| 0  1  1|  0|   5.5
 8  Andrew Vernon.......  3|  4   3   9  .111|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  3|  0|   4.5
 12 Jake Lewis..........  3|  3   5  13 -.154|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   4.0
 14 Joao Grangeiro......  3|  7   6  22  .045|  0|  1   3|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   8.5
 18 Chris McKniff.......  3|  4   1   7  .429|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  1|   5.5
 9  Pedro Leal..........  1|  5   1   6  .667|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   6.0
 16 Evan Burden.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 Matt Mosko..........  2|  5   1   6  .667|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
 19 Danny Newman........  3|  0   2   3 -.667|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 32  22  77  .130| 32|  4   8|  5| 12| 0 12  4|  1|  42.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  5  27  .296   Site: Los Angeles, CA (Lyon Center)
   2   4 11  24 -.292   Date: Mar 05, 2005   Attend: 326   Time: 1:12
   3  15  6  26  .346   Referees: Verna Klubnikin, Scott Hogue
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores      16   0   0    16
                        Lead changes     4   1   1     6