Cougs Conquer Ramblers

HONOLULU -- It was the eighth consecutive victory and sixth consecutive sweep for No. 2 BYU as the Cougars swept No. 13 Loyola-Chicago, 30-16, 30-22 and 30-22.

The dominating BYU (8-0, 4-0 MPSF) win came just one night after the Ramblers (4-2) upset No. 3--and tournament host--Hawaii in five games. Interestingly, BYU did not trail at any point in any of the sets against Loyola Chicago.

Russell Holmes was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Yosleyder Cala, Robby Stowell and Yamil Perez were also named to the Outrigger Hotels Invitational's All-Tournament team.

Cala led BYU with 14 kills while hitting .423 (14-3-26). Stowell had another productive night, tallying 12 kills on a .321 hitting percentage. Holmes followed his 11-kill, six-block .667 hitting performance with another strong outing. Holmes had seven kills while hitting .462 while picking up five blocks. Freshman Rodnei Santos added five kills while hitting .500 and a team-leading six blocks.

BYU out hit Loyola-Chicago .394 to .069 and out blocked the Ramblers 13.0 to 1.5. The victory also guaranteed BYU the best record in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational.

Like Friday evening against Penn State, BYU jumped out to an early lead Saturday against the Ramblers. Back-to-back kills by Cala gave the Cougars a 4-0 lead in the first set. Ahead 8-5, BYU went on a 5-1 run to give BYU a 13-6 lead. BYU had similar runs down the stretch, leading the Cougars to a dominating first set victory. The set ended on a pair of attach errors by Loyola-Chicago. BYU hit .577 in the first set while holding the Ramblers to a .036 hitting performance.

The second set was similar to the first with BYU jumping to a quick 8-3 start. The Ramblers fought back to cut the Cougars lead to 10-8 on a BYU service error. But the Cougars would not let Loyola-Chicago get any closer. BYU picked up a pair of blocks from Cala and Santos to start a 5-1 run that the Ramblers couldn't recover from. The second set ended on a service error.

The third set started with a Stowell block and an Ivan Perez kill followed by another block by Stowell and Santos to get out to a quick 3-0 lead. The Ramblers kept the third set close throughout, closing the BYU lead to just 24-21. The Cougars finished the set and match with a 6-1 run that included a pair of kills from Stowell, a block and a kill from Holmes and a pair of errors from Loyola-Chicago, including a match-ending service error.

The Cougars will put their perfect record to the test next week as No. 1 UC Irvine visits the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m. and Friday evenings match will be televised by BYU-TV. Fans should come early as capacity crowds are expected for both matches.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
  #2 Brigham Young Univ. vs #13 Loyola-Chicago (Jan 27, 2007 at Honolulu, HI)
    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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  3| 14   3  26  .423|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0
 2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  3|  5   0  10  .500|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  6  3|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3|  8   3  15  .333|  2|  1   1|  1|  6| 1  3  0|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3|  7   1  13  .462|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 1  4  0|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  3| 12   3  28  .321|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 1  3  1|  0
 14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  1   0   2  .500| 38|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 4  CONGELLIERE, Brian..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 POMPEI, Andy........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  10  94  .394| 43|  2   9|  3| 32| 3 20  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  2  26  .577   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  2  38  .395   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 30  8-0, 2-0 OHI
   3  13  6  30  .233   Loyola-Chicago...... (0) 16 22 22  4-2, 1-1 OHI
    Loyola-Chicago         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Guntli, Brian.......  3|  3   0   8  .375| 33|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  1|  1
 5  Grunst, James.......  3| 12   4  22  .364|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 6  Anderson, Ian.......  3|  9  14  33 -.152|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 12 Kamberos, George....  2|  1   3   5 -.400|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 Berzins, Krisjanis..  3|  5   6  17 -.059|  1|  0   5|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 18 Lamoureux, Nick.....  3|  4   2   9  .222|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 2  Gustus, Nathan......  2|  3   1   6  .333|  1|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  1  1|  0
 8  Bailey, Zach........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 10 Jensen, Derek.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 16 Baleiko, Matt.......  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 37  30 102  .069| 36|  3  10|  2| 30| 0  3  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 1.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  9  28  .036   Site: Honolulu, HI (Stan Sheriff Center)
   2  15 11  38  .105   Date: Jan 27, 2007   Attend:     Time: 1:28
   3  12 10  36  .056   Referees: Dickson Chun, Wayne Lee