No. 3 BYU Rallies To Beat No. 11 UC Irvine, 3-2

Feb. 4, 2010

Final Stats

Photo Gallery

Irvine, Calif. – No. 3 BYU rallied to beat No. 11 UC Irvine, 3-2 (30-28, 19-30, 23-30, 30-27, 17-15) at the Bren Center Thursday.

For the third consecutive match, UCI would lose in five games, falling to 5-7 on the year and 1-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Anteaters are 0-4 in five set matches this season, while BYU goes to 3-0. BYU improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in league play.

UCI opposite Carson Clark tied his career-high with a match-high 29 kills. Outside hitter Jordan DuFault recorded 16 kills and a team-high 10 digs, while Cory Yoder came off the bench to total a season-high 14 kills without an error in 31 attempts and had five block assists which ties his career-best. Middle blocker Kevin Wynne hit .714 with five kills and a team-high seven total blocks. Setter Anthony Spittle tallied 64 set assists and seven digs.

BYU had four players with double-digit kills led by Robb Stowell with 26. Kevin Sagers had 14 kills followed by Andrew Stewart with 12 kills and a match-high 17 digs. Otavio Souza rounded out the quartet with 11 kills and six blocks. Russell Lavaja had a team-high seven blocks, while Reed Chilton added 59 set assists.

BYU, who leads the MPSF in blocks, topped the Anteaters, 14.5 to 13.5 at the net. UCI won the battle at the service line 9 to 3 in aces, but had a season-high 26 service errors. UCI out-hit the Cougars, .353 to .316, but BYU had more digs, 44-35.

The teams remained close in the first set until BYU used an Anteater attack error and kills by Kevin Sagers and Andrew Stewart to open the

15-12 advantage.  The Cougars would continue to lead before UCI rallied to close within 29-28 on two kills and an ace by Carson Clark, but BYU ended the game on a Russell Lavaja kill, 30-28.  BYU hit .484 (18-3-31).

The second set was all UCI as the Anteaters led 11-10 before rattling off five straight to open a 16-10 cushion, which included a kill and a block by middle blocker Austin D’Amore. UCI never looked back taking the game, 30-19 on a triple block by Clark, D’Amore and Cory Yoder. The Anteaters hit .542 (15-2-24), while the Cougars hit just .040 (10-9-25).

Carson Clark served four points to help UCI to a 6-2 lead in the third set. BYU pulled within 24-22 but UCI answered with a kill by Clark followed by a BYU setting error and back-to-back service aces by DuFault. The Anteaters fired five aces during the 30-23 victory.  Clark put down six kills, while Yoder recorded five kills to help the ‘Eaters.

The fourth set saw BYU lead 19-16, until the Anteaters went on a 5-1 spurt capped by a kill by Kevin Wynne to go ahead, 21-20. The teams would trade points until BYU would use a UCI service error followed by a service ace by Sagers and a kill by Stowell to get to set point, 29-26. Following a kill by DuFault a Cougar block would end the set, 30-27.

BYU took a 6-4 advantage in the final set before UCI used a kill by Wynne and a Yoder service ace to knot the score at 6-6. UCI would use a Clark kill followed by back-to-back blocks by Yoder and Wynne to go ahead 13-10. A UCI service error, a BYU block then a kill by Stewart tied the score at 13-13. BYU would fight off two UCI match points before kills by Stowell and Sager ended the game, 17-15 and the match 3-2.

The two teams meet again tomorrow night beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Center.

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