Long Beach State University Athletics
Cougars Advance To MPSF Finals
4/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
April 24, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - Ivan Perez put away 16 kills to lead the BYU Cougars (25-4) past Cal State Northridge (23-7) in the second game of Thursday's MPSF semifinals. Perez was the spearhead for a BYU attack that hit .368, making just 13 attack errors over the course of the 30-22, 30-28, 30-26 match.
Despite letting the Matadors close occasionally, BYU rarely gave up the lead in the three-game win. "I was proud of the guys, they played very well, said head coach Shawn Patchell. "We were focused on starting well, and built nice leads in all three games, which was one of our goals coming in."
Perez in particular found a lot of success against the Cal State Northridge defense, finishing with 16 kills on .345 hitting with digs. "Coming in and playing Northridge in California, we knew we needed to pass perfectly," said Perez. "I think we came in focused, did the little things, and executed well."
Cal State Northridge recovered from a poor start in game one to hit .424 in game two, but was unable to move ahead of the Cougars in that game or the match as a whole. "Every time it seemed that we had the momentum, it would switch at a bad time," said outside hitter Eric Vance. "We were very hot and cold tonight."
Moving out to a 5-1 start in the first game, BYU was in charge early as two Andrew Stewart kills staked the Cougars to an 11-5 lead. That advantage quickly increased to 15-8 through the middle of the match, as BYU used four blocks to help increase lead. That would be plenty, as Cal State Northridge was unable to mount any offense, finishing game one with six kills and six errors. For the Cougars, they were never threatened, holding on to their early lead and hitting .393 on the way to a 30-23 game one win.
Game two again featured a quick start for BYU, but the Matodors were able to recover for a 9-8score. An overpass led to another Stewart kill and an 11-8 BYU lead after a Cougar sideout, and a Jonathan Charette ace increased lead to four at 13-9. Northridge cut lead to one but two straight aces from Russell Holmes gave BYU a 17-13 lead. That small cushion would last through most of the game, shrinking to one once after a Isaac Kneubel ace cut the lead to 24-23. BYU answered the charge to take a 28-25 BYU, but Cal State Northridge made a late rally to cut the lead to one at 29-28. A big dig from Mike Gaudino gave Cal State Northridge a chance, but miscommunication from Eric Vance and Travis Bluemling on the set led to a BYU point to hold onto game two.
Again in control right from the start, BYU grabbed an early lead in game three, and moved ahead by multiple points after a solo block by Holmes. That led to an 8-5 BYU edge, which held as the Cougars were perfect through the middle of the game, posting 10 kills with no errors, hitting .714 on the way to a 15-10 lead in the first half of game three. Northridge was finally able to recover, though, tying the game at 15 behind a kill from Kneubuhl. BYU again had the answers, leaning on Perez to take a 21-17 to regain the momentum in the match. Cal State Northridge made one more run, bringing the score back to 25-24, but BYU scored two straight to take a 27-24 lead on the way to a 30-26 win in game three.
With the win, the second-seed Cougars will face No. 5 Pepperdine, who defeated the host Long Beach State 49ers in three games in the opening game of the day. The finals are scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at 7 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid.
