March 27, 2004
Box Score
PROVO, Utah - (courtesy of byucougars.com) With career and season-high hitting, the No.1-ranked BYU men's volleyball team beat the Patriots of George Mason, 3-0 on Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars earned their 18th straight win of the season, tying the previous school record set by the 1999 National Champions. The game scores were 30-26, 30-15, 30-23.
Coming off an emotional win over Lewis on Friday in front of a season-high crowd, the team settled down and focused on their game, using seven players off the bench in the win over the Patriots.
BYU hit solid as a team, with a season-high hitting percentage of .500 that included a .636 percentage in the second game. The Cougars registered 8.5 team blocks for the match, six of which also came in the second game.
All-American Jon Alleman racked up 18 kills, leading the Cougar squad and connecting for a new career-high and blistering .857 percentage. Alleman also chipped in four blocks and four digs on defense.
Sophomore Taylor Evans took advantage of his first start of the season, registering a career-high 15 kills including seven in the first game. He added three assists, three digs and a block for BYU. Starters Joe Hillman and Michael Burke sat out for the match, resting injuries that caused problems during the Lewis match on Friday.
Players off the bench contributed for some of game two and all of game three. Senior Dave Hyte started the match and pitched in three kills with no errors, four blocks and one dig on the night. Steffin Rangel hit a solid .500 percentage, four kills on eight attempts. Sophomore walk-on Brian Rowley played in his first match of the season and stepped in at libero, adding four digs and two assists.
Rob Neilson and Carlos Moreno shared the setter position with 20 and 26 assists, respectively. Senior libero Shawn Olmstead subbed in as an outside hitter, recording his two kills to end game three and give BYU the win.
Leading George Mason with eight kills was Dustin Crosby and following with seven kills was Felix Campos, the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Player-of-the-Week for Mar. 22. Setter Dave Egan posted 25 assists and two digs for the match.
In game one, Victor Batista served up two aces to give the Cougars a 6-3 lead, but George Mason followed closely behind with a kill by Matt Steinfurth to make it 8-6. The Patriots tied the score at 10 and again at 12 after a few BYU serving and hitting errors. But Evans helped to length the Cougar lead with two of his seven kills. A block by Campos tied the score again at 25 and a kill by Crosby tied the game at 26, but those were the last points for George Mason. Senior Fernando Pessoa had a kill and a service ace, while Alleman pitched in two kills to give the Cougars a 30-26 win in game one.
The second game showed BYU's determination, as Alleman put down consecutive kills in a 6-0 run to give the team a 12-6 team. After two kills by Crosby, Pessoa and Alleman added kills to cap off a 13-3 run for a 19-9 lead in game two. A block and kill by Moreno gave BYU a 10-point lead and the domination continued with kill by Evans to finish off game two at 30-15.
In game three, Peterson rotated his second team in for most of the game, as Rangel and Evans provided points for the Cougar lead at 6-4. BYU went on a 4-0 run, sparked by Alleman again to give the team a 14-9. Crosby and Campos chipped away at the lead, but BYU held on with consecutive kills by Evans. Shawn Olmstead rotated in at outside hitter at the end, recording two of the Cougars' three kills for a 30-23 victory.
