No. 3 BYU Men's Volleyball Beats USC
March 02, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
March 2, 2007
Robby Stowell had 18 kills, 7 digs and 5 blocks to help the No. 3-ranked BYU men's volleyball team defeat No. 12 USC, 30-26, 30-24, 28-30, 30-21, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (March 2) in USC's Galen Center.
BYU posted its 11th consecutive win over USC to improve to 12-4 overall and 8-3 in the MPSF, while the Trojans dropped to 6-10 and 5-8.
Yosleyder Cala added 13 kills, 7 digs, 4 blocks and 3 aces for the Cougars, while Rodnei Santos had 11 kills (hitting .714) and 7 blocks and Ivan Perez had 10 kills.
For USC, Juan Figueroa had a match-high 21 kills and Luke Morris had a match-leading 11 digs.
BYU outhit the Trojans, .368 to .190, and had more blocks (12.0 to 6.0).
The first game stayed tight until BYU went up 24-21 on 3 straight points following a block, a USC hitting error and a kill by Santos. The Cougars opened up a 3-0 lead in the second game and were never threatened. At 8-8 in the third game, Trojan setter Jimmy Killian went out with an ankle sprain and his replacement, 5-11 Gio Altamura, sparked the Trojans the rest of the way; at 27-27, consecutive kills by Hunter Current and Andrew Vernon gave USC all the edge it needed. But BYU came out on fire in the final game, jumping to a 13-3 lead and cruising in to capture the match.
USC and BYU play again on Saturday (March 3) at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center.
