USC
BYU
BYU Beats USC In Hard-Fought Men's Volleyball Match
March 19, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
March 19, 2010
The No. 4 BYU men's volleyball team, behind Andrew Stewart's 27 kills, outlasted No. 7 USC, 33-31, 35-37, 33-31, 30-21, in a hard-fought Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (March 19) in Provo.
The Cougars improved to 13-7 overall, while the Trojans dropped to 10-8. The teams entered the match tied in the MPSF standings, with BYU emerging with a 9-6 league mark to USC's 8-7. It was USC's 12th straight loss to the Cougars in Provo.
Stewart hit .458 overall and added 9 digs and 6 blocks, Kent Tuttle had 20 kills (hitting .317) and 9 digs, Russell Lavaja had 10 kills while hitting .316 with 7 blocks and 4 aces, Otavio Souza had 7 blocks, Joel Silva had 19 digs and Reed Chilton had 10 digs.
For USC, Murphy Troy had 17 kills and 12 digs, Tony Ciarelli added 16 kills and 9 digs, Maddison McKibbin had 14 kills and 5 blocks, Austin Zahn had 9 kills and 6 blocks and Tri Bourne had 11 digs.
BYU outhit (.276 to .173) and outblocked (16 to 11) the Trojans and the Cougars served 6 aces.
USC led 27-24 in the first set before BYU scored 3 in a row to tie it and then the Cougars ended the set on a Trojan serving error and hitting error. BYU held a 29-25 lead in the second set before USC caught up on a kill and ace by Maddison McKibbin followed by a Cougar hitting error and a Trojan block, and then USC closed the set out with a Troy kill and a BYU hitting error. USC turned a 22-17 deficit in the third set into a 25-24 edge, but consecutive Trojan hitting errors at 31-31 gave the set to BYU. USC fell behind quickly in the fourth set at 7-4 and then 12-6 and it could never catch up as the Cougars hit .393.
The teams play again on Saturday (March 20) in Provo.
