April 14, 2007

Box Score

STOCKTON, Calif. - The No. 14 Pacific men's volleyball teamn concluded its 2007 season with a 30-22, 24-30, 30-18, 31-29 loss to No. 2 BYU on Saturday, Apr. 14, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

With the loss, Pacific finished the season 14-17 overall and 8-14 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. BYU improved to 22-5 overall (18-4 MPSF).

The Cougars stormed out of the gate in game one, taking the lead at 10-6 before the Tigers fought back. Pacific took a 14-13 lead on a BYU attack error, but the Cougars stormed back to score three straight points to take the lead 16-14. Pacific would tie the game again at 18-18 on a service ace by senior Dan Hammer (Glendale, Wisc.), but BYU would score nine of the next 11 points from there, taking a 27-20 lead before cruising to a 30-22 game one victory. For the game the Cougars hit .545 with 16 kills, while the Tigers hit .130 with just eight kills.

Pacific came out fired up for game two, as the Tigers got three straight kills from sophomore Maor Nutkevitch (Ra'anana, Israel) to take a 3-0 lead. Pacific would extend the lead to 5-0 following a BYU attack and a service ace by senior Mitchel Hazelett (Roanoke, Ind.) before BYU would finally score. The Tigers continued the to keep the pressure on, leading 12-6, when senior Todd Hollenbeck (Rancho Palos Verde, Calif.) connected on back-to-back kills to give the Tigers an eight point advantage at 14-6. The Tigers went on to take the game 30-24 as Pacific hit .378, connecting on 19 kills, while the Cougars hit .233 with 11 kills.

BYU came back firing on all cylinders in game three, hitting .700 for the game (16-2-20), while holding the Tigers to just eight kills and an .043 hitting percentage.

Extra volleyball was needed to decide game number four, but it didn't look like it would be needed early as Pacific pulled out front 10-5 on the strong play of juniors Pekka Seppanen (Kuopio, Finland) and Simon Chen-Byerley (Northfield, Ill.) who both totalled two early kills. BYU fought back, tieing the score at 20-20, 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23 before finally taking the lead on a kill by Robby Stowell at 24-23. Pacific then scored three straight points on a kill by Nutkevitch which was sandwiched between a BYU service error and attack error to give the Tigers a 26-24 advantage.

Again, the Cougars came back, scoring three of the next four points to tie the game at 27-27 and then at 28-28. The Tigers won the next point on a kill by Seppanen to give themselves game point at 29-28. But the Cougars went on to score the next three points to ruin Pacific's chances at forcing a game five, and scored them on three Pacific miscues. The final one, a blocked attack by Rodnei Santos and Yamil Perez, game the Cougars the game four victory at 31-29, and a 3-1 match win.

Pacific was led by Seppanen with 16 kills and 11 digs, while Nutkevitch added 14. Hammer had a strong senior night, posting a hitting percentage of .750 (9-0-12), while adding a match-high five block assists. Hazelett posted a season-high 51 assists, while Hollenbeck tallied a season high four kills.

The Cougars had four players reach double figure kills, with Yosleyder Cala and Stowell leading the way with 15 apiece. Ivan Perez tallied 13 kills, while Russell Holmes hit .769 (11-1-13). BYU will place host to the winner of the MPSF play-in game (USC/CSUN) next Saturday in opening round MPSF Tournament action.