From Deseret News archives:
BYU volleyball: Cougars fall from MPSF lead after 2 losses
Long Beach State, rated third nationally, earned its second consecutive victory over the fourth-ranked Cougars on Friday night with a 30-25, 30-26, 28-30, 30-24 win in front of 1,507 at the Walter Pyramid.
That loss, combined with Thursday night's three-game sweep, dropped BYU (17-4, 12-4) into third place. The 49ers (19-3, 14-2) took over the MPSF lead, with top-ranked Cal State Northridge holding second place by one game.
The Cougars' Ivan Perez pounded a match-high 26 kills and added 10 digs and four block assists. Andrew Stewart contributed 12 kiills, Trent Sorensen had eight block assists and Reed Chilton passed for 28 assists.
Yet for the first time this season, an opponent compiled an attack percentage of greater than .300 against BYU.
Long Beach State hit .338, with Paul Lotman amassing 24 kills and Dean Bittner adding 22. Dan Alexander, who leads the country in hitting percentage and blocks, had 10 kills and seven block assists. Mike Klipsch, the NCAA leader in assists per game (14.15), finished with 62.
The 49ers also converted nine services aces to go along with their eight from Thursday night's match. Yet Long Beach committed 26 service errors Friday night.
BYU took early leads in each of the first two games before the 49ers rallied. In the first game, the Cougars led 4-1 before Long Beach used a 16-7 surge to move ahead, 17-11. Bittner had three kills, a block assist and an ace in the spree.
In the second game, blocks from Sorensen and Stewart gave BYU a 2-0 advantage. But both teams tied the score 13 times and exchanged the lead five times.
Then with the score tied at 20, the 49ers used a 4-0 burst to take a 24-20 lead. Alexander smashed two kills, Josh Riley added a cross-court spike and Lotman scored an ace.
Perez accumulated 10 of his kills in the fourth game, as BYU overcame a 16-12 deficit to force a 16-16 tie.
But with both teams tied at 19, Long Beach's Dustin Watten dived to make a backhanded dig with his right hand to extend a rally that ended with Lotman's cross-court kill — the first of three consecutive points that the 49ers scored.
The Cougars narrowed their deficit to 26-24 but Bittner and Riley smashed kills, Perez pounded a spike wide and a double block from Klipsch and Fletcher Anderson against Perez ended the match.
