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Press ReleasePROVO -- The No. 6 BYU men's volleyball team snapped No. 1 UC Irvine's seven-match winning streak in a four-set (30-24, 20-30, 30-18, 30-28) upset victory at home Thursday night. With the win the Cougars improve to 15-9 on the season and 11-6 in MPSF play.
Junior Andrew Stewart led the team in kills, racking up 15 while Kent Tuttle posted a .350 hitting percentage on the night.
BYU opened the scoring with a kill by Stewart. UC Irvine quickly responded and the teams traded points for the first third of the set. The Cougars started pulling away with 4-1 run to bring the score to 19-14. BYU kept the lead the rest of the set, eventually finishing things off at 30-24.
The second set belonged to the Anteaters, who went on a 7-1 run to lead the Cougars 18-12. UC Irvine never looked back, maintaining its lead through the remainder of the set. Despite efforts to even the score, BYU was unable to come back and fell 20-30.
Tuttle seemed to be the spark for the Cougars in the third set. The junior left near the end of the first after suffering a head injury while diving for a ball. With Tuttle back in the match, and with 10 staples in his head, BYU went on an 8-0 run. The Anteaters lagged the rest of the set, never coming within less than nine points and were held to a .048 hitting percentage. Russell Lavaja sealed the set for the Cougars with a kill to make the final score 30-18.
The fourth and final set was back-and-forth until both teams were tied at ten-all. But after that point, BYU's lead started mounting and the Anteaters found themselves trailing by as much as six points. Victory was in reach for the Cougars, who had six match points before a UC Irvine service error gave them the win.
The volleyball team will be back in action Friday night against UC Irvine. The match begins at 7 p.m. at the Smith Fieldhouse.
(Courtesy BYU Athletic Department)
