BYU COUGAR VOLLEYBALL BYU vs. Long Beach State - April 6 & 7 3 National Titles • 4 NCAA Final Four Appearances • 1 National Player of the Year • 3 MPSF Championships • 35 AVCA All-America Citations 51 All-MPSF Citations • Five-consecutive 20-win seasons • 218-58 (.790) since 1997, best in the NCAA Athletic Communications • 30 Smith Fieldhouse • Provo, Utah • 84602 • 801-422-8948 • fax 801-422-0633 MATCH NOTES 2006 BYU SCHEDULE NO. 2 BYU COUGARS (18-4, 14-4 MPSF) at NO. 7 LONG BEACH STATE (17-9, 10-8 MPSF) all times local to site Thursday and Friday, April 6 and 7, 2006 • 7:30 p.m. PST JANUARY The Walter Pyramid (5,000) • Long Beach, California 6 - Fri. Cal Baptist . W, 3-1 7 - Sat. Cal Baptist . W, 3-0 Coaches: BYU, Tom Peterson (at BYU: 90-25 in fourth year, career: 342-155) Long Beach State, Alan Knipe (at LBSU: 115-63 in sixth year, career: same) 13 - Fri. *No. 5 CS Northridge. W, 3-1 Series: Tied, 13-13, including last season’s split in Provo/ 14 - Sat. *No. 5 CS Northridge. W, 3-1 TV: None 20 - Fri. *No. 8 UC Santa Barbara . .W, 3-1 Radio: Visit http://www.longbeachstate.com/gen/thisweek.html to access live broadcasts for both matches 21 - Sat. *No. 8 UC Santa Barbara . .W, 3-0 26 - Thu. *at UCLA. .W, 3-1 BYU HITS THE ROAD FOR STRETCH RUN 28 - Sat. *at UCLA. L, 2-3 Riding a four-match win streak and in the hunt for a high seed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation postseason tournament, the Cougars will play two matches on the road against league rival FEBRUARY Long Beach State, April 6 and 7. 3 - Fri. *Pepperdine. .W, 3-1 4 - Sat. *Pepperdine. L, 0-3 “These matches are very important to our seed in the tournament,” BYU coach Tom Peterson said. “We 10 - Fri. *USC. .W, 3-1 need to win if we hope to finish second in the MPSF.” 11 - Sat. *USC. .W, 3-2 16 - Thu. *at UC San Diego. .W, 3-0 The Cougars, 18-4 overall, are currently third in the MPSF at 14-4, one match behind Hawai`i and two 18 - Sat. *at UC San Diego. .W, 3-0 matches behind UC Irvine. BYU is likely out of the running for a first-place finish but has a shot at catching Hawai`i. Long Beach is currently sixth in the league at 10-8 and has a chance to move as high as third by winning its four-remaining matches and getting help from other teams. MARCH 3 - Fri. *Stanford. .W, 3-0 Not only are the matches important for the teams’ standing in the MPSF, but also regarding the series 4 - Sat. *Stanford. .W, 3-0 between the teams. Each team has won 13 matches, including a split in Provo last season. The 49ers 10 - Fri. *at UC Irvine. L, 2-3 dominated the series before the Cougars won seven-consecutive, including two regular season match- 11 - Sat. *at UC Irvine. L, 2-3 es and the MPSF tournament championship and the NCAA National Championship matches in 2004. 17 - Fri. at Long Beach Tournament (Ohio State). .W, 3-1 18 - Sat. at Long Beach Tournament (Rutgers-Newark). .W, 3-0 “Long Beach has three of the best and most noted players in the country in Duncan Budinger, Tyler 31 - Fri. *Pacific. .W, 3-0 Hildebrand and Robert Tarr,” Peterson said. “Hildebrand and Tarr have great national team potential. They have a lot of talent and can be great but they are streaky so you never know what to expect from APRIL them. We cannot allow them to get on a roll.” 1 - Sat. *Pacific. .W, 3-1 Tarr leads the 49ers in kills per game at 4.99 to go with 1.72 digs and 0.79 blocks per game. Budinger 6 - Thu. *at Long Beach State. 7:30 p.m. is second in kills, averaging 3.91, while Hildebrand is second in the nation in assists, averaging 13.71. 7 - Fri. *at Long Beach State. 7:30 p.m. Long Beach has lost its last three matches but won six of seven prior to its most recent streak. 14 - Fri. *at Hawai`i . 7 p.m. 15 - Sat. *at Hawai`i . 7 p.m. BYU is coming off two wins over Pacific and has won four in a row. The Cougars received strong per- 22 - Sat. MPSF Tournament - First Round. TBA formances from middle blockers Russell Holmes and Victor Batista, who combined to hit .590 (54-8-78) 27 - Thu. MPSF Tournament - Semifinals. TBA and average 7.71 kills and 3.29 blocks per game. Yosleyder Cala was also a force, averaging 4.00 kills 29 - Sat. MPSF Tournament - Finals. TBA and 1.29 blocks and hitt.ng .385. BYU played both matches without All-American outside hitter Ivan Perez, who was recovering from a hamstring injury. He is expected to play this weekend. * Denotes Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Both matches will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid. Following the Cougars’ matches with Long Beach, BYU will head to Hawai`i for two matches with the Warriors, April 14 and 15. PROBABLE STARTERS - BYU Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown / Prev. School K/G Blk/G Dig/G Note OH 8 Ivan Perez 6-4 210 So. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico / Colegio San Benito 3.97 0.81 1.59 Recorded 18 kills, 10 digs and five blocks against Ohio State (3/17/06) OH 1 Yosleyder Cala 6-8 200 Fr. Ciego Avila, Cuba / Marcelo Salado 4.13 0.63 1.28 Averaged 4.00 kills, 1.29 blocks and hit .385 in two matches against Pacific OPP 3 Jonathan Charette 6-2 185 Jr. Fullerton, Calif. / Long Beach City College 2.49 0.81 0.97 Had 12 kills, four digs and hit .417 against Pacific (4/1/06) S 14 Rob Neilson 6-3 180 Sr. Pacific Palisades, Calif. / Pacific Palisades 0.55 0.70 13.64 (ast) Averaged 16.71 assists and set BYU to .385 hitting percentage against Pacific MB 15 Victor Batista 6-6 170 Sr. Tamayo Dom. Rep. / Maria Antonio Gomez 2.44 1.26 0.55 Hit .564 and averaged 1.57 blocks and 3.86 kills against Pacific MB 11 Russell Holmes 6-8 185 So. Fountain Valley, Calif. / Fountain Valley HS 2.39 1.46 0.47 Hit .615 and averaged 1.71 blocks and 3.86 kills against Pacific LIB 7 Brian Rowley 6-0 175 Sr. San Diego Calif. / Mt. Carmel HS 0.03 0.00 1.97 Tied BYU rally scoring record with 16 digs against USC (2/11/06) BENCH PLAYERS - BYU Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown / Prev. School K/G Blk/G Dig/G Note OH 17 Taylor Evans 6-2 175 Sr. Alamo, Calif. / Monte Vista HS 2.29 0.39 1.29 Had 16 digs in seven games at the Long Beach Tournament S 5 Brian Congelliere 6-2 190 So. Newbury Park, Calif. / St. Louis School 0.25 0.56 7.94 (ast) Had 32 assists and two blocks in two games against UCSD (2/16/06) OH 18 Rodrigo Gomes 6-2 200 Fr. Rio de Janiero, Brazil / Impacto 0.87 0.08 0.58 Had a career-high 13 kills in win over Ohio State (3/17/06) MB 19 Trent Sorensen 6-7 225 So. Palmdale, Calif. / Highland HS 0.23 0.19 0.17 Had five kills, two blocks and hit .500 in win over Stanford (3/4/06) OPP 10 Scott Cox 6-3 195 Jr. Blackfoot, Idaho / UVSC 0.21 0.00 0.00 Recorded first kill of career, the match winner, in win over UCSB (1/21/06) www.byucougars.com 2006 BYU Men’s Volleyball page 2 • BYU Notes 2006 BYU QUICK FACTS LAST MATCHES - BYU vs. Pacific The Cougars improved to 18-4 overall and 14-4 in the MPSF after defeating Pacific twice on March 31 UNIVERSITY INFO: and April 1. BYU took the first match in three games (30-28, 30-25, 30-23) behind the dominant play of Location: . Provo, Utah 84602 its middle blockers, Russell Holmes (12 kills, five blocks, .526 hitting percentage) and Victor Batista (15 Elevation: . 4,553 kills, three blocks, .545 hitting percentage). Yosleyder Cala also had a solid match, recording 13 kills, Enrollment:. 32,122 (Daytime) five digs and four blocks while hitting .417. The Tigers played the Cougars close in game one but BYU Founded:. Oct. 15, 1875 was in control throughout games two and three. The next night, senior night, the Cougars won in four Owner: . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints games (30-26, 28-30, 30-23, 30-27). Holmes had 15 kills and seven blocks and hit .700 while Jonathan Charette and Cala also had 15 kills each. Victor Batista was also in double-digits with 12 kills to go Colors:. Blue and White with eight blocks. Nickname:. Cougars Mascot:. Cosmo (the Cougar) THE POLLS Affiliation:. NCAA Division I Conference: ��������������������� Mountain Pacific Sports Federation BYU maintained its No. 2 ranking in the CSTV/AVCA Division I-II Men’s Coaches Top 15 Poll for the fourth-consecutive week after two wins over Pacific, March 31 and April 1. The Cougars have held the Arena: . Smith Fieldhouse (5,000) second spot in the AVCA poll a total of seven weeks. BYU held the top spot for four-straight weeks, President:.