PROVO–With the No. 1 BYU men’s volleyball team standing one point away from victory, third-ranked Long Beach State went on a four-point run to take the match and hand the Cougars their first loss of the season, Friday in the Marriott Center.

Long Beach State’s 13-15, 9-15, 15-7, 15-9, 14-16 victory, powered by an NCAA record-breaking 58 kills by David McKienzie, ended BYU’s 20-match regular season unbeaten streak.  McKienzie took 106 of LBSU’s 227 swings.

“Long Beach is a great volleyball team,” said BYU head coach Carl McGown.  “They played back row defense exceptionally well.  They flat out beat us.”

Playing in only its second game-five contest of the season, BYU racked up a 14-12 lead to come within one point of closing out the match before committing one service error and three consecutive hitting errors to hand Long Beach the 16-14 win and the match.

BYU All-American Ossie Antonetti led the Cougar offense with 32 kills on the match.  All-American Ryan Millar, ranked second in the nation in blocks per game, put down 14 blocks to lead all players.

Long Beach kicked off the match by handing the Cougars two straight losses.  Game one saw the Cougars battle back from a 2-10 deficit led by a BYU game-high 12 kills from Antonetti.  The Cougars’ 8-2 run put them within striking distance, and they pulled within one point before Long Beach closed out the game 15-13.  In game two, LBSU’s McKienzie added 13 kills to his 18 from game one to overpower the Cougars and pick up the 15-9 win.

BYU reserve setter Chris Pitzak and outside hitter Casey Jennings entered the match in game three to quickly stir up the Cougar offense, and BYU went on to dominate the next two games.  

“Pitzak and Jennings came in and did a great job to get us back into the match,” McGown said.  “Their play helped change the momentum of the match and helped us find our rhythm.”

Antonetti continued to lead the BYU offensive attack in game three with seven kills while Millar backed him up with a game-high six blocks to give the Cougars a 15-7 win.  Millar and Antonetti teamed up again in game four, combining for 15 of the team’s 21 kills in the game.

BYU, now 18-1 on the season, 12-1 in the MPSF, will host UC Santa Cruz Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

  © Copyright 1999, CougarFan.com, all rights reserved 
  Maintainer: webmaster@CougarFan.com