March 3, 2006
Provo, Utah - Stanford was not able to keep up with the top-ranked team in the country, as No. 1 BYU hit .537 to earn a sweep (30-16, 30-23, 30-23) of the Cardinal tonight at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars improved to 13-2 overall and 11-2 in the MPSF while the Cardinal fell to 4-15 overall and 2-11 in league play.
Ben Reddy led all players 13 kills while Nick Manov added seven for Stanford. The Cardinal hit .165 (28-15-79) and had 12 digs and 2.0 blocks.
Yosleyder Cala had 12 kills in two games and hit .857 to lead BYU. Ivan Perez and Russell Holmes added 10 kills each and Victor Batista hit a match-high .889 (8-0-9). As a team, BYU hit .537 (55-11-82) and had 28 digs and 5.0 blocks.
Stanford jumped out to a 2-0 lead but BYU quickly tied the score and took the lead for good at 6-5. The Cardinal hung close but when trailing 10-9, the Cougars went on a 10-2 run to take an insurmountable lead at 20-11. BYU went on to win the game 30-16 and were led by Cala's six kills on seven attempts and Perez and Evans added four kills each.
Stanford again jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game two but the Cougars quickly got back in control, tying the score at two and then taking the lead for good at 11-10 on a kill by Jonathan Charette. BYU increased its lead little by little on its way to a 30-23 win.
Game three was more of the same as BYU got out to a 10-4 lead and went on to win 30-23.
The Cougars and Cardinal will be back in action Saturday at 7 p.m. MST in the Fieldhouse. The match will be broadcast live on BYUTV and CougarTV.