LONG BEACH, Calif. (March 13, 2010) - The Saint Francis men's volleyball team took a marathon first set, but the BYU Cougars regained the momentum and rolled a three-set winning streak into a 3-1 (33-35, 30-27, 30-14, 30-23) victory against the Red Flash in the second match of the Active Ankle tournament hosted by Long Beach State.
The Red Flash fall to 8-9 overall, while the Cougars ascend to 12-7.
Despite a second straight night of strong play from Patrick McManamon (Huntingdon, PA/Huntingdon) (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon), the middles of the Cougars were able to control play against the Flash.
"Pat and Pete[Freyer (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park)] played extremely well tonight," said Red Flash head coach Mike Rumbaugh. "I really hope they don't get down on themselves, because they played very, very well, Pat especially."
The Cougars opened the first set on a powerful 8-3 run, and held that lead for most of the first set. But the Red Flash were able to respond, tying the score at 18-18 on a Tyler Mattera (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) kill. Mattera's play earned the respect both of the webcast announcers for the match as well as his coach.
"Tyler had a nice weekend for us," said Rumbaugh.
The Red Flash briefly built a 20-18 lead, gaining their advantage on a Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) service ace. The Cougars pulled back at 22-22 on a Kent Tuttle kill, but a 4-1 run puncuated by a Mattera kill made the score 26-23 and forced BYU to call a timeout.
Mat Taylor of BYU took control next, recording four of his team's seven kills as the Cougars raced to a 30-29 lead that forced Rumbaugh into calling his next timeout. The Red Flash tied the score on an attack error, and eventually took the 31-30 lead on a Rivett kill. After trading points, Mattera brought the score to 33-33, and a pair of attack errors on the part of the Cougars gave the Red Flash the 35-33 win.
The Red Flash opened the second set on a 3-0 run, highlighted by a Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) service ace and a Rivett kill. While the Cougars were able to pull close and even tie it at several occasions, the Red Flash held the lead late into the set. After a Mat Taylor kill tied the score at 26-26 and again at 27-27, a block from Andrew Stewart/Russell Lavaja sparked the run that ultimately gave BYU the set 30-27.
After a third set that BYU easily won 30-14 ("Dominant," said Rumbaugh. "They had 20 points before we reached 10."), the Red Flash mounted one more valiant effort to tie the match. As in the second set, the Red Flash led most of the fourth set. However, with the score tied at 22-22, the Cougars rattled off an 8-1 run that ultimately gave them the 30-23 win and the overall 3-1 victory.
Rivett led the Red Flash with a match-high 17 kills, extending his streak of double-digit kill matches to 15. Three other players - Varee, Freyer and Mattera - finished in double digits, notching 15, 11, and 11, respectively. Rivett also added a team-high eight digs, while Freyer had six blocks.
