[ COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL ]
BYU's Carlos Moreno embraced teammate Jonathan Alleman after winning the national championship last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
BYU rallies
past 49ersLong Beach State can’t put
the Cougars away, as BYU claims
the NCAA title in five games
Mind of ice.
Heart of fire.
Arms of iron.
It's engraved on the left side of Carlos Moreno's torso in the form of three tattoos written in kanji. The Japanese characters embody Moreno's beliefs in life, especially in volleyball.
The sport is in his blood, in his soul. He is, after all, the son of a four-time Olympian and Brazilian team captain.
All-Tournament Team
Most Outstanding Player: Carlos Moreno, BYU» Tyler Hildebrand, LBSU
» Moreno, BYU
» Scott Touzinsky, LBSU
» Fernando Pessoa, BYU
» Duncan Budinger, LBSU
» Keith Kowal, Penn St.
» Jeff Soler, Lewis
Yesterday, Moreno was unfazed by what most would consider a desperate situation. His team was down 13-11 in Game 5 of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship final at the Stan Sheriff Center.
All Long Beach State had to do to win was play sideout volleyball. All the 49ers needed were two more points and their first title since 1991 was theirs to take back home.
BYU's junior setter simply wouldn't let it happen. The eventual MVP of the tournament was clutch at the end, leading the Cougars to a 15-30, 30-18, 20-30, 32-30, 19-17 victory and their third trophy in six years after 2 hours and 19 minutes.
A crowd of 3,108 saw top-ranked BYU (29-4) defeat Long Beach State (28-7) for the fourth consecutive time this season. Twice before the matches had gone five.
"Even though we were behind, I was 100 percent sure we were going to win," Moreno said. "We didn't fold. We didn't doubt ourselves."
The saying that "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" proved true for BYU. The Cougars lost to Lewis in last year's national final and "we sacrificed too much to let it slip away again," said BYU senior hitter Fernando Pessoa, who joined Moreno on the all-tournament team.
"I'm still floating," added Pessoa, who had 13 kills and was in on three of his team's 14.5 blocks. "I don't know how we did it. No, I do, because we have done it enough times this season.
"Long Beach played a great match and we were making some very bad plays (in Game 5). What we kept telling ourselves, 'Just make a play. Make it happen.' "
And, in the end, the Cougars did. They were down by as many as four late (11-7) but scrambled to tie it at 13.
The Beach had match point three times, the last at 16-15. BYU continued to scrap, taking the lead at 17-16 and again at 18-17.
It ended anticlimactically when Scott Touzinsky's line shot hit the antenna. Touzinsky finished with a match-high 17 kills and tied the NCAA tournament final record for most aces in a match with five.
"I saw an opening down the line and I just missed it," said Touzinsky, who also hit the antenna on consecutive swings in Game 4. "If I had to do it over again, I think I would have done the same thing."
Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe had no criticism of the final play.
"Scott put us on his back and carried us," said Knipe, trying to become the third to win the title as a player and a coach. "I have no problems with that swing. It was a great set and a great swing. He just barely nicked it (the antenna).
"It just didn't go our way. We created an opportunity to win the national championship and it didn't go our way. This is the ultimate disappointment. You can't get any closer than it was tonight. It hurts. It should hurt. But you can't say it wasn't the greatest championship match ever played and we were a part of it."
The 49ers led in nearly every statistical category: aces (10-1), kills (72-60) and hitting percentage (.312-.252). The Cougars led in blocks (14.5-10.5).
"Looking at the stats, I don't know how we won," said BYU coach Tom Peterson, the first to win titles at two different schools (Penn State in 1994). "It was probably our lowest hitting percentage of the year. But the bottom line is what doesn't show up in the statistics.
"We have the heart to come back, to score when we needed to. We are a family. It's what I wrote in the locker room today: 'Family. Team. Heart.' These guys are the magic."
Senior hitter Joe Hillman led the Cougars with 14 kills, including two consecutive kills that tied Game 5 at 13. He also teamed with Michael Burke to stuff Jeff Wootton on Long Beach State's first match-point swing.
"I don't think we're a team that's comfortable when we're ahead of the other team," said Hillman. "We have to fight."
The Cougars also fought at the end of Game 4 to force a fifth game. The 49ers tied it at 28, 29 and 30 before a dump by Moreno and a block by Jonathan Alleman on Touzinsky gave BYU the win.
"Toward the end (of Game 4), I told Carlos to lead the team," said Hillman. "He started to right from there and from then on I started to feel this special feeling inside."
"We put all sorts of pressure on them with our serves," said Knipe. "Carlos makes medium passes better. He is everything to them. Without him, they would not be the team that they are. I have watched him mature the past couple of years."
Last night, Knipe watched Moreno cap an impressive week. On Wednesday, Moreno was named National Player of the Year; yesterday, he had the MVP hardware to pack as well.
Also named to the all-tournament team were Long Beach State's Touzinsky, sophomore setter Tyler Hildebrand and sophomore blocker Duncan Budinger; Keith Kowal from Penn State and Jeff Soler of Lewis.
Wootton finished with 16 kills, Budinger 15 and David Lee 13. Alleman had 13 kills for BYU.
"It's disappointing," said Mike Cleugh, the 49ers' defensive specialist on the 1991 title team. "At the end, they needed to make one more play. They were one play away."
And two points short.
Notes: The 15 points scored by BYU in Game 1 were the fewest by the Cougars in any game this season. The 18 points by Long Beach State in Game 2 were also the fewest the 49ers had scored in a game this season. ... Touzinsky had four of his five aces in Game 1. He now shares the tournament record with five others.
BYU def. Long Beach State
15-30, 30-18, 20-30, 32-30, 19-1749ers (28-7)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Wootton 5 16 5 28 .393 0 1 10 Coe 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hildebrand 5 3 1 4 .500 2 1 3 Barbosa 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Hagstrom 5 8 8 19 .000 0 2 6 Touzinsky 5 17 11 38 .158 0 4 8 Kijewski 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Budinger 5 15 1 23 .609 1 3 1 Munoz 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Lee 5 13 3 25 .400 0 4 3 Tarr 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 72 29 138 .312 3 15 35 Cougars (29-4)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Burke 5 7 3 17 .235 0 7 1 Moreno 5 3 2 7 .143 0 4 2 Gorny 5 1 2 8 -.125 0 1 0 Hillman 5 14 4 26 .385 1 2 4 Alleman 5 13 6 29 .241 2 2 6 Neilson 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Olmstead 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Pessoa 5 13 8 31 .161 2 1 9 Batista 5 9 2 13 .538 0 2 4 Evans 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 60 27 131 .252 5 19 33 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- LBSU (10): Touzinsky 5, Hagstrom 3, Coe, Kijewski. BYU (1): Alleman.
Assists -- LBSU (71): Hildebrand 65, Wootton 3, Munoz 2, Budinger. BYU (57): Moreno 51, Alleman 2, Hillman, Neilson, Olmstead, Pessoa.
T -- 2:19. Officials -- Alan Stankaitis, Ken Taylor. A -- 3,108.
