FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Jose Delgado hit against the defense of Brigham Young's Russell Holmes, left, and Rob Neilson.

Cougars crash
the party

Brigham Young wins its
seventh straight match at
the Stan Sheriff Center,
beating UH in four

For a "visiting" team, Brigham Young has certainly made itself at home in the Stan Sheriff Center. Within the last 10 months, the Cougars have won six straight in Honolulu, including two victories that gave them the NCAA championship played here last May.

Make that seven.

BYU turned its first appearance in the Outrigger Hotels Volleyball Invitational into a very successful trip, defeating host Hawaii 30-28, 25-30, 30-28, 30-19 last night. Thanks to 21 kills by Victor Batista and 19 from Casey Patterson, the Cougars (3-0) handed the Warriors (2-1) their first loss of the season in front of 3,612 (4,682 turnstile) in the 11th annual event.

Tournament MVP Michael Burke added 12 kills and was in on six of BYU's 14 blocks as the Cougars won their 10th in a row dating back to last year. And they did it in 2 hours and 10 minutes with a revamped lineup that included two returnees and a new setter.

"It's a new lineup, so you never know how things are going to be," Burke said. "It's a younger team and a lot of our guys have never played before. Our confidence finally came and we finally were getting things together.

"Hawaii's a really good team and once they get (senior middle) Delano Thomas back, I think they'll be one of the teams to beat."

Thomas, an academic casualty last fall, could become eligible as early as next week, depending on paperwork to complete some credits.

Without him, Hawaii's middles played well, with Mauli'a La Barre and Dio Dante putting down 10 kills each and five blocks apiece. The Warriors were led by senior hitter Pedro Azenha's match-high 22 kills and Matt Bender's 15.

The match turned in Game 3. After a convincing win in Game 2, Hawaii headed into the locker room with the momentum only to have BYU come back out with it.

The Cougars won the emotional seesaw game, breaking a 25-25 tie on a UH service error and a kill off an overpass by Burke for a 27-25 lead. Two kills by Bender helped the Warriors pull to 29-28, but Burke put down his 10th kill on the Cougars' second swing to end it.

Game 4 wasn't even close, with Hawaii hitting just .122 to BYU's .455.

"It was a good match until Game 4 and then the wheels came off in four different directions," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "But I credit my guys, they never gave up and gave it everything they had. We just had a little meltdown at the end."

"Over the next few weeks, we need to work on the small things," La Barre said. "Our defense is there. When we serve and pass well, we play well. We need to work on that ... and on staying out of the net. We gave up four to five points and those can come back to hurt you."

Several net violations cost Hawaii in the pivotal Game 3. Most came when trying to stop Patterson's line shots on the right side.

Patterson nearly became a Warrior when he asked Wilton about playing for Hawaii during the summer of 2003. But Patterson wanted to be a setter and "I told him we had plenty of setters," Wilton said. "He never said anything about being an outside hitter. If I had known then what I know now, I would have taken him in a heartbeat."

Penn State 3, Lewis 2: In the third-place match, Nate Meerstein tied his career-high with 19 kills and was in on eight blocks to lead Penn State past Lewis 34-36, 26-30, 33-31, 30-17, 15-12. Keith Kowal added a double-double (16 kills, 10 blocks) for the Nittany Lions (1-2) against the Flyers (0-3).

The Nittany Lions avoided a fourth 0-3 outing in the tournament by rallying past the Flyers in 2 hours, 24 minutes.

It was the third consecutive five-game match for Penn State this week and the victory may have been sparked by a rare yellow card -- which now counts for a point -- issued to PSU coach Mark Pavlik in Game 3.

"Of course, I'm thinking (at 29-28) that if I don't get the yellow card, we win 30-27," said Pavlik, of the penalty that put Lewis ahead 27-25. "But we were at a point in the game when I think our guys also said, 'Let's go.' "

All-Tournament Team: Burke (MVP), Patterson and Batista, BYU; Azenha and La Barre, Hawaii; Meerstein, Penn State; Soler, Lewis.

BYU def. Hawaii

30-28, 25-30, 30-28, 30-19

Cougars (3-0)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Burke	4	12	1	24	.458	0	6	7
Perez	4	9	4	24	.208	1	3	6
Patterson	4	19	3	35	.457	0	3	10
Holmes	4	5	3	12	.167	1	4	0
Neilson	4	6	2	9	.444	0	4	9
Batista	4	21	9	37	.324	1	3	6
Stewart	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Congelliere	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Rowley	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	9
Evans	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	72	22	141	.355	3	23	47
Warriors (2-1)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Delgado	3	1	5	10	-.400	0	0	2
Beckwith	4	2	1	6	.167	1	0	9
Azenha	4	22	7	57	.263	0	5	3
Bender	4	15	5	36	.278	0	3	5
La Barre	4	10	2	22	.364	1	4	2
Dante	4	10	1	12	.750	0	5	2
Kalima	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Hakala	4	6	2	14	.286	0	2	4
Reft	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	12
Totals	4	66	23	157	.274	2	19	40

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- BYU (3): Perez 2, Patterson. Hawaii (3): Bender 2, Delgado. Assists -- BYU (67): Neilson 58, Patterson 5, Burke 2, Batista, Rowley. Hawaii (62): Beckwith 55, Reft 2, Hakala, La Barre, Bender, Azenha, Delgado.
T -- 2:10. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Ernest Ho. A --3,612.