Darnell Dickson

Daily Herald

Friday night, 5,537 delirious fans in the Smith Fieldhouse were introduced to the "Showtime Cougars."

The No. 2 BYU men's volleyball team was a box office hit, rolling past third-ranked UCLA 30-28, 30-22, 30-26 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener for both teams.

The standing-room only crowd watched BYU (3-0, 1-0) flash the kind of talent and style that will make it a national contender -- and a heck of a lot of fun to watch. The Cougars hit an other-worldly .643 and .636 in the final two games against the defending NCAA champions.

BYU sophomore Yosleyder Cala, who was suspended for two matches last week for a violation of team rules, made an Oscar-worthy debut with 15 kills (and no errors) in 19 attacks for a hitting percentage of .789.

"We prepared well and we wanted to win it in three," Cala said. "We practiced really hard this week and that's how we played. We didn't want our fans to be disappointed that it ended in three so we have to jump around and cheer a little."

This is an emotional team, and the celebration after hard-earned points was just fuel on the flame of a boisterous BYU crowd.

"It's exciting for our fans," BYU co-head coach Shawn Patchell said. "We played well tonight. We want to be perfect at home, that's one of our goals."

Game 1 was close throughout with neither team leading by more than two points. Trailing 25-23, BYU scored three straight points on a kill from Russell Holmes, an off-speed attack from Ivan Perez and a "chester" (a kill that bounces off the player's chest) that freshman Robby Stowell somehow directed back on the UCLA side of the court. That gave BYU a 26-25 lead. The Cougars had three chances to win the game and finally did so on a kill from freshman Rodnei Santos.

A 6-2 run by BYU early in Game 2 -- aided by two UCLA hitting errors -- got the Cougars out to a 10-6 lead. At 17-13, a sequence of a Holmes kill, a Perez kill, a combo block from Holmes and Perez and a kill from Cala made it 21-13, Cougars. Cala added a kill to get to game point and Holmes and setter Yamil Perez teamed up for a block and the game winner.

BYU took a 17-12 lead in Game 3, but UCLA rallied behind 6-foot-5, 245-pound freshman Garrett Muagutulia to tie the game at 19. But the Bruins couldn't take the lead and BYU went out in front, 28-24. On BYU's second match point, UCLA served long.

Left-handed outside hitter Paul George was effective for UCLA (2-2, 0-1) with 15 kills (.700) but BYU did a number on Steve Klosterman, last year's Final Four MVP. Klosterman had just four kills and hit -.083. UCLA hit a healthy .330 overall but couldn't compete with BYU's white-hot offensive attack.

"Our goal is to hit .350 and we hit .500," Patchell said. "I don't think we'll do that every night, but our hitting is in direct relation to how well we were passing. We had some great hustle plays and we kept the ball in the court."

Holmes (12) and Ivan Perez (11) joined Cala with double-figure kills. Stowell had a solid match with seven kills and eight digs and Santos, making his first start, had six kills and four block assists.

"I attribute tonight's performance to our 'B' team," Patchell said. "They beat up this team you saw tonight two or three times during the week. It was a good team effort."

BYU and UCLA will meet again tonight at 7 in the Fieldhouse.

Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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