By Stephen Vincent
The BYU men''s volleyball team shut down Penn State''s offense on Friday night March 7 and won. But on Saturday March 8, BYU didn''t stop Penn State''s offense, and the Nittany Lions escaped Provo with a split.
The highlight for BYU in Saturday''s match was junior middle blocker David Hyte, who was substituting for the injured Chris Gorny. Hyte had 12 kills in 16 attempts for a .750 hitting percentage, which tied him for the second-highest single-match hitting percentage in BYU history.
Joaquin Acosta holds the record with a .765 percentage (14 kills, one error in 17 attempts) he recorded against Concordia on March 8, 2002. A day later, Luka Slabe hit .750 (18 kills, no errors in 24 attempts) against Lewis.
Cougar fans will likely get used to seeing Hyte on the court. Chris Gorny, who regularly occupies the middle blocker spot, broke his hand in Friday''s match. Team officials said Gorny will be out two to four weeks.
Gorny had been struggling with a herniated disk in his back the past few weeks, which caused him to miss matches against Concordia and the second match against USC. Hyte started both of those matches.
Gorny collapsed to the ground, holding his hand, midway through Friday''s second game following a Jaime Mayol kill. He got up and served before again collapsing to the ground and holding his hand.
Gorny was substituted but moments later he returned and played the rest of the match. He did not dress out during Saturday''s match.
On Friday, it was Michael Burke who starred in BYU''s 27-30, 30-27, 30-20, 30-23 win. Despite not having a particularly brilliant hitting night, Burke assisted on nine blocks to lead a Cougar blocking game that disrupted Penn State''s rhythm.
'He (Burke) is getting better and better at that particular skill,' BYU coach Tom Peterson said.
The Cougars had 19 blocks on the night and held Penn State to a .189 hitting percentage. BYU was especially effective in taking out Nittany Lion star Carlos Guerra.
Guerra had 15 kills, but also committed 12 errors and hit just .071.
Perhaps the critical point in the match was game 2. Tied at 26, BYU went on a 4-1 run to win the game and take momentum. The Cougars turned that momentum into big victories in games 3 and 4.
The rally was keyed by two Mayol kills and a block by Gorny.
'The crowd got us into the match during game 2,' Peterson said. 'Thank you very much for winning the game, crowd.'
In game 3, BYU went on a 15-5 run that effectively killed any hopes of Penn State winning the game, or the match for that matter, as the rally put BYU in control.
During the run, BYU had four blocks, all but one of which involved Burke. The series of blocks seemed to rattle Penn State, which committed six more errors during the stretch.
'We started blocking well,' Peterson said. 'We got on a roll with blocking.'
On Friday, Peterson said he was worried that his team struggles when it plays the second night.
While BYU did hit better on Saturday night, its defense was not as crisp, as blocks and digs were down.
As a result, Penn State hit .378. Especially damaging was the .636 Penn State hit in the decisive fifth game.
The Cougars also were the victims of two controversial calls in the fifth game. Twice, the linesman ruled the ball out of bounds only to have the referee overrule.
'To be fair, he did have a good view,' Peterson said. 'It doesn''t even bother me at all. That''s not why we lost the match.'
Instead, Peterson said it was the Cougars'' errors that cost them the match. BYU had 58 errors in the match.
Norman Keil led Penn State with a .737 hitting percentage and 15 kills in 19 attempts. Guerra played better on Saturday, hitting .368 while recording 18 kills.
Jonathan Alleman led BYU with 18 kills.
BYU returns to MPSF play this weekend when it hosts No. 4 UC-Irvine on Friday March 14 and Saturday March 15.