The Daily Universe celebrates 50 years

By Kat Andrus

Top-ranked BYU clinched its first NCAA volleyball title Saturday by thrashing No. 2 Long Beach State, avenging the Cougar's only loss this season.

BYU became only the third team in NCAA history to win the championship in its first final four appearance (UCLA ? 1970, USC ? 1977). Despite four previous appearances in the finals and a 1991 national championship, the seasoned 49ers (22-4) fell to the Cougars (30-1) in threes games (15-9, 15-7, 15-10).

The Cougars quickly took games one and two, 15-9 and 15-7, and BYU head coach Carl McGown credited the team's defense to as a big key to the wins. 'We just decided, 'well, we're gonna show them some defense' and we did from the opening serve,' he said.

The team racked up 17 blocks against the 49ers in game one against The Beach and to a .000 hitting percentage in game two.

No one player stood out over the others, McGown said.

'We thought for a long time that we had a good team,' he said, 'I think tonight we had six players on the court that played very well and there was no one star.'

Senior Ryan Miller said the difference in this team from past years was that they played as a team, not individuals. Millar also gave credit to the fan support for BYU's explosive play at the match.

'Our crowd has been our seventh teammate all year long,' he said. Long Beach State head coach Ray Ratelle said BYU's fans helped the Cougars feel sky high coming into their first-ever finals.

'There were 7,500 BYU fans going crazy,' he said. Things never went right for the 49ers.

The Beach did find its groove in the third game, racking up a seven-to-nothing lead over the Cougars. But the run didn't last long.

Brigham Young came back with three points on blocks and kills by Millar and a kill by senior Steve Hinds. Rally volleyball was the story for 10 sideout plays until another kill by hind broke the scoring silence. A big kill by senior Ossie Antonetti was followed by a Millar service ace and a roof block by Millar and junior Rich Lambourne shutting down 49er all-American outside hitter Dave McKienzie and locking the teams at 7-7.

The Beach then answered with three straight points on two kills and a service ace.

McGown called a timeout hoping to slow the 49ers' momentum. He told his players that he had used the team's last timeout, so they had better step it up and start playing better.

And that's exactly what they did. Lambourne answered with a kill to take the Cougars to eight. Sophomore Mac Wilson aced the 49ers and a Millar-Lambourne block brought the score to 10-10.