BYU, which has stirred emotions in UH football and basketball fans for more than two decades, surged to a 24-30, 23-30, 30-22, 30-27, 15-11 volleyball victory last night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 3,874 watched the top-ranked Cougars win their 16th in a row and improve to 17-3 overall and 15-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The undermanned Warriors fell to 13-7 and 10-6. They have lost five of their last seven matches.

"They played an awesome match," BYU outside hitter Jonathan Alleman said of the Warriors, who were without suspended opposite hitter Pedro Azenha, left-side hitter Delano Thomas, primary passer JosŽ JosŽ Delgado and backup middle blocker Dionisio Dante. The four, who broke an unspecified team rule during a recent road trip, might be reinstated as early as tomorrow following a meeting with UH coach Mike Wilton.

"Honestly," Alleman added, "I'm not sure the guys who were suspended would have played much differently. The guys they had out there have such amazing ball control, and they were hammering their serves. They were out-hitting us. They were doing everything they were suppose to do."

At least for the first two games. In Thursday's four-game loss to BYU, the Warriors committed 30 errors on attacks and 20 on serves. In last night's rematch, they made 24 attack errors, including a combined six in the first two games, and 11 service mistakes.

They also jump-started their offense by relying on three passers — outside hitters Arri Jeschke and Ryan Woodward and libero Alfred Reft. When opposite hitter Matt Bender rotated into the back row, he was positioned behind a passer, out of harm's way from a BYU serve.

The Warriors dominated the first two games, and in the locker room during the 10-minute intermission between Games 2 and 3, "our emotions were pretty high," Jeschke said. "We were screaming, freaking out, realizing we had a chance to beat those guys. They're veterans, and our coaches were telling us that. We weren't going to hold anything back."

In the BYU locker room, captain Alleman, who had 11 hours sleep the previous night, recalled thinking, "This is a wake-up call, a huge wake-up call."

The Cougars turned to their setter, Carlos Moreno, the son of the captain of four of Brazil's Olympic volleyball teams. "Volleyball is in my blood," said Moreno, who received a volleyball as his first gift.

The Cougars' offense is the quickest in the MPSF, and Moreno is given the freedom to set to all points, including the shoulders of the back row.

"He's one of those flashy setters," UH middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre said. "He's hard to read sometimes. He sets the ball really well. He has quick hands, and they have a quick offense, and you have to be focused and prepared all of the time."

Moreno set high to Fernando Pessoa on the left side and slightly in front to opposite hitter Joe Hillman, who prefers to hit with a full-body windup.

"I think that's why I hurt my back," Hillman said, laughing. "I try to watch other people and how they swing, and I came up with this. I don't know if it's good or not. My body's getting sore."

Hillman, who is left-handed, put the hurt on the Warriors, hammering a match-high 27 kills and hitting .512.

In the middle, BYU's Michael Burke and Victor Batista combined for 18 kills. Batista, who added seven block assists, drew jeers early because of his stall tactics. By the middle of the match, he was booed every time he prepared to serve. He responded by waving his arms to the hecklers.

"I love these people," he said. "I love these fans. It's so exciting to play here."

The Cougars, with Moreno at the controls, committed only five attack errors in 46 swings to easily win the third and fourth games.

After UH closed to 11-10 in the first-to-15 final game, Pessoa buried three consecutive kills to all but end the suspense. Moreno, fittingly, put away aloha ball with a no-look dump.

"Sometimes Carlos is a magician out there," Alleman said. "When times are crucial, Carlos always seems to make the perfect set or the perfect play."

Moreno finished with five kills, two blocks and an ace.

"I think beating them in the first two games sparked a little thing to come back and just whup on us," UH's Jeschke said. "They did the thing that they do: Play consistent volleyball. I guess we couldn't handle it. We felt the emotion coming back sometimes, but it wasn't like it was in the first two games."

Bender led the Warriors with 23 kills.