PROVO — BYU volleyball coach Carl McGown is not an easy man to please.
What else would you expect from a coach who has guided his team to a national championship and has won 94 percent of his home matches since 1998? McGown has built the type of program that almost expects perfection.
Well, the No. 1 ranked Cougars fell far short of perfection this weekend.
BYU lost to No. 6 Long Beach State 3-1 (30-27, 26-30, 30-27, 30-26) Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse, snapping its 13-match homecourt winning streak, dating back to last season.
What's more, the Cougars played poorly in a 3-1 win over the same 49er squad 24 hours earlier.
"I wasn't happy with last night's win," he said, "and I wasn't happy with tonight's loss."
Long Beach, meanwhile, savored the victory. Following the match, 49er players remained on the court to stretch — something they did not do after losing the night before — and took time to celebrate. Darrick Lucero, a Long Beach assistant coach, taunted BYU fans as they filed out of the building.
The Cougars dropped to 9-2 but remain in first place in the Mountain Division of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. BYU is 15-2 overall. The 49ers improved to 8-5 in the Pacific Division and 13-6 overall.
BYU had ample opportunities to win the third and fourth games but committed costly miscues. In game four, for instance, the Cougars trailed 23-22 when a substitution penalty and three attack errors led to a 6-0 run by the 49ers.
"The wheels fell off," McGown said.
While the Cougars outhit the 49ers .312 to .270, Long Beach recorded 44 digs compared to BYU's 26. "They converted digs into points," McGown said.
Long Beach's David McKienzie recorded a match-high 31 kills and added 14 digs. BYU was led by Mike Wall's 20 kills.
Things only get tougher for the Cougars. Next week, BYU travels to Northern California for matches at No. 12 Pacific and No. 4 Stanford.
Chances are BYU and Long Beach will meet again this season. MPSF Tournament action opens April 21. The NCAA championships, scheduled the first week in May, will be hosted by the 49ers.
NOTES: Attendance was 3,854 . . . Between games two and three, BYU honored the men's basketball team for its Mountain West Conference Tournament title two weeks ago. The ceremony saw Cougar players and coach Steve Cleveland cut a net off a Smith Fieldhouse hoop. Then they presented the championship trophy to BYU President Merrill J. Bateman.
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com