PROVO, Utah -- Taylor Sander and Matt Underwood combined for a total of 24 kills to lead the No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball team to a sweep (25-23, 25-22, 25-15) over Cal State Northridge Friday.

“I was interested to see how we would come out tonight, because we’ve had a bad week of practice,” BYU volleyball coach Chris McGown said. “A lot of guys were sick, a lot of guys were hurt and it just created a down vibe in practice, so for me to see them come out and play as hard as they did, I was really encouraged by that.”

BYU vs. CSUN Box Score

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Sander added two service aces, and Underwood finished the match with a .389 clip. Underwood's 10 kills and four blocks were both career highs. Devin Young added five kills, while Josue Rivera recorded three kills of his own. Tyler Heap finished with a career-high 37 assists.

The Cougars were tied 2-2 in the first set with both kills coming from Phil Fuchs, but trailed 9-5 early. After putting together a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to one, BYU forced CSUN to call a timeout and connected on two kills to grab its first 10-9 lead. Sander’s back-row kill gave the Cougars a 13-10 lead to force another Matador timeout. Michael Hatch recorded a service ace to put BYU up 15-12, which was followed by two kills from Young.

The Matadors responded to take a late 22-21 lead, but committed two errors, which was followed by a solo block by Young to take set one 25-23.

After a slow start in the first set, BYU led 4-1 to start the second, with the run including a kill and service ace from Sander. CSUN answered back out of the timeout to tie it 8-8 and continued a back-and-forth battle. Following a back-row kill from Rivera, Sander hit two consecutive kills to take the 20-17 lead. A kill from Rivera gave the Cougars set point, with Young ending it 25-22.

BYU ran away in the third set after a strong 8-2 start led by blocks and two kills from Underwood. Young recorded another solo block for the four-point lead during a 6-1 run. Sander got another service ace and followed it up with a back-row kill after a long rally to put BYU up 16-8. Joseph Grosh gave the Cougars the last two points to end the match 25-15.

“This is a great crowd, Friday night," McGown said. "I know it’s our home opener, but it’s so nice being home and there’s such great energy here in the Fieldhouse. Being back in a familiar environment sure helps.”

BYU is 1-2 on the season and 1-0 in conference play after Friday’s win in the conference home-opener.

The Cougars stay home to host No. 1 Long Beach State on Saturday at 7 p.m. MST. 

PROVO, Utah—No. 9 BYU men’s volleyball returns to the Smith Fieldhouse for its 2014 home opener against Cal State Northridge Friday at 7 p.m. MST on BYUtv. The Cougars will end the weekend hosting No. 1 Long Beach State Saturday at 7 p.m. MST.

BYU Week 2 Notes

BYU looks to rebound after a 0-2 start last weekend as the team begins conference play. Senior outside hitter Taylor Sander led the Cougars with 26 kills on the week.

Cal State Northridge (0-1, 0-0 MPSF) comes off a 3-1 loss to Pacific Saturday in the UCSB tournament. The Matadors will host Cal Baptist Wednesday before traveling east to Provo.

Jakub Ciesla led CSUN with 12 kills. Brian O’Gorman led in blocks with seven, and Bradley Sakaida led in digs with seven.

Long Beach State (1-0, 0-0 MPSF), who defeated Harvard 3-1 Saturday, will also face Cal Baptist on the road Thursday before facing BYU.

Taylor Crabb led the 49ers against Harvard with 19 kills on a .429 clip. Dalton Ammerman also had double-figure kills with 18, hitting .353. Andrew Sato recorded 14 digs for Long Beach State.

Links to live stats for both matches and live video streaming (vs. CS Northridge) can be found on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.