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Mar 15 | 07:00 PM
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- BYUtv
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Smith Fieldhouse
Smith Fieldhouse Provo UT 84606
mperry
| Posted: 15 Mar 2014 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
PROVO, Utah – For the second night in a row No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball dominated its opponent, sweeping UC San Diego 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-15) Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse.
The Cougars (15-4, 15-2 MPSF) have not lost a set at home since Jan. 24 against Stanford.
“It was a chance for us to play some guys that we normally don’t and get some different guys in our lineup,” BYU head coach Chris McGown said. “I thought the guys that came in played great. More than anything, we told the guys go hard at every point and play with a lot of energy, and I thought that was basically what we did.”
BYU was led by outside hitter Taylor Sander’s 10 kills on a .556 hitting percentage. The No. 2 career kills leader at BYU is eight away from passing Rob Stowell for most in the rally-scoring era.
Senior Devin Young added two service aces, two blocks and five kills, while Joseph Grosh chipped in a couple of aces in addition to four blocks. Outside hitter Phil Fuchs also added five kills.
In the first set, scoring was an even back-and-forth with the Tritons (2-19, 1-18 MPSF) until BYU ignited a run to take the lead 15-10 with the help of a couple Fuchs kills. The Cougars stretched the lead to 20-12 on opposite Tim Dobbert’s kill. Young’s ace widened the advantage to 23-13. The Tritons took two more points before the Cougars clinched the set 25-15 on Tyler Heap’s kill and then a UC San Diego serving error.
The second set played out a little closer. With the score at 8-8, BYU sparked a run with Sutton’s ace and Sander’s kill, taking an 11-8 lead and forcing a Triton timeout. Following the timeout, BYU twice extended its lead to four points before San Diego counterattacked and forced BYU to call a timeout with the set at 19-18. Sander‘s fifth kill on the night helped the team to a 20-18 lead before the Tritons knotted the set score at 20.
The Cougars forced their way ahead on two kills by Matt Underwood and one by Robbie Sutton, for a 24-21 advantage. After another Triton timeout, Sutton laid down the kill to take the set for BYU, 25-21.
The third set began with UC San Diego building a 6-5 lead before the Cougars proved to be too much for their opponent. Sander collected five kills in the set while Grosh tallied all four of his blocks and Kiril Meretev and Sutton each contributed two as BYU coasted to the match-clinching 25-15 win.
The Cougars will be back in action against Cal Baptist Saturday at 7 p.m. MDT at the Smith Fieldhouse. The match will be broadcast live on BYU Radio.
rachelhawks
| Posted: 11 Mar 2014 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020
PROVO, Utah—No. 3 BYU men’s volleyball welcomes No. 8 UC Irvine and UC San Diego to the Fieldhouse Friday and Saturday, respectively, for the first matches of a five-match home stand. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. MDT and will be broadcast live on BYUtv.
The Cougars (13-4, 13-2 MPSF) defeated the Anteaters (13-8, 10-7 MPSF) in five sets in Irvine, Calif., Jan. 17. Senior Taylor Sander recorded 25 kills and nine digs against UC Irvine, helped out by Tyler Heap’s career-high 54 assists. BYU turned around and defeated UC San Diego (1-18, 0-17 MPSF) on the road Jan. 18.
BYU defeated Cal State Northridge 3-1 on the road Saturday. UC Irvine is on a four-match win streak after a pair of wins at Hawai’i, and UC San Diego comes off 3-0 losses to UC Santa Barbara and UCLA. The Cougars are 42-14 all-time against the Anteaters and 35-0 all-time against the Tritons.
Sander’s 4.58 kills per set are No. 2 in the nation and his .50 aces per set are No. 5. Cougar Michael Hatch is No. 3 in the NCAA for blocks per set with 1.49, and Heap is No. 1 in assists per set with 10.57.
The Cougars are ranked No. 4 for blocks per set with 2.90.
Zack La Cavera leads UC Irvine with 3.59 kills per set, helped out by Daniel Stork’s 10.50 assists per set. At the net, La Cavera and Jeremy Dejno average .64 and .56 blocks per set, respectively.
Mike Brunsting leads UC San Diego with 2.26 kills per set. Garrett Dempsey leads in assists with 8.51 per set. Fred Stahl averages .67 blocks per set.
Both matches can be streamed live online for free. For links to live stats and live streaming, visit the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.
