Cougars fall in four sets to UC Irvine

PROVO, Utah – Matt Underwood and Jake Langlois combined for 26 kills in a four-set loss (25-23, 22-25, 19-25, 18-25) to No. 5 UC Irvine at home Saturday night.

"This is a nice team that we played," BYU men's volleyball head coach Chris McGown said. "There are a lot of physical people on that side of the floor. I just asked my team to come out and play as hard as we could, and I think we did that. A few points didn't go our way, but all our mistakes started catching up to us." 

Underwood finished with a team-high 15 kills to go along with five digs and a block. He also finished with a .355 hitting clip. Langlois added 11 kills, three blocks and a service ace, while freshman Price Jarman contributed nine kills and three blocks with a .500 hitting clip.

Robbie Sutton recorded 34 assists, a team-high eight digs and two blocks. Michael Hatch finished with five blocks, including a solo block, to go along with three kills.

Following three-straight points by Irvine, the Cougars tied the first set at four apiece with kills by Josue Rivera and Underwood and service aces by Jarman and Sutton. BYU reeled off a 7-1 run that included consecutive kills and a service ace by Langlois and a block by Jarman and Langlois to go up 13-9. The Anteaters cut their deficit 24-23, but the Cougars took the set 25-23 following Hatch’s kill.

In the second set, the Cougars went on a 5-2 run that included a service ace by Hatch and a backrow kill by Rivera to lead 10-6. Following a quick 12-11 lead by Irvine, Underwood recorded the next four BYU kills to give it back a 16-14 lead. Despite tying the game again at 21, the Cougars fell 25-23 as Irvine ended the set on a 4-1 run.

After battling back and forth in the third set, the Cougars took an 8-6 lead following Jarman’s kill. Both teams continued to trade points until a 4-0 run by the Anteaters gave them a four-point lead to take the set 25-19.

Following Irvine’s 12-6 start, Langlois registered consecutive kills to cut BYU’s deficit 12-8. However, the Anteaters continued to push their lead to take their third set in a row, 25-18.

The Cougars hit the road to take on Cal State Northridge on Friday, April 10, at 7 p.m. PDT at the Matadome. Links to live stats can be found on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.