Cougars sweep Concordia Irvine for eighth straight win

Provo, UTAH.  — No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball sweeps Concordia Irvine (25-19, 25-20, 25-23) to move up to 13-2 on the season. This marks the eighth straight victory for the Cougars. 

“Both teams served well with composure and a lot of pressure,” said head coach Shawn Olmstead. “Zach Eschenberg had another great night moving the ball around and hitting high with range”.

Eschenberg hit a season high .733 (11-0-15) and led the Cougars in kills. Davide Gardini matched his career high five aces for a new season high as well. 

KEY PLAYERS

• Davide Gardini: Nine kills, five aces, four digs
• Wil Stanley: 37 assists, four digs, one block
• Zach Eschenberg: 11 kills, .733 hitting percentage, one ace, two blocks
• Felipe de Brito Ferreira: Six kills, .500 hitting percentage, four blocks

SET ONE

Service line pressure was the story of set one. Gardini began the set serving the first of four BYU aces in set one (BYU 2-0 CUI). Miki Jauhiainen was the next Cougar to serve an ace, triggering an Eagles time out (BYU 13-8 CUI). The third BYU ace by Gabi Garcia Fernandez caused a second and final CUI timeout in set (BYU 16-9 CUI). The fourth ace by BYU was courtesy of Gardini, solidifying BYU’s dominance from the line (BYU 22-14 CUI) Set one was closed out with a kill from Wil Stanley, Cougars coming out on top (BYU 25-19) 

SET TWO 

The Cougars clinched set two with a strong .444 hitting percentage, holding the Eagles to a .194. Gardini.  Garcia Fernandez and Eschenberg had four kills each with a kill by Gardini winning the set 25-20.

SET THREE

Set three began and ended in a close contest. Concordia Irvine quickly took the lead, staying on top until the 7-7 split. Back to back kills by Garcia Fernandez and Eschenberg, followed by a Jauhiainen ace brought the Cougars back into the game (BYU 10-7 CUI). BYU remained in the lead until the last few points of the set. A late 7-0 run by the Eagles at BYU set point included four straight aces causing the Cougars to utilize two timeouts. Eschenberg prevented a BYU set loss with a kill to finish the night 25-23, BYU sweeping 3-0. 

BYU will face Concordia Irvine for a second time, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. PDT. Broadcast stream and stats can be found HERE