BYU regular season ends with a 3-2 loss to No. 1 UCLA on Gardini's career night

PROVO, Utah — BYU men’s volleyball fell to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent foe and No. 1 team in the country UCLA in a heartbreaking five-set match on Senior Night, suffering a reverse sweep (28-26, 25-20, 23-25, 22-25, 9-15), in the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday.

This loss puts BYU’s overall season record to 8-16 and 3-9 in the MPSF. The win for UCLA extends its winning streak to 10 matches.

Despite being up 2-0 in the match, in front of a packed Smith Fieldhouse and a career-high 30 kills for BYU senior outside hitter Davide Gardini in his final match in the Smith Fieldhouse, the Cougars couldn't quite pull out the victory.

“Tonight was amazing, and I am so proud of our team for the way they fought all night,” Gardini said. “We are a young team that is getting so much better. We made a couple mistakes in crucial moments tonight, but I think we are about to do something really special in California next week. I wanted to end my time here at BYU by going out there and giving it my all, and I feel like I did that tonight.” 

The Cougars now prepare for the MPSF tournament next week, where the Cougars will enter as the No. 6 seed and face Pepperdine, who BYU split with this season.

“We're serving tough, we're passing very well and our offense is running well right now,” Gardini said. “I think we can go to California where we can serve even better. I know a lot of teams are not going to want to play us right now. We're getting better, and we want to go there and win three games. That's all we need.” 

UCLA recorded 76 kills on a .438 hitting percentage Saturday night. BYU tallied 55 kills and a .379 clip. Defensively, BYU outblocked UCLA 12.5-6.5.

Gardini notched his 30 kills on a .473 clip. He recorded his first 18 kills of the match without a single error. 

SET ONE
BYU started the night with a 3-0 run including two kills by Gardini and an ace by freshman outside hitter Miks Ramanis. The lead diminished after three UCLA kills and a BYU attack error tied the set at 4-4. The teams traded service errors, but kills by Gardini and sophomore outside hitter Kupono Browne gave the Cougars a slight edge at 10-8.

The momentum shifted after a 4-0 run by the Bruins put UCLA ahead 13-11. This lead would stick, however, two UCLA errors and three Gardini kills allowed BYU to trail close behind at 19-17. Gardini continued to rack up points, laying down a kill and two aces, putting BYU back in the lead at 22-21.

A kill by Ramanis and an ace by freshman outside hitter Luke Benson brought BYU to set-point at 24-23. UCLA’s Alex Knight hit two opportune kills to take back the lead for the Bruins, but Gardini and Ramanis slammed kills to put BYU ahead by one at 26-25.

Two crucial UCLA errors secured BYU its first set-win at 28-26.

SET TWO
The set started tight, but two kills by Browne and one by Gardini gave BYU a 5-2 lead. UCLA’s Merrick McHenry tacked on two kills to keep UCLA in the game. The teams traded kills and errors until a 6-0 run by BYU gave the Cougars its largest lead of the set at 16-9. This run featured two aces by Ramanis. 

The Bruins attempted to catch up with a 3-0 run. However, two Gardini kills put the Cougars up 20-15. UCLA’s Ido David slammed three kills, but a kill by sophomore middle blocker Gavin Julien and a final UCLA error gave BYU its second set-win at 25-20.

At this point, Gardini had a total of 14 kills, a .636 clip and no errors.

SET THREE
Ramanis scored an ace to put BYU on the board. It was his fourth ace of the night, a new career-high tally for the Cougar. Two UCLA errors gave BYU a quick 3-1 lead. Two kills by Gardini extended BYU’s lead to 7-4. David battled back with four kills to nearly tie the set at 9-8.

A kill spree commenced amongst the teams, the next five points coming from kills. These points tied the set at 13-13. From there, the teams tied another six times until a 3-0 run by UCLA put the Bruins up by a mere two points at 22-20. 

Ramanis and Gardini tacked on kills, but UCLA matched their efforts to reach set-point at 24-22. A BYU service error allowed the Bruins to take their first set-win at 25-23.

SET FOUR
BYU earned the first point of the set off of UCLA’s 21st service error of the match. Immediately, the teams started trading kills and errors, tying six times by 7-7. These points included four kills by Gardini. 

Two attack errors by the Bruins and a kill by Browne created the largest margin of the set at 10-8. This lead was short-lived as three UCLA kills tied the set again at 11-11. The tied scores continued until 17-17. The Bruins managed a 3-0 run of straight kills to reach 20-17. 

Gardini battled back with two kills, but David’s 21st and 22nd kills gave UCLA its second set-win at 25-22.

SET FIVE
UCLA started strong with a quick 4-1 lead. Gardini’s 30th kill of the night and two UCLA errors tied the set at 7-7. This kill count marked a new career-high tally for Gardini, previously hitting 29 kills against Grand Canyon University earlier this season. 

In the end, UCLA pulled off a 5-0 run to reach 15-9, taking its second win of the weekend. 

The MPSF Men's Volleyball Tournament will begin with the quarterfinals starting things off on Wednesday, April 20. BYU will face Pepperdine at 8 p.m. PST in the Pauley Pavilion. 

Teams that win on Wednesday will advance to the semifinals on Thursday. The championship match will take place on Saturday, April 23.