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PROVO — The fourth-ranked BYU men’s volleyball team faced two different UCLA teams Friday night.
One was the Bruin squad that took a 0-2 deficit into the locker-room break by a total of four points. The other was the second-best team in the nation that pulled back and forced a fifth set.
And when Price Jarman’s final block reached the floor in the decisive game, the Cougars had beaten them both.
“Daenan (Gyimah, UCLA middle hitter) jumps so high, I’m sure even if I commit every time, he’ll still hit it over me most of the time,” said Jarman, who had four kills, four blocks and three digs. “But that was the game plan, and I saw him taking a swing that direction. I tried to throw my hands that way, and it worked out.
“That kid is absolutely unbelievable.”
Ben Patch had a match-high 28 kills and 11 digs to help No. 4 BYU hand the Bruins their first loss in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, 28-26, 25-23, 13-25, 22-25, 18-16 in the first of two battles of top-five contenders in the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend.
Jake Langlois had 13 kills and six digs, and Brenden Sander added 12 kills, two aces and four digs for the Cougars (8-2, 3-1 MPSF), who got 48 assists from Leo Durkin and 11 digs from Eric Sikes.
“I’m just happy for the guys,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “They served aggressive against the best serving team in the country.”
Hagen Smith had 12 kills, 26 assists and nine digs to lead UCLA (9-2, 6-1 MPSF), and sophomore All-American Micah Ma’a added 32 assists, five kills, eight digs, five blocks and six aces. The Bruins had five players with double-digit kills, led by Dylan Missry’s 13 and 12 each from Oliver Martin, JT Hatch and Daenan Gyimah.
UCLA entered the match rated the best team in the country outside of Ohio State. But the Cougars’ win was their fifth-straight over the Bruins, including two in Los Angeles and a 3-1 victory in the MPSF tournament championship.
“It doesn’t feel like it,” Jarman said. “They’re so good; every time we play them, it’s always crazy. It’s never easy — even a little bit.”
Patch put down eight kills in the second set to give the Cougars a 2-0 advantage with the 25-23 win in the second set, the second of four sets in which BYU lost the first point.
But UCLA hit an unnerving .789 in the third set, blitzing BYU for the 25-14 win. Martin gave the top-end Bruins a 10-4 advantage with consecutive kills early, and Ma’a added a kill for a 19-9 lead to help the visitors cruise to the win.
Martin, Hatch, Smith and Missry each tallied three kills, and the Cougars ended the set with consecutive errors to introduce a fourth set.
“They’re such a good team,” Olmstead said. “Their volleyball IQ is so high. I enjoy watching it; I can’t deny it. I’m a volleyball rat, a beach rat like most of those guys. They have that smart savvy.
“We can do better; we need to be a little more controlled when they make those plays. But hopefully we can do that.”
Exactly one week ago, the Cougars couldn’t close out a five-set match, falling to then-No. 7 UC Irvine, 23-25, 26-28, 34-32, 25-21, 12-15.
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Tamir Hershko had a match-high 19 kills as No. 7 UC Irvine upset No. 3 BYU, 25-23, 28-26, 32-34, 21-25, 15-12 Friday night, handing the Cougars their first loss in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play in the Smith Fieldhouse.“You learn things from every match, and I think we learned a really good lesson last week,” Jarman said. “I was glad that we could, because we were able to make an adjustment and play a lot better this week.”
Teams get better over the course of a season? There’s a unique concept.
“That comes from us making dumb service errors last week in the end of the fifth set. That killed our guys last week,” said Olmstead, whose team rebounded with a 3-0 sweep of the Anteaters on Saturday.
“When we float-served three-in-a-row out, that took confidence out of our own guys. Today we were confident. I told the team I might’ve messed my pants a little when Micah (Ma’a) went back to serve at 16-all. He missed, and Ben went back, and I had complete confidence.”
LEGEND REMEMBERED — Prior to the match, both teams held a special tribute to legendary BYU volleyball coach Carl McGown, who passed away Dec. 30, 2016, at the age of 79.
McGown wasn't just a BYU volleyball legend, but taught at Oregon and Cal before winning three national championships and coaching the U.S. national team that included work with UCLA coach John Speraw.
