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PROVO — The BYU men’s volleyball team worked hard to gather a 2-0 lead on Concordia Irvine.
Ben Patch wasn’t going to let them waste a set.
Patch had a match-high 16 kills with two aces, including setting up match point, and Jake Langlois added 13 kills as No. 4 BYU swept the Eagles, 25-23, 25-17, 26-24 Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.
“We were doing everything we possibly could,” Patch said. “We were really tired; this whole week has been long, with a long weekend, and it’s been a lot of hard matches. But I think our grit and love for each other took us through point by point.
“We’ve been in that position before, and it’s always just been us turning toward each other to fight forward.”
Leo Durkin dished out 32 assists and five digs for BYU (3-1), and Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga had a team-best seven digs for the Cougars.
With a 2-0 lead going into the final set, Hunter Howell scored three of the Eagles’ first six points of the set and Jonathon Predney’s kill gave the Eagles a 12-4 advantage.
Howell finished with five kills, and Predley had a team-high 10 kills for Concordia (5-5), which is led by former BYU head coach Shawn Patchell who coached the Cougars from 2007-11.
“I wasn’t too pleased with how we came out the third set, to be honest,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “I thought we came out pretty lax, and were just too comfortable going through the motions. That’s disappointing.
“I’ll take the blame the first time; it’s the fourth match of the season. But we can’t do that from here on forward.”
The Cougars could barely cut into the lead until Patch thumped a kill just moments after Finnish freshman Miki Jauhiainen had a block to pull within two, 22-20.
“He did a really good job,” Olmstead said of Jauhiainen. “He’s been serving well since he joined our team; he’s got a nice jump-float to put it in the right spots. When I look back and he was starting to score points, I was comfortable that he was going to continue to do that.”
Still, the Eagles refused to die.
Predney’s kill brought up match point for the visitors, but the Eagles’ ensuing serve crashed into the net. Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga pulled the Cougars back within two, and Joseph Grosh’s block tied the set, 24-24.
Patch tipped the ball over the net for BYU, which hit just .239 on the night, to set up the final point, and the Cougars held on for a 26-24 win in the final set.
Before the final point, Patch turned the crowd, raising his arms, pumping his fist, and urging the crowd of 2,814 to its feet.
“We’re all in this together. We count the fans as part of our team, and it takes all of us to win a volleyball match,” Patch said. “A friendly reminder to get everyone into it is the thing I can do.”
Former BYU setter Chandler Gibb gave Concordia an 8-6 advantage early in the first set, and the Eagles held the narrow advantage until Patch put down one of his five kills early to tie the set at 22-22.
The Cougars then ended on a 3-1 run to win the opening set, 25-23 on a double-block by Price Jarman and Leo Durkin.
Gibb had a kill, a block and two digs to go along with six assists in the first set before finishing with 18 assists.
Concordia jumped out of the gate to take a 4-1 lead in the second set. But Patch smashed a pair of aces to lead BYU on an 11-2 run to give the Cougars a 12-6 advantage, and the hosts cruised to the two-set lead at the locker-room break.
Jauhiainen entered the match in the second set, and immediately put down back-to-back points on a kill and a block to give BYU a 22-15 lead. From there, it was just a formality before Patch’s 11th kill of the match brought up set-point in the 25-17 win.
“Our team is doing way better serving, and all of us are much more confident behind the service line,” Patch said. “Anything i can do to help my team is great, and I’m just grateful I was feeling it tonight and got in my rhythm.”
