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COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s an 8 hour, 22 minute drive from Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina to Columbus, Ohio, site of the Bulldogs’ first-ever NCAA men’s volleyball tournament.
It took third-ranked BYU about seven fewer hours to eliminate the upstart Conference Carolinas champion.
Brenden Sander pounded out a match-high 11 kills, and No. 3 BYU swept tourney debutant Barton, 25-19, 25-11, 25-15 in the Bulldogs’ inaugural tourney trip Tuesday at Ohio State.
Leo Durkin distributed 20 assists, seven digs, four blocks and two aces for the Cougars, who advanced to face No. 2 Long Beach State in Thursday’s semifinal at 4 p.m. MDT.
“We had good energy from all the guys on the court. I think that helped a lot," Sander said. "Leo threw the ball into great spots, and everyone did their jobs.”
Jake Langlois added seven kills, five digs and four blocks for BYU (25-4), and Ben Patch tallied four kills and five aces in a reserve role for a BYU team that hit .351 and held Barton to .067.
Angelos Mandilaris and Aleksa Brkovic led Barton (23-6) with eight kills apiece, and Federico Pagliara dished out 25 assists for the internationally diverse Bulldogs that featured players from six countries and six different states.
“They had an outstanding season, to be in this position to compete win this venue and in the championships. Huge congrats to them," BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said of the Bulldogs.
“They were animated and playing hard, and they stayed in a few of those sets. It’s a credit to them for battling, and really bringing their best.”
The Cougars pounded out 17 kills on a .325 hitting percentage in the first set, a 25-19 win led by Tim Dobbert, who had five of his six kills in the first set.
“When Ben went down earlier this year, someone told us how nice it was to have the German come off the bench, who could play on any team in the country," Olmstead said of Dobbert. “It’s nice to have options.”
Langlois added four kills as the Cougars led 4-3 on Sander’s early kill and never trailed for the remainder of the set.
Durkin had back-to-back aces for BYU to fuel a 7-1 run to open the second set, and the Cougars jumped out to a 19-6 lead aided by seven attack errors by the Bulldogs.
By the end of the second set, former All-American opposite Patch had come off the bench, freshman Wil Stanley replaced Durkin at setter, and BYU hit .692 with 10 kills on just 13 attempts en route to a 25-11 win and a 2-0 advantage.
Barton responded with it’s finest performance in the third set of its inaugural tournament. The Conference Carolinas tournament champion briefly took an 8-7 lead early in the third set, and AVCA first-team All-American Vasilis Mandilaris tied the third set at 10-10.
BYU struggled to pull away from the pesky Bulldogs in the third set, until Patch served consecutive aces to give the Cougars a 19-14 advantage. The clutch serving started an 8-1 run that helped BYU close out the sweep, 25-15.
“It starts at the service line," said BYU middle blocker Price Jarman, who accounted for six of the Cougars' 18.5 team blocks. "Our guys were putting a ton of pressure on them. It makes it a lot easier for us to read and get into good spots.”
