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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s March — and the BYU men’s volleyball team is still unbeaten.
And what a way to keep the unblemished record Thursday night.
Gabi Garcia Fernandez had 13 kills and a career-high-tying eight aces, and Davide Gardini and Zach Eschenberg added 10 kills apiece to help No. 2 BYU upset No. 1 Hawaii, 25-15, 25-17, 25-20 in the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
Hawaii native Wil Stanley had 29 assists and six digs for the Cougars, who ran their unbeaten record to 17-0 with Hawaii’s first loss of the year.
"What an exciting match to be a part of," said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead, whose teams improved to 5-1 when facing the No. 1 team in the country. "It’s hard to focus on one or two guys tonight when this was a complete team effort. Credit to each one of our guys who had a focus this week on consistent pressure and followed the plan. Gabi was confident from the service line and both of our outside hitters had great nights. Wil deserves a lot of credit for the decisions he made throughout the match."
Rado Parapunov had 10 kills to lead Hawaii (14-1), and Brett Sheward dished out 26 assists.
The win marks the first time Hawaii was swept at home since March 2016. The opponent that night? BYU.
Rado does it again! 😱 pic.twitter.com/OmHrBISQBy
— Hawaii Men’s Volleyball (@HawaiiMensVB) March 6, 2020
Deja vu started early in the islands.
The Cougars cruised to a 25-15 win in the opening set, hitting .706 with 12 kills on 17 swings — and no errors — behind a set-high six kills from Gardini.
BYU cooled off in the second set; it almost had to. But its final .603 hitting percentage set a school record in the rally scoring era.
That drop, of course, simply meant that the Cougars committed two hitting errors in the second set.
The visitors were virtually unstoppable — on the pins, at the net, and from the service line, courtesy of Fernandez, who leads the nation with .849 aces per set.
BYU outhit the Rainbow Warriors .694 to .140, and also had six blocks to Hawaii’s one en route to a 2-0 lead.
It was just that kind of a night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Top-ranked @HawaiiMensVB falls in three sets to BYU. The two teams will do it again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. #HawaiiMVB 🏐🏐🏐 pic.twitter.com/wIbSqXsknG
— Spectrum Sports HI (@specsportshi) March 6, 2020
Fernandez had four of the Cougars’ five aces in the first two sets, which put the Warriors under pressure facing a sweep for the first time all year.
Even libero Mitchell Worthington, who had five digs, was getting in on the attack. He turned a hard serve into the back row with a bump kill for a 19-13 lead in the third set.
And Stanley, who prepped at nearby Punahou High, delivered the match-winning kill with a setter’s dump on 24-20.
Fernandez's eight aces tied for the second-most in a single match in BYU history. The win also gives the Puerto Rican international 53 aces on the year, just two behind Taylor Sander's single-season record set in 2014.
There’s little time to celebrate, though; the Cougars and ‘Bows play again Friday at 10 p.m. MST. The game will be streamed live by Spectrum Sports on BigWest.tv.
