Men’s Volleyball sweeps Long Beach State

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With the regular season nearing its end, the No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball team swept No. 4 Long Beach State over the weekend as the Cougars played their last two regular-season matches in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Alex Dapron readies himself to receive a serve during the Cougars’ volleyball match against Long Beach State.

The Cougars defeated the 49ers on Thursday in four sets with a match score of 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 25-12. After losing the second set, it was Futi Tavana who started the third set with a powerful kill that gave the Cougars some momentum. Tavana’s five kills in the third set allowed the Cougars to win by five and his 15 for the night with an extremely high hitting percentage of .737 gave BYU the overall edge to pull off the match win.

“We had to make some adjustments early in the match, but we just told our guys to play their game and play disciplined,” BYU interim head coach Rob Neilson said in a press release. “We got on a little bit of a roll in that third game and got some things to go our way.”

Friday’s match was all BYU as the Cougars swept Long Beach State with a match score of 25-23, 25-20, 25-22. The offense was led by Tavana’s match-high 11 kills while senior Alex DaPron and junior Rob Stowell added 10 kills apiece.

“I’m proud of how hard this group has worked and how much they’ve sacrificed for each other,” Neilson said. “We have so much depth and talent on this team. We have a lot of new starters this year and they are really talented and have been great playing at home. Our struggle has been learning to win on the road and I think these next couple of games will be a good test for us to see how we progress.”

Despite an early lead of 11-6 in the first set, Long Beach tied the set at 18. Rob Stowell contributed two crucial kills that regained the lead and gave the Cougars the momentum to finish the set ahead. The only other chance the 49ers had was in the third set as they kept the game close all the way to 20-18. However, the Cougars were again able to gain momentum and continue to finish the match with a victory.

Finishing the last home regular-season match was a sweet moment for BYU seniors as they were honored after the game. DaPron, Kevin Sagers, BJ Hiapo, Jeff Robinson and Otavio Souza all received praise for their contributions to the team and enjoyed the home crowd applause for one of the last times.

Although the victory completed the last regular-season home game for the Cougars, Neilson said he glad that they will be able to play one more time in the Smith Fieldhouse.

“We are certainly excited to have one of the [Mountain Pacific Sports Federation] quarterfinal matches be here in the Fieldhouse,” Neilson said.

 

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