The BYU men's volleyball team swept the Long Beach State 49ers (25–22, 25–13, 25–15) and the Cal State Northridge Matadors (25–20, 25–22, 25–21) in back-to-back matches this weekend in California.
The Cougars inched closer to securing the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Conference tournament with the wins. They also exacted revenge against the 49ers, one of only three teams to defeat them this season. The Cougars improved to 17–3 on the year and are on a nine game winning streak.
They did it in relatively easy fashion, too.
Middle blocker Devin Young spikes the ball against Cal Baptist in a match earlier this season. The Cougars defeated the 49ers and the Matadors this weekend. (Photo by Sarah Hill)
'This was as good of a match as we've played,' BYU coach Chris McGown said in a news release. 'The boys put everything together tonight. We played as well-rounded of a game as I've seen us play, and it was against a tough team in a tough environment.'
Patch led the way on Saturday against Long Beach State with 12 kills, while opposite hitters Taylor Sander and Josue Rivera were close behind with 11 and 10 each. BYU executed its game plan to perfection, shutting down Long Beach outside hitters Taylor Crabb and Dalton Ammerman, who each torched BYU in the last match-up in Provo.
'We played great defense,' McGown said. 'We executed our game plan and we did a nice job offensively.'
With two wins for BYU this weekend and with UC Irvine losing a match this week, the Cougars went up 2.5 games in the MPSF Conference standings. BYU has already clinched a spot in conference tournament and can essentially lock up the No. 1 seed with wins next weekend at home.
The big win over Long Beach State came on the heels of a victory over Cal State Northridge. BYU swept the match despite a two-week break from volleyball. Patch and Sander led the way with 18 and 16 kills in the match.
'I thought we did a really nice job offensively,' McGown said. 'That's been the identity of this team — keep working hard and keep playing and doing what we do and good things are going to happen. We exemplified that tonight.'
BYU returns to the Smith Fieldhouse for its last home matches of the regular season. BYU hosts Pepperdine on Thursday and USC Saturday. The Pepperdine match starts at 7 p.m. and the USC match starts at 8 pm.