Senior Josue Rivera and the Cougars fell in four sets in their season opener against Loyola-Chicago. (Universe Photo)
BYU men's volleyball suffered a tough 3-1 set loss to No. 2 overall Loyola-Chicago in the season opener Friday night at Stanford University.
Loyola took the first two sets, winning 25-17 in the first and 25-21 in the second. BYU came back and led the entire third set, winning 25-22, but Loyola ultimately won in the fourth, pulling out a 25-23 win to give it the match.
'From a numbers perspective, it definitely looked like the first match of the season,' BYU head coach Chris McGown said. 'In terms of the lineup, I was encouraged that we were able to sub some guys in that helped us get back in the match. We're a little inexperienced in a few things, but the fact that we bounced back in the match and pushed them pretty far was encouraging.'
Loyola gave up four of BYU's first five points on service errors in the second set set but still managed to stay on top with a 9-5 lead. It extended the margin to 18-12 with kills from Jaeschke and a service ace from Cody Caldwell. BYU closed that gap to bring the set to 24-21 for Loyola, but Caldwell took the set with a kill. Jaeschke led the game in kills with 19, and Caldwell followed close behind with 18.
Ty Hutchins made his first appearance for BYU in the third set and helped BYU make a strong comeback. BYU held the lead for the third set with kills from Hutchins, Price Jarman and Matt Underwood. Loyola came back to make it a tight 19-18 game, but the Cougars would take the set 25-22.
BYU continued to fight in the fourth set and held a lead until a service ace from Loyola's Peter Hutz tied it at 10-10. The set remained close, with BYU tying it 15-15 on a service error from Owen McAndrews and again at 18-18 with a kill from Hutchins. A final kill from Caldwell gave Loyola the set and match with a final score of 25-23.