Tim Dobbert celebrates after winning a point in the game against George Mason. The Cougars won 3-1. (Ari Davis)
The No. 1 BYU men's volleyball team defeated the No. 14 George Mason Patriots 3-1 on Saturday night in Provo to wrap up the weekend long AVCA Showcase.
BYU won the first and second sets with a score of 25-17. The Cougars' deep bench was impressive on the night - standout Ben Patch didn't even need to enter the game - but sophomore Tim Dobbert said that sharing playing time doesn't affect the team.
'We have so much potential,' Dobbert said. 'It's so much fun to play on the team. In practice, we compete all the time, and if something goes wrong we always have people on the bench that can just step in.'
George Mason managed to rally and win the third set 31-29. The Cougars' play was sloppy at times, but BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said that the team can learn from their mistakes.
'You know it's growing pains,' Olmstead said. 'We'll talk about it, we'll watch it, we'll try to figure out what we're doing in those moments. It's part of the whole thing. It's hard, but it's all part of it.'
The Cougars refocused and dominated the Patriots in the fourth set, 25-12. BYU had great play at the net, resulting in a -7 attack percentage.
'They responded well in the fourth set,' Olmstead said in a press release. 'And it was good from there.'
The Cougars will open conference play against Stanford in the Smith Field House on Friday Jan. 15.