Ben Patch spikes the ball against Concordia Irvine. Patch and the Cougars swept No. 2 UCLA on Saturday night. (BYU Photo)
After a thrilling five-set match against UCLA Friday night, the Cougars and Bruins returned to the Smith Fieldhouse for the highly anticipated rematch. The Cougars swept the Bruins (25-13, 25-23, 31-29).
'We played a much better, complete match,' said BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead. 'One of our things was to just be calm. Just to be a little more levelheaded and I was really impressed with the guys, I felt they did that.'
The Cougars cruised through set one, beating the Bruins 25-13. Ben Patch lead with four kills. Middle blockers Price Jarman and Joe Grosh had two kills and a perfect 1.000 hitting clip.
A kill from Grosh gave BYU a 19-9 lead in the second set, but UCLA wasn't done yet. After back-to-back aces, the Bruins cut the BYU lead to one point at 21-20. The Cougars hung on to win 25-23.
The Cougars fell behind for the first time the whole match during the third set. BYU eventually cut the Bruin lead to 20-18. A Jarman kill brought the crowd to their feet and gave tied the score at 23-23.
But the game was far from over.
The Cougars and Bruins battled back and forth for set point and the Smith Feildhouse roared with cheers as each team put it all out on the court.
A kill from Jarman gave the Cougars match point at 30-29 and Langlois sent the Bruins home with a shutdown block, 31-29.
The Cougars will return to the Smith Feildhouse Feb. 2 to play UC San Diego.