The No. 8 BYU men's volleyball team started off electric but came up short in the final set in a loss against No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.
The Cougars won the first two sets (25-16, 25-21) but couldn’t hold on in sets 3, 4 and 5 (24-26, 23-25, 13-15). The Anteaters trailed for most of the final set but came back from a five-point deficit to win. This is the first loss of the season for BYU.
“This one is gonna sting,” said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead. “If you look at those sets that were close we had moments there down the stretch that we could’ve capitalized.”
Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga got BYU’s first kill and sparked a 5-1 to start set 1. The Cougars didn’t let up, moving into the second set Oldani and Moser accounted for eight kills. Standout freshman AJ Cottle sealed the second set win with a kill at the net. BYU did not trail across both sets.
The third set was a battle all the way through with three-lead changes and 11 tied scores. BYU tried to hang on in the final stretch but UC Irvine came up big with a kill to close out the 3rd set. William D’Arcy had eight kills in set 3, compared to only two in the first two sets, and clinched the Anteaters first set win.
UC Irvine took over in set 4 winning 25-23 led by Andrej Jokanovic with six kills. AJ Cottle brought BYU within one, capping a 4-0 run late in the set. Trevor Herget also shined late as well with three kills and a block but it wasn’t enough to top the Anteaters.
BYU reignited at the start of the 5th set and went up 5-2. Oldani caught fire with four of the next five kills and BYU pulled ahead 10-5. But then the momentum shifted into UC Irvine’s favor and outside hitter Trevor Clark led his team to victory with two kills and three blocks.
Despite the loss, Olmstead isn’t worried.
“I like our team a lot," he said. "I have total confidence that they’re going to respond well.”
BYU takes its first loss of the season, dropping to 4-1. The two teams will face off again Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.