PROVO, Utah – No. 10 UC Santa Barbara suffered a 3-0 sweep for the second consecutive night on Saturday, falling in straight sets to No. 3 BYU at the Smith Fieldhouse, 25-17, 25-23, 25-14.
Though the Gauchos (8-5, 4-4 MPSF) had an easier go of it on the offensive end, hitting .239 compared to a season-low .165 on Friday, BYU’s pin hitters were near unstoppable, leading the Cougars (8-2, 6-2) to a hearty .487 hitting percentage.
In just three games, all three of BYU’s pin hitters had at least 11 kills and hit between .476 and .556. Sophomore Brenden Sander had the most impressive night statistically, posting a match-high 15 kills on .545 hitting. Outside hitter Jake Langlois and opposite Ben Patch each had 11 putdowns.
Junior opposite Matt Marsh led the Gauchos on offense against the Cougars, notching a team-high 11 kills. Senior middle blocker Ryan Hardy added seven kills with an impressive .500 hitting percentage, while senior outside hitter Austin Kingi had another solid night with eight kills on 20 swings.
For the second consecutive night, the Gauchos seemed to struggle with their serving due to the high altitude in Provo, failing to record an ace once again. In fact, most of the team’s jump servers opted for a float by the end of the night.