This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • Poor Cal State Northridge.
The No. 1-ranked BYU men's volleyball team, fired up and ready to make amends for Friday night's loss, took out its anger on the struggling Matadors.
CSUN did win one game and played tough in the fourth, but four was all the Cougars needed to walk out of the Smith Fieldhouse with a 25-15, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory.
"Last night we felt like we didn't give it as much as we could have," said BYU's Ryan Boyce about Friday's five-set loss to Long Beach State.
"Tonight we wanted to show ourselves, personally, each individual, that we can bring it every night and leave it on the court. I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight."
The highlight for BYU (6-2, 5-1 MPSF) was its defensive domination. Even with the conference leader in block assists, Russ Lavaja, out with an ankle injury, the Cougars gave the Matadors (4-3, 2-3) little room to breath. CSUN struggled even to win its one game, nearly blowing a 21-15 advantage. The Matadors made the fourth game interesting, a back-and-forth affair, but in the end outside hitter Taylor Sander and opposite Ben Patch were too much to handle. The two combined for 33 kills. BYU nearly doubled CSUN's block assist total. Offensively, the Cougars hit better than .400 all night, finishing with a .406 hitting percentage.
"Of course, we're going to miss that fire, that passion that [Lavaja] brings," Boyce said. "But I thought the guys that stepped in played awesome." —
Highlights
R BYU freshman outside hitter Ben Patch finishes with 15 kills and a .464 hitting percentage.
• Devin Young hits .625 for BYU to go with nine block assists.
• The Cougars commit 18 service errors.