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Provo - Winless in March, BYU's men's volleyball team is making April a month to remember.
The No. 6-ranked Cougars completed a weekend sweep of No. 1 Hawaii on Saturday night in front of a frenzied crowd of 2,953 at the Smith Fieldhouse, edging the Warriors 3-2 in a tense five-set thriller for their fourth-straight win this month.
The scores were 22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18 and 15-13.
"It was fun to come out on top in a match like that, for sure," said BYU coach Chris McGown. "I am happy for our seniors, and the way they played, and for Philly [Fuchs] with a career night."
The win means BYU gets the fifth seed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, which begins next week. The Cougars (17-9, 14-8 MPSF) will travel to USC, which demolished Cal Baptist on Saturday night to hold on to the fourth seed.
Hawaii came to Provo with the MPSF lead and a 16-match winning streak, but once again could not solve the Cougars at their raucous home. Hawaii has won just three times in Provo in 26 matches.
Seniors Jaylen Reyes, Phil Fuchs and Josue Rivera were honored before the match. Rivera didn't play because he's got a broken hand, so Fuchs made up for it with the match of his career. He had 22 kills, tying a career high, and rescued the Cougars time and again in the later sets. Fuchs' big block, his fifth, in the fifth set gave BYU a 12-9 lead and he belly surfed across Elaine Michaelis court in delight.
Hawaii scored four straight points to take a 9-7 lead in the fifth, but the Cougars rallied behind Brenden Sander, Fuchs, Joe Grosh and Jake Langlois, who entered the match for the first time in the fifth set, delivered a kill, and then departed.
Brook Sedore led Hawaii with 21 kills; He put his fingers to his lips after his 20th kill cut BYU's lead to 13-12 as if to shush the crowd, but BYU won it after UH's 23rd service error, the most it has had this season, and a hitting error.
BYU dominated the fourth set, as Fuchs came alive again with six kills and several huge blocks. Joe Grosh came off the bench to give the Cougars a lift in that set.
Sander added 16 kills, while Robbie Sutton had 10 digs and 52 set assists.
The Warriors led wire to wire in the first set, after not leading in Friday's match until the third set, which they won before falling in the match, 3-1.
Trailing 15-9, the Cougars rallied to cut the deficit to a point four times in the first set, but could never force a tie.
"Hawaii was a good as advertised," McGown said.
Twitter: @drewjay —
MPSF Volleyball
BYU 3, Hawaii 2
• The Cougars complete a weekend sweep of the No. 1 Warriors to get the fifth seed for next week's MPSF playoffs.
• Phil Fuchs ties a career-high with 22 kills for BYU, while Brooke Sedore has 21 kills for UH.
• BYU is now 23-3 against Hawaii in matches played in Provo.