PROVO, UTAH — After two weeks on the road, BYU men's volleyball returns to the Smith Fieldhouse to host a pair of matches against Princeton Tigers on Monday, January 22 and Tuesday, January 23.
Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. MST, with the broadcast streaming live on BYUtv and byutv.org.
THE COUGARS (5-1)
Last week, BYU defeated UC Santa Barbara in back-to-back nights on the road, winning in four sets on Friday 3-1 (28-26, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20) and a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 27-25) sweep on Saturday night.
Trent Moser led the Cougars with 36 kills on a .469 clip through two games. Tyler Herget debuted as the starting setter for BYU and totaled 85 assists, 14 digs and three aces. Gavin Julien led the defense with eight total blocks over the weekend while Kupono Browne led in aces with five over the Gauchos. On Saturday, the Cougars (5-1) boasted a season-high .455 hitting percentage. It was the program’s highest percentage since March of 2022.
BYU has won the last 16 games in-a-row at the Smith Fieldhouse. In 2023, the Cougars achieved a perfect 14-0 home record for the first time since 2014.
The Cougars also moved up to No. 8 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll, their highest rank of the season so far. BYU has also been ranked in the top-10 since February 6, 2023.
THE TIGERS (4-1)
Princeton is the NCAA leader in aces per set, averaging 3.57 a game. The Tigers have the second-most aces out of all Division 1 men’s volleyball programs, falling right behind Ball State with 28.
Ben Harrington leads the Tigers with 21 aces in the 2024 season, averaging 1.42 aces per set. In the first game of the season for Princeton, Harrington set the single-match ace record with 13 aces against Queens on January 8, 2024. The record, previously 11, was accomplished four times in the rally scoring era. The senior’s previous career-high service aces record sat at seven.
COUGARS VS TIGERS
The Cougars have faced the Tigers just three times in BYU men’s volleyball history, winning all three matchups. The last competition between the two programs occurred in 2019 when the Cougars hosted an invitational in Provo and defeated Princeton 3-2.