Thiim, Benson take No. 6 BYU to second sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas College

PROVO, Utah — No. 6 BYU men’s volleyball moved to 4-0 with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-16) sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars hit .597 on the night while holding the Spartans to .161, BYU's third-highest hitting percentage in a single game in the rally scoring era. STAC took advantage of 13 BYU service errors to force a tight start to the second set but BYU’s 42-27 and 7-2 advantages in kills and blocks, respectively, paved the way for the win in three.

Keoni Thiim tallied 16 kills in the match while hitting at a clip of .652 with two aces, five digs and three blocks. Luke Benson added eight kills at .462 with two blocks. Jonathan-Teilon Tufuga hit .455 for six kills while pitching in three digs and a career-high four aces.

"I am trusting my team and my team is trusting me back," said Thiim. "We are pretty calm out there. I am super happy to be here. The environment here is insane. I wanted to take a risk on my own capabilities coming here. They trust me to do what I do, so I have no regrets."

Set One

BYU opened the match with a quick 7-1 lead as Thiim and Benson set the tone for the night with an ace, two kills and block assist. A pair of Cougar attack errors helped the Spartans come within three at 10-7 before BYU responded with another 7-1 run.

The Cougars rattled off three consecutive kills, two of which came off the paw of Thiim. Tufuga, Thiim and Teon Taylor then turned back the Spartans with consecutive blocks to help BYU take a 17-8 lead. Three Cougar service errors confined their lead to single digits before Thiim tallied his sixth kill of the opening frame to draw set-point at 24-15. Thiim then closed the door on the set as he combined with Taylor for a block.

BYU finished set one with a 12-6 advantage in kills while hitting .588 to STAC’s -0.05.

Set Two

The Spartans found some rhythm in the second set and battled BYU to the tune of 11 ties over the frame’s opening half. Despite a flurry of STAC kills, Benson and Thiim kept the Cougars responsive to each with kills of their own on the way to a deadlock at 13.

Thiim gave BYU its first two-point lead of the set with a pair of kills before Tufuga stepped in to take over the set late. Tufuga torpedoed a kill into the Spartans to give the Cougars a 19-16 lead then followed it up with two more aces and another kill as he powered BYU to an 8-0 finish to the set.

STAC’s hitting improved to .455 with 13 kills in set two but were again overpowered by the Cougars’ clip of .727 and 16 kills.

Set Three

Tufuga continued his hot streak with the third set’s opening score but two BYU errors and a pair of Spartan kills helped the visitors jump to a 4-1 lead in the third.

The Cougars quickly closed the gap with kills from Taylor and Tufuga and pulled ahead for an 11-7 lead with a kill and ace consecutively, courtesy the hitting of Benson. STAC recorded its first block of the night to come within three at 11-8 but BYU allowed its opponent to draw no closer.

Kills from Thiim and Tufuga along with back-to-back Spartan errors gave the Cougars a 16-10 lead. Benson struck again with a kill before the BYU bench took the floor to finish the match.

Lucas Torres tallied two kills and a Tyler Herget ace helped the Cougars close the night with a 25-16 win. BYU held a 14-8 kill advantage in the third and hit at a clip of .478 while allowing just .050 from the Spartans.

Up Next

BYU returns to the Midwest for another pair of matches, this time for a top 10 matchup in Muncie, Indiana with No. 5 Ball State. Catch the Cougars and Cardinals live from Worthen Arena on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. EST Jan. 16 and 17.