Hauser leads No. 6 Cougars to sweep over Barry

PROVO, Utah — Cole Hauser recorded a career-high 11 kills in the Cougars' 3-0 victory (25-12, 25-16, 26-24) over Barry University on Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. 

"Another good night for us to start out there with a familiar lineup and for some other guys to get an opportunity to get in," said BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead. "Cole had his first match last night and that wasn't what we knew he was capable of. He's a great player for us every single day in practice. He got to spread his wings, and I was excited about what he did tonight."

Hauser's 11 kills came from 18 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. The junior from San Diego, California also tallied four blocks to tie a team-high. 

Keoni Thiim and Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga combined for 14 kills with eight and six, respectively. Teon Taylor tallied his first perfect game of the season with five kills on five attempts. 

"Teon and Keoni are crucial leaders for our team," said Olmstead. "I asked them to lead the way for everyone else on our squad. That made their eyes light up, knowing others could have the chance to go in."

Setter Tyler Herget earned 27 assists and four blocks on the night. He also joined Thiim, Chambers and Taylor with a service ace. 

Gavin Chambers tallied four blocks and three kills in his first career start for the Cougars.

As a team, the Cougars recorded 39 kills on a .266 hitting percentage while holding the Buccaneers to 22 kills on a .000 clip. BYU earned its fifth sweep of the season to improve to 12-4, earning a six-game win streak.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for Barry to come play here," said Olmstead. "How exciting is that. I could see it in their eyes. The amount of times that their squad said thank you was awesome, and it goes such a long way. That experience is thanks to the fans we have here night in and night out. No matter who we are playing, they are excited to watch volleyball and support everybody."

Set One

Thiim recorded a kill and a service ace in the opening points of the game to give the Cougars an early 7-3 lead and force the Buccaneers to use their first timeout of the night. Out of the timeout, BYU scored four of the next five points as Chambers and Miks Ramanis each notched a kill, forcing Barry to take its second timeout down 11-4.

BYU increased its lead to double digits, ahead 19-7 as Taylor, Tufuga and Thiim each put the ball away, profitting off of three Barry attacking errors as well.

The Cougars continued to find success offensively scoring four-in-a-row to win the first set 25-12.

BYU tallied 11 kills on the set with a .300 hitting percentage and four service aces while holding Barry to three kills on a -0.333 clip.

Set Two

Kills by Chambers, Thiim and Tufuga quickly put BYU in the lead, ahead 6-3. The Buccaneers called timeout following their third error of the set as the Cougars led 10-6. 

Barry scored three of the next four points, but two errors and another kill from Thiim forced the Parrots to use their second timeout of the set, trailing 14-9.

Both teams traded blows before Barry scored four-in-a-row to decrease the Cougars’ lead to three at 18-15. A Hauser block, Thiim kill and Barry error put the Cougars back on track to lead 21-16 before four-straight BYU points closed the second set out at 25-16. 

The Cougars recorded 11 kills on a .333 clip in the second set to Barry's seven kills and -0.038 percentage.

Set Three

The Cougars and Buccaners knotted up the score at four apiece before a 3-0 BYU run, fueled by a Taylor block and kill, leading to a Barry timeout. Out of the timeout, a Taylor kill and two Hauser kills led to another Barry timeout as BYU led 10-5.

Barry engineered a 4-0 scoring run on three kills and a Cougar error to bring itself within one 15-14. BYU responded and reached the 20-point mark first on back-to-back Hauser kills to lead 20-16.

A Barry kill and BYU error forced the Cougars to use their first timeout of the match ahead by two at 20-18. Following the timeout, Barry pulled within one point again at 21-20 and 22-21 before tying the game at 22 and 23 apiece.

The teams exchanged service errors before Hauser earned his final kill of the night and Barry hit the ball out of bounds for BYU to win the third set 26-24, securing the 3-0 victory.

Up Next

After a bye-week, BYU will play a two-match home series against the No. 5 ranked USC Trojans from March 7-8 at 7 p.m. MT.  Friday’s match will be streamed live on BYUtv, with Saturday’s streaming live on Big10+.

Following Saturday's match, fans can find the broadcast on the BYUTv app and byutv.org at 10 p.m. MT.