Tufuga leads No. 6 Cougars in sweep over No. 15 UCSB

PROVO, Utah — Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga led BYU men’s volleyball with nine kills as the No. 6-ranked Cougars swept No. 15 UC Santa Barbara 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-22) on Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse to end a four-match losing streak. Tonight's win also secured head coach Shawn Olmstead's 175th career victory for BYU men's volleyball.

"No matter what I am proud of the guys," said Olmstead. "We had a brand-new lineup and that is not easy. I am super proud of Luke Benson. He's never played over there on the right side, and that's the first time he's ever done it. There are a lot of things we can continue to get better on, and we're going to. We will take any win, especially one against an always strong program such as Santa Barbara."

The Cougars debuted a new lineup in 2025, featuring Tyler Herget as the setter and Benson as an opposite on the right side.

BYU held the upper hand for most of the match while the Gauchos struggled to take advantage of an aggressive service game, committing 22 service errors on the night compared to BYU's 10.

Tufuga made timely plays all night in making his nine kills, while Keoni Thiim added eight kills and Benson and Teon Taylor contributed six apiece. Hergert directed the offensive attack with 24 assists, while Niko Hales paced BYU with five total blocks and Jackson Fife had six digs.

The Gauchos were led by George Bruenings’ 14 kills, but they got only two kills from star player Geste Bianchi before he had to leave the match in set one due to an injury.

Set One

The Cougars got out to a 15-10 advantage in the opening set to establish the early tone of the match with Taylor and Thiim both contributing multiple kills.

UCSB’s Bianchi, who entered the night leading the nation in kills per set, also had two kills at that point of the match but had to leave the court with an injury after UC Santa Barbara scored off a Riggs Guy kill to lessen the lead to four at 15-11.  The Gauchos, however, managed to gradually chip into BYU’s lead without their star player to get within two points at 20-18 entering the final stretch of the set.

BYU continued to execute well through the next points before Tufuga finished a long rally with a kill powered off the UCSB block to give BYU its first set point opportunity at 24-20. After the Gauchos responded, Benson sealed the set-one win with a powerful shot down the right side of the court for his first kill of the match to give BYU the 25-21 win. UCSB committed eight service errors while BYU was clean from the service line to help the Cougars win the first set.

Set Two

The two teams battled through six early ties before BYU claimed a two-point lead at 11-9 in a tightly contested second set.  The Cougars maintained the advantage at 15-13 when the teams took the media timeout after UCSB’s aggressive serving resulted in its 14th service error of the night. The BYU advantage increased to four at 18-14 before the Gauchos narrowed the deficit to two at 19-17 on a Guy kill to force a BYU timeout. Two quick scores by the Cougars forced UCSB to take its first timeout with the Cougars leading 21-17.

Tufuga kept the momentum on BYU’s side with a kill followed by a strong serve that forced a Gauchos overpass that Thiim quickly put away to make the lead 23-18. Thiim scored again after a UCSB point to give BYU its 24^th point and Taylor ultimately delivered the winning kill for the 25-20 win.

BYU had only one block and one ace in the first two sets, but its solid passing and overall execution combined with 16 service errors by the Gauchos kept the Cougars in control for the 2-0 lead entering the third set. Tufuga and Thiim led the Cougars with seven kills apiece after two sets.

Set Three

BYU’s block showed up in the third set. BYU ran out to a 13-8 lead fueled by 4.5 blocks in that stretch, including back-to-back kill stoppers by Niko Hales to get Cougar fans excited while stretching the lead to five points.

The Gauchos didn’t get closer than three points in the set until finally making a run late with BYU up 24-20 to get within two at 24-22. Benson made sure they wouldn’t get any closer sending a powerful shot off the UCSB block to secure the match point and give BYU the sweep with a 25-22 final set tally.

Up Next

The Cougars will face UCSB once more tomorrow evening on Saturday, Feb. 8 in the Smith Fieldhouse, with live coverage on Big10+ and a rebroadcast on the BYUtv following the match at 10 p.m. MT.