PHOENIX — No. 6 BYU fell 3-0 (16-25, 17-25, 19-25) against No. 14 GCU on Saturday evening in a conference matchup at the Global Credit Union.
The Cougars (15-7, 3-3) suffered its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season, with a .144 team clip. GCU dished out 10 aces in the match, holding BYU to zero from the line for the first time this year.
Senior outside hitter Miks Ramanis led BYU in kills, finishing with 10 on a .400 hitting percentage while also leading the team in digs with seven.
Set One
Luke Benson applied some pressure early on, earning the first kill of the match. Following a 3-0 GCU run, Benson tallied his fifth kill of the set for a 11-10 score, with BYU behind by one point.
The Lopes pulled off another run, gaining four unanswered points to lead 15-11 heading into the media timeout. The Cougars subbed in Keoni Thiim and Gavin Chambers in the middle of set one, looking to cut down GCU’s lead.
BYU then burned a timeout when down 23-16, but a GCU ace and BYU attacking error would give the Lopes a 25-16 win.
GCU earned three aces in the first set, holding BYU to zero along with a .097 hitting percentage for the Cougars.
Set Two
Both teams traded points back-and-forth, until GCU went on a 3-0 run off of three BYU errors for an early 7-4 lead. GCU forced BYU to call a timeout after pulling a 11-7 lead, but it didn’t ice the Lopes as they went on another 3-0 run for BYU to burn its final timeout of the set at 15-8.
The Cougars subbed in senior setter Noa Haine when down nine points, and later assisted Ramanis on back-to-back kills to take the score to 19-12. A Teon Taylor block combined with another Ramanis kill cut GCU’s lead down to 19-14, forcing the Lopes to burn their first timeout of the match.
BYU struggled to gain back any momentum, and survived through one set point but would fall 25-17 in the second set.
Set Three
BYU accomplished a 4-1 lead early in the third set, featuring two Cougar kills and a combo block by Taylor and Ramanis. Back-to-back kills by Chambers and Thiim required GCU to burn a timeout, with BYU gaining a 7-3 lead.
Three more kills by Thiim coupled with a Cougar block upped BYU’s lead to 12-5 for its largest advantage of the match. GCU obtained a short 2-0 run off an ace and BYU service error, urging BYU to call a timeout 16-10. Following the timeout, GCU’s Jarrett Anderson fired off three aces for BYU to burn another timeout, with BYU up 16-13.
The Lopes followed by going on a 9-0 scoring run, pulling off a commanding 22-17 lead and leaving BYU without any more timeouts. GCU would win 25-19 off a BYU service error, defeating the Cougars 3-0.
Up Next
After a bye-week, the Cougars will host Stanford from April 3-4 in the Smith Fieldhouse, with both matches streaming live on BYUtv.