LOS ANGELES — The No. 7 Cougars fell 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 21-25, 17-25) against the back-to-back national champions of UCLA in Pauley Pavilion Saturday evening.
Despite hitting .458 in the second set alone, the Cougars (17-9, 5-5 MPSF) suffered their lowest hitting percentage in MPSF play and finished with a .134 team clip.
Keoni Thiim contributed three aces and nine kills to lead the Cougars. Senior middle blocker Teon Taylor led BYU with three blocks.
The Bruins outhit the Cougars with 58 kills on a .479 clip, their highest hitting percentage of the season, holding BYU to 32 kills.
Set One
UCLA went on a 4-0 run early in the first set for a 10-5 lead, urging BYU to call a timeout. Luke Benson and Thiim picked up a kill following the break, with BYU still trailing 11-7. The Bruins went on another 3-0 run, leading to BYU’s second timeout of the set 14-7.
Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga grabbed a kill and Benson earned an ace, but the Cougars were hitting in the negative (-.053) and needed to gain some more momentum to lessen UCLA’s seven-point lead at 19-12. BYU gained two points off of UCLA service errors, taking the score to 21-15.
A kill by Benson staved off one set-point, until UCLA’s Cooper Robinson would conclude the set with a kill, 25-17.
UCLA outhit the Cougars in set one with a forceful .560 hitting percentage, holding BYU to a -.036 team clip.
Set Two
A back-to-back kill and block from Thiim evened the second set 6-6, with both teams battling in the opening of the second set. BYU went on a 3-0 run to gain its first lead of the set 9-7, featuring a Thiim kill and Tyler Herget ace.
A Thiim ace deep in the far-right corner of the floor gave BYU a 12-9 lead, forcing UCLA to call its first timeout of the night. Kills from Thiim and Tufuga boosted BYU’s lead to 16-12. Later Thiim’s sixth kill of the match would make UCLA burn a timeout, with BYU capturing a five-point lead.
UCLA went on a 3-0 run late in the set to force a BYU timeout 21-18, with the Cougars still ahead by three. Through a long rally, Tufuga’s kill gave BYU a set point 24-20. UCLA made it through two set points until a kill by Taylor gave BYU the 25-22 win.
BYU bounced back to hit .458 in the second set, holding UCLA to a .231 hitting percentage.
Set Three
Two kills and a BYU attack error gave UCLA a 3-0 run, taking the score to 5-2 in favor of the Bruins quick into set three. The Cougars went on a 3-0 run of their own to equalize the score at 7-7, capitalizing off of two UCLA errors. UCLA gained a two-point lead heading into the media timeout 15-13.
BYU would call a timeout two points later when trailing 17-13 after a UCLA ace and kill. Two more kills from UCLA gave the Bruins a 19-14 advantage, gaining their largest of the set.
An 11th kill by UCLA’s Cooper Robinson gave UCLA a 22-17 lead. BYU responded with back-to-back aces from Tufuga to close the gap at 22-20, forcing a UCLA timeout and BYU down by two.
UCLA’s setter dinked the ball over the net to close the set 25-21, with UCLA earning a 2-1 lead.
Set Four
A block by Taylor brought the score to 5-4 early in the set, with BYU behind by one point. After a 3-0 run by UCLA, BYU would call a timeout and enter senior setter Noa Haine off the bench down 9-5.
Thiim earned his third ace of the night for a 10-8 score, with UCLA in the lead. BYU would also enter Lucas Torres and Miks Ramanis off the bench in lieu of another 3-0 UCLA run. The Cougars were then forced to take a timeout when behind seven points after back-to-back Bruin aces, 15-8.
The Bruins reached an eight-point lead 23-15 off back-to-back kills and would finish the set 25-17 off a BYU attack error, with BYU falling 3-1.
Up Next
The Cougars will host Pepperdine for their final matches of the regular season in the Smith Fieldhouse from April 18-19, with both games streaming live on BYUtv and byutv.org.
BYU will honor seniors Luke Benson, Noa Haine, Keoni Thiim, Miks Ramanis and Teon Taylor for senior night on April 19 following the conclusion of the match.