PROVO, Utah — The No. 7 Cougars earned a sweep (25-15, 25-19, 25-23) over No. 12 Stanford at the Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
"It was nice to get a win at home down the stretch," said BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead. "I thought our guys were really composed and executed well from the service line. We didn't give [Stanford] any aces, so we were able to control things well on our side. It was a night where our three pin hitters carried a big load. Across the board, I am proud of the guys for their performance."
Hitters Luke Benson and Miks Ramanis each recorded 12 kills, with Benson posting a .350 hitting percentage and Ramanis a .450 clip. Additionally, Benson tallied a match-high six of the Cougars' 14 digs. Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga also dished out six kills on 12 swings for a .417 clip.
Senior middle blocker Teon Taylor recorded a match-high four blocks.
BYU outhit the Cardinal with a .400 team clip, holding Stanford to a .280 hitting percentage. The Cougars also marked four aces over Stanford’s zero.
Set One
The Cougars sparked a 4-1 run with kills from Niko Hales and Benson, along with two Stanford service errors to start the first set. The Cardinal tied the score 6-6, but BYU answered with an 8-1 run, featuring kills from Benson and Ramanis and an ace courtesy of Taylor, bringing the score to 14-7.
The teams traded kills, but BYU was able to maintain its large lead and engineered a 6-2 run to bring the match to 23-13. The Cardinals held the Cougars to two set points, but a kill from Ramanis sealed the opening-set victory for BYU 25-15.
In the first set, BYU recorded 13 kills, four blocks and four digs, with a .520 kill percentage.
Set Two
BYU notched three-straight points to open set two off, including an ace from Tyler Herget and a pair of Cardinal service errors. After each team exchanged points, Stanford used a 4-1 run to narrow BYU’s lead to one, 9-8.
A Cardinal service error, an ace from Ramanis and a kill by Benson gave BYU three-straight points, pushing the score to 13-9. Despite a few kills from Stanford, the Cougars went on a 4-1 run, prompting a Cardinal timeout.
Stanford notched three-straight points, to cut its deficit to five, at 21-16, but Ramanis ended the run with a kill off an assist from Herget. After the teams traded kills, the Cougars kept their momentum and won the set 25-19.
BYU hit .440 in the second set with a .600 kill percentage. The Cougars also tallied 15 kills and 13 assists.
Set Three
After a Cardinal error, Stanford opened set three with three kills to take a three-point lead. BYU tied the score 4-4 and after briefly taking the lead at 5-4, it allowed three-straight Stanford points, falling behind 7-5.
Three straight Cardinal errors tied the game at 9-9. The teams exchanged points until a media timeout was called with Stanford leading 15-14.
After the media timeout, BYU took the lead at 19-18. Kills from Ramanis and another from Tufuga gave the Cougars a three-point advantage at 22-19. The Cardinal responded with a 3-1 run to make a push and held off BYU from match-point twice, but a kill from Benson secured the match point for the Cougars, 25-23.
Up Next
BYU will return to the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Apr. 4 at 7 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv.