PROVO, Utah – BYU freshman middle blocker AJ Cottle became the only player in program history to have a perfect .1000 hitting percentage with 10 or more kills in a match as the No. 8 Cougars took down No. 10 UC San Diego in four sets Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse, sweeping the two-match weekend series.
The Cougars are now 4-0 to start the season.
Cottle also set a career-high block count, totaling 11 on the night, one away from tying for 10th-most in a match in BYU history.
Senior Trent Moser matched a season-high 14 kills while adding a season-high six blocks.
Junior Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga had a season-high in kills with 11 while recording an ace and a block. The Long Beach, California native also had a season-high five digs.
Connor Oldani recorded seven kills while adding two aces and career-high five blocks. The Sophomore from Phoenix, Arizona also recorded four digs in his fifth match in a BYU uniform.
Sophomore teammate Gavin Chambers matched his season-best three kills and had three blocks on the night.
Senior Tyler Herget recorded a season-high 41 assists.
Set 1
UC San Diego started out hot, getting two blocks back-to-back to start the set. BYU responded with a 3-1 run of its own to tie the game at three a-piece. BYU continued that momentum, going on a 6-0 run, featuring a Tyler Herget block assisted by AJ Cottle, kills by Teilon-Jonathon Tufuga and Trent Moser and an ace from Connor Oldani, causing the Trident to take a timeout.
Out of the break, BYU further continued its momentum, opening a 4-1 run that was highlighted by block assists from Tufuga and Herget and a kill from Cottle. A kill from Moser and a 15-8 advantage for the Cougars forced another UC San Diego timeout.
BYU then took an 11-point lead after a 7-3 run put them up 22-11. The run was headlined by solo blocks from Moser and Oldani, with Tufuga adding a kill. The Cougars closed out the set on a Cottle kill, winning 25-13. It was the largest margin of victory in a set for the Cougars this season.
It was a very different first set than the first set between these same two teams the night earlier. Both teams hit very high percentages the night before, they hit much lower in this match, with the Tridents hitting -.115 in the set.
Set 2
The Cougars started out with a 2-0 lead, featuring a Gavin Chambers solo block. The Tridents at that point caught fire, opening a 6-0 run to force a BYU timeout with UC San Diego leading 6-2.
Out of the break, the Tridents continued their momentum, going on a 5-1 run this time, resulting in another Cougar timeout as they trailed by eight, their largest deficit this season. BYU turned things around out of the timeout, pushing an all-Cottle 5-3 run where he had two kills and an ace to cut into the deficit, putting the Cougars down 14-8.
UC San Diego then took over again, going on a 4-1 run to lead 18-9. Two kills from Moser and a block on a dump attempt by Cottle and Moser opened up a 4-1 run for the Cougars, tightening the Tridents’ lead to seven with BYU down 22-15. UC San Diego then closed out the set 25-16. It was the first set loss for the Cougars this season. BYU hit -.095 in the set.
Set 3
The Cougars and Tridents traded kills to start the set, locking at three a-piece, before BYU opened a 4-0 run, featuring kills from Oldani, Herget and Moser, with Herget and Cottle credited with a block.
UC San Diego fired right back, opening a 6-2 run to take the lead 9-8. The Cougars then opened up a 5-0 run to take the lead right back. That run featured kills from Tufuga and Oldani as well as a block from Cottle assisted by Moser with BYU up 15-11.
The teams traded points down the stretch before back-to-back kills from Tufuga and Cottle resulted in a Trident timeout. UC San Diego found some momentum, scoring two straight out of the break, forcing BYU to take a timeout of its own, still up 20-17.
BYU took the set on a kill from Oldani, 25-21, to give BYU a 2-1 set advantage. The Cougars surpassed their single-match season-high in blocks in just three sets.
Set 4
BYU started the set up 5-3 after kills from Oldani and Tufuga. UC San Diego then got back-to-back blocks on Oldani to knot the score at five apiece. Two kills from Tufuga pushed the tie to seven before an ace put the Tridents up 9-7.
The Cougars then went on a 3-0 run that featured a kill from Cottle to take the lead 11-10. A Cottle block and Oldani ace later, and the Tridents took a timeout with BYU leading 14-11.
Out of the timeout BYU’s Cottle recorded two kills and Cole Hauser scored an ace, forcing another UC San Diego timeout.
The Tridents then went on a 4-1 run that included an ace, causing BYU to take another timeout. The teams exchanged kills before a kill from Herget after a long rally that put the Cougs ahead 22-20.
A Moser kill put the Tridents on the ropes, BYU ahead 24-23. UC San Diego then rose to the occasion, scoring two straight to flip the script and put the Cougars on the ropes down 25-24 at match point. The teams then made five consecutive service errors to eventually knot the score at 29 apiece.
A kill from Moser then gave BYU the advantage, but the Tridents fired right back with a kill of their own to tie it 30-30. Cottle then made BYU history on a kill that gave the lead back to the Cougars, but a service error tangled the teams’ scores once again at 31.
Two more back-and-forth sequences ensued with the teams trading kills before kills from Oldani and Moser ended the set and the match at 35-33 on BYU’s sixth match point. The Cougars fought off four UC San Diego match points.
Up Next
BYU hosts UC Irvine on Saturday Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. MST at the Smith Fieldhouse with streaming on Big Ten Plus, on BYUtv.org and on the BYUtv app.