PROVO, Utah – Matt Underwood dominated the first two sets, and Price Jarman took over in the third as No. 4 BYU swept No. 13 Ball State (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) at the Smith Fieldhouse Saturday night.
"We came out a little anemic offensively," BYU head coach Chris McGown said. "I thought we grinded and got in a little flow in the third set. Ball State's a good team, they're not going to go away. I think we realized that and were able to finish strong."
Underwood finished with 11 kills, six blocks and five digs in the match. Jarman accounted for a career-high seven kills, four blocks and two digs. Robbie Sutton added a team-high 29 assists while Sutton and Jaylen Reyes tied for a team-high six digs.
With the win, BYU (13-3, 10-2 MPSF) extended its home-court winning streak to 36 matches, and completed a six-set sweep of Ball State (9-7, 4-3 MIVA) over two weekend matches.
Underwood fueled the Cougars in the first set, posting six kills, four blocks and four digs as BYU won 25-23.
With the score tied 8-8, Underwood smashed a spike down the line to put BYU ahead. After a Ball State net violation, Underwood struck again on a cross-court spike to give the Cougars an 11-8 advantage.
Ball State rode a 6-0 run to a 14-12 lead in the middle of the set. After Michael Hatch blasted a kill on a Cardinal dig that came over to BYU's side of the net, Jake Langlois, Hatch and Underwood recorded three-consecutive blocks to give the Cougars a 16-14 lead.
With the set tied at 21, BYU scored three straight to put the Cardinals on the ropes. Ball State fought back, closing the gap to 24-23 before serving the ball out of bounds and giving the Cougars the 25-23 win.
In the second set, Underwood notched five more kills and Brenden Sander added four as BYU won 25-23 once again.
After the Cougars took a 3-0 lead, neither team led by more than two again as the set went back and forth. With the score tied at 23, Reyes dug a Cardinal serve toward the net. Setter Sutton feigned a set and tipped the ball backwards over the net for a kill and a 24-23 lead.
Ball State's ensuing sideout attempt resulted in a spike out of bounds and a two-point win for BYU.
Jarman's five kills, four blocks and two digs in the third set paced the Cougars, as BYU completed the sweep with a 25-19 win.
BYU got out to a comfortable lead, and a block from Carson Heninger and Hatch gave the Cougars' their biggest lead in any set, a 13-7 advantage.
The Cardinals cut into BYU's lead and trailed 16-14 before Sander slammed home two kills for the Cougars. BYU coasted from there, never again leading by less than four points. Heninger crushed the punctuation mark as the Cougars took the set 25-19.
BYU hits the road next weekend to take on Stanford with matches on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m PST.