LONG BEACH, Calif. – Junior outside hitter Jake Langlois led No. 3 BYU men's volleyball to a four-set (26-24, 25-17, 16-25, 25-20) win over previously undefeated No. 2 Long Beach State Friday night at Walter Pyramid.
"It was a nice road win for this group," BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "I'm happy for the team. We executed the game plan as a team, and now we look forward to the rematch tomorrow night."
Langlois led the Cougars with 16 kills, nine digs and six blocks while hitting on a .286 clip. Leo Durkin contributed 34 assists and a career-high 10 digs for his first career double-double, and Erik Sikes added a career-high 13 digs. Price Jarman collected eight blocks to lead the team. Brenden Sander and Ben Patch each collected double-digit kills with 14 and 10, respectively.
BYU (4-1, 2-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) took an early 4-2 first set advantage over Long Beach State (5-1, 2-1 MPSF) following a block from Patch and Michael Hatch. The teams remained close as a Langlois overpass kill kept the Cougars ahead 10-9. Following the kill, BYU went on a 5-2 run to extend its lead to four, 15-11, forcing a 49er timeout. Long Beach State stayed in the set, however, going on a 7-2 rally of its own to tie things back up at 18-all. Back-to-back kills from the 49ers' TJ Defalco brought up set point for Long Beach State at 24-23, but the Cougars scored the next three to take the close set 26-24.
The 49ers jumped out to a 5-2 lead to start the second set. BYU then went on a 6-1 run, capped off by a Langlois, Patch and Jarman block, to help take its first lead of the set at 9-7. Another Cougar block, this time by Hatch and Sander, gave BYU a five-point advantage at 16-11. A kill from Patch extended the Cougars' lead to seven before a Long Beach State attack error gave BYU the set 25-17.
The 49ers once again got out to a hot start to begin the third set, taking a 7-3 advantage on a Josh Tuaniga ace. The Cougars came back within a pair at 8-6 after a Langlois kill, but Long Beach State scored the next three to extend its lead to five at 11-6, forcing Olmstead to take a timeout. BYU continued to struggle defensively as the 49ers went up by double digits at 20-10 before easily taking the set 25-16 on a block.
The fourth set began with a Patch kill helping the Cougars to a 6-3 lead early on. The 49ers came back within a point at 8-7, but BYU scored the next three to extend its lead to four, 11-7. Poor serving from Long Beach State and hard hitting from Sander helped bring the Cougars' lead to five at 18-13. BYU then took a timeout after a 4-1 run from the 49ers brought them back within striking distance, down 19-17. Patch's 10th kill of the night gave the Cougars set point before a Sander overpass kill ended the match 25-20.
The Cougars return to Walter Pyramid Saturday night at 7 p.m. PST for a rematch with Long Beach State. The match will have live video, audio and stats. Links can be found on the BYU men's volleyball schedule page.