RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Three Cougars collected double-digit kills as No. 2 BYU men's volleyball powered past No. 15 Cal Baptist in three sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-22) Friday night at the Van Dyne Gymnasium.
"I'm really pleased with tonight's results," BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "The guys came out swinging offensively and were effective from the service line all night. Leo set the ball nicely for us and allowed our hitters to do their thing."
Ben Patch led the Cougars with 17 kills while adding three digs and two blocks. Jake Langlois added 12 kills on a career-high .611 clip to go along with a career-high tying three aces and a team-high nine digs while Brenden Sander had 10 kills and a career-high four service aces. Leo Durkin directed the offense with 45 assists and Michael Hatch collected a team-high four blocks to go with four kills in the win.
A kill from Patch gave BYU (11-2, 7-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) an early 3-1 lead in the first set against Cal Baptist (8-8, 3-8 MPSF). A Sander and Hatch block kept the Cougars ahead 9-5 and back-to-back Sander aces extended BYU's lead to seven at 14-7. With the Cougars up 18-11, the Lancers went on a 4-1 run to bring their deficit down to four at 19-15 and force a BYU timeout. The Cougars maintained their lead to the end of the set, taking it 25-19 on a Price Jarman kill.
A pair of Langlois kills helped BYU take a 6-3 advantage to start the second set, but Cal Baptist knotted the score at 8-all with an ensuing 5-2 run. The Lancers took their first lead of the night at 14-13 following a kill by Jackson Burge. The teams remained within a point of each other until the Cougars went on a 4-0 rally, capped off by a Jarman kill, to take a 21-18 lead. A Patch kill then closed out the set 25-20 for BYU.
Another pair of back-to-back service aces from Sander started the third set for the Cougars and a Langlois ace kept his team ahead 7-5. After another 4-0 BYU rally, the Lancers took a timeout, down 12-8. The Cougars led by as many as five before a furious Cal Baptist rally tied the set at 17 apiece. With the score tied again at 20-all, BYU ended the match on a 5-2 run, taking it on a Patch and Jarman block.
The Cougars return to action Saturday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. PST in a rematch against Cal Baptist. The match will be streamed live online. Links to live stats and the video feed can be found on the BYU men's volleyball schedule page.