No. 7 BYU made light work of Fort Valley State Friday night in Provo, picking up its eighth straight sweep and imposing its will on the Wildcats in a very one-sided match.
The Cougars heated up as the contest wore on, taking it by set scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 25-14.
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“Hitting-wise, we made very few errors,” BYU senior setter Tyler Herget said after tallying 35 assists on a night when his team tallied a torrid .468 hitting percentage.
“That’s something that we’ve been trying to work on, … keeping the ball in play against any team. That gives us a shot at winning any point, and so I think we did a very good job there.”
The match marked the first time the two schools had faced each other, as Fort Valley State played its inaugural season just four years ago.
BYU looked like the more experienced team Friday evening, wearing the Wildcats down and staying in control for most of the match.
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The Cougars were led by two of their usual workhorses, senior outside hitter Trent Moser and sophomore outside hitter Connor Oldani, who each finished with 12 kills and a pair of blocks.
All in all, it was a good team effort from BYU, which finished with 10 different players logging at least one kill.
It took the Cougars a few moments in the initial set before they began to separate themselves from the Wildcats, but the Provo school really took control when junior opposite hitter Teilon-Jonathan Tufuga led the team to four straight points and a 12-9 lead.
The Long Beach native first earned a sideout kill before putting on a show with some high-powered serving that led to a BYU overpass kill followed by two consecutive aces.
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Behind Tufuga’s serving and Moser’s seven kills, the Cougars proved to be too much for their visitors, ultimately expanding on their lead by the end of the set to win comfortably.
“I think (Tufuga) really kind of set the standard for us from the service line,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said on a night when his team had seven aces from five different players.
“He’s one of the better servers in the country right now statistically, and so he showed that again tonight. That got us that separation. … I was proud of (Tufuga) to put that pressure on them.”
BYU ramped up the pressure in the second set, winning it in dominant fashion. The Cougars ultimately won the set by nine, but it could have been by more had a pair of Fort Valley State points not brought the Wildcats within 10 as the set neared its end.
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The Cougars never trailed in the set, their advantage growing as it wore on before settling on the nine-point victory.
Things only got more lopsided in BYU’s favor in the final set, the hosts going on three different 3-0 runs, essentially locking up the match long before the final whistle.
The Cougars’ victory pushes their win streak to eight matches, their last loss coming on January 24.
“(We) did what we … wanted … to do (tonight),“ Olmstead said. “We were able to get… other guys in. That was the best part. I didn’t think we let down at all. … I think we need that physicality off the bench as we go down the stretch, and especially (in) March and April, it gets real nasty.”
Right now, in February, BYU is looking pretty and will try to extend its win streak to nine when the Cougars and the Wildcats meet again Saturday evening at the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
