No. 11 BYU men’s volleyball loses in five sets for the second straight night
BYU's Miks Ramanis (23) passes the ball during a men's college volleyball match against UC San Diego in the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. (BYU Courtesy Photo)
No. 11 BYU fell to No. 14 UC San Diego in five sets (22-25, 25-15, 25-22, 15-25, 12-15) on Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars fell to the Tritons Friday night, also in five sets. The loss brings BYU’s record this season to 5-5.
BYU recorded a .331 hitting percentage on the evening, tallying 54 kills in the match, while UC San Diego held a .321 hitting percentage with 57 kills. The Cougars recorded 15 attack errors with 23 service errors compared to UCSD’s 21 attack errors and 19 service errors.
“There were a few things to learn; the major one is just focusing on our errors,” said BYU opposite hitter Anthony Cherfan. “We could be more disciplined in executing our jobs. It’s just little things that we need to do better.”
Cherfan recorded 12 kills and three blocks in the match, just behind BYU senior outside hitter Davide Gardini and BYU freshman outside hitter Miks Ramanis, who each put down 14 kills. Additionally, Ramanis tallied four blocks. Defensively, sophomore setter Bartosz Sławański totaled four blocks. He also had 45 assists, four off of his career-high of 49 assists that he set on Friday.
Saturday’s game saw another new starting lineup for the Cougars, the eighth combination in the season’s 10 games. BYU started Gardini, Cherfan, Ramanis, sophomore middle blocker Gavin Julien, Sławiński and senior middle blocker Branden Oberender for its matchup against the Tritons.
UC San Diego won the first set 25-22, but BYU rebounded to win Set 2 25-15 and Set 3 25-22. But the Cougars faltered in Set 4, losing 25-15 to force a fifth set.
The Tritons earned the first point of the final set off of a BYU error. The lead continued as the Cougars played catch-up throughout the set once again. BYU matched UCSD point-for-point with kills from Gardini, Julien, Cherfan and Ramanis. These contributions tied the score at 6-6.
A UCSD kill and BYU error allowed the Tritons to put up two points in a row for the first time in the set, bringing their lead to 8-6. Back-to-back kills by Ramanis followed with a block by sophomore outside hitter Kupono Browne tied the score at 11-11. The Tritons responded with a 3-0 scoring run of their own, bringing them to set point at 14-11. Ramanis put down one more kill for the Cougars, but UCSD slammed down one final kill to win the set 15-12.
Up next, BYU hits the road to face UC Santa Barbara in a two-match series starting on Friday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. MT in the Robertson Gymnasium.
