No. 12 BYU men’s volleyball upsets No. 6 UC Irvine in five sets
IRVINE, Calif. — No. 12 BYU men’s volleyball handed No. 6 UC Irvine its first loss of the season, 3-2 (26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-9) in a five-set thriller, behind season-high nights for Miks Ramanis, Trent Moser and Heath Hughes.
BYU (5-1) hit .254 with 55 kills in the five-set win while holding UC Irvine (7-1) to a .204 clip. The Cougars recorded 22 blocks to the Anteaters’ 10 in the match, led by Teon Taylor who carded 15 blocks in the win, a new career high.
Ramanis led the way with a season-high 20 kills while hitting .324. The California native also contributed five blocks, four digs and two service aces in the win.
The freshman Moser had a career night as he notched career highs in kills, attempts and blocks as the Cougars upset the Anteaters. The product of Gilbert, Arizona hit .275 with 16 kills on 40 attempts, while carding nine blocks, three digs and an assist.
Heath Hughes composed the flow of BYU’s offense with 47 assists, a season-high for the senior setter. Fifty-four total assists would also be a team season-high for the Cougars.
BYU won Sets 1 and 3 while UC Irvine claimed Sets 2 and 4 to force the deciding fifth set.
The Cougars jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the fifth set as Ramanis notched back-to-back kills, also getting a kill from Taylor and a block from Julien and Cherfan, leading to a UCI timeout. Out of the break, the Cougars extended the lead to five, 11-6 with kills from Cherfan and Moser.
Two kills from Ramanis and kills from Taylor and Moser gave BYU a 14-9 lead and five set points. However, the Cougars only needed one as Ramanis registered his 20th kill of the night to seal a 3-2 win over the No. 6 Anteaters.
BYU will continue its four-game road trip as they visit the Ball State Cardinals on Thursday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 4.