Courtesy BYU Photo

BYU men’s volleyball suffered through an 8-17 campaign in 2022, but what hurt the most was a 7-7 record at home in the fabled Smith Fieldhouse, where the Cougars have been nearly unbeatable over the years.

This year’s BYU team has straightened that mess out, rolling to a 10-0 mark at home entering Thursday’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup with No. 11 USC.

Make that 11-0.

Junior opposite hitter Kupono Browne tallied a career-best 22 kills as the Cougars turned in a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 25-20) victory against the Trojans in front of 3,280 fans at the Fieldhouse. BYU (5-4 MPSF, 15-6 overall) has won five matches in a row and seven of its past nine.

Browne’s previous career high was 19 kills against Ball State last season. On Thursday, Browne was rolling from the start with six kills in the first set and kept the party going all night.

Courtesy BYU Photo

When Browne smashed his 20th kill, he turned to his teammates and screamed, “Come on!”

Believe your own eyes, Kupono.

You were on fire.

“That was a big kill for me,” Browne said. “Personally, that kind of boosts my confidence. I had a temporary lip plumper going on because I took a ball right to the lips before that. But I’ve been working with Heath and the coaches to figure out how to get a faster tempo to the back and get that connection with him in practice. It’s really helped a bunch to get me going. The guys on the court were getting me amped and that also plays a super big role.”

Miks Ramanis supported Browne’s effort with 13 kills (.440), Gavin Julien had 10 kills (.562) and Luke Benson added nine (.412). Heath Hughes spread the offense around with 47 kills and directed BYU to a .372 hitting percentage.

Courtesy BYU Photo

BYU coach Shawn Olmstead couldn’t overstate the importance of the Cougars getting back to dominating at home.

“It’s a big deal,” Olmstead said. “A huge deal. I would hope that in some way, it’s us giving back to the community. It’s just amazing that on a Thursday night we’ve got this many people here. Any other school would die to play in front of 3,000 fans at their home court. We just want to play our hearts out and give them a win.”

Dillon Klein led USC (1-6, 8-12) with 17 kills and Kevin Kobrine added 14.

BYU took an early 8-4 lead in Set 1 on a tandem block from Ramanis and Taylor. USC pulled even at 11-11 and the two teams battled back and forth. The set was tied at 19-all when the Cougars got a boost from serving specialist Jon Stanley and scored four straight points. Stanley’s diving dig set up Browne for a kill and Browne teamed up with Julien for a block and a 23-19 lead. Browne, who had six kills and hit .625 in the first set, got the final two points by tooling the USC block twice for a 25-21 BYU win.

BYU self-destructed in the early parts of Set 2 with poor passing and a couple of hitting errors. A block pushed the USC lead to 10-2 and the Trojans maintained the lead throughout the set. Benson fired off some strong served and a pair of USC errors brought the Cougars to within 17-13. A Browne kill and a Trojan error cut the deficit to 22-20, but USC ran off two straight points and got to set point at 24-20. Kills from Benson and Ramanis made it 24-22 but a BYU service error ended it at 25-22 for USC.

Courtesy BYU Photo

Two kills by Julien and a service ace by Benson pushed the Cougars to a 6-2 lead to start Set 3. A Browne kill off the USC block led the Cougars to a 15-9 advantage and after a long rally, Browne smashed a point for a 17-9 lead. Julien’s float ace made it 18-9 and a Trojan error forced the score to 19-9. At that point, BYU was hitting .600 in the set and USC just .069. Another Browne kill gave the Cougars set point at 24-15, and eventually a Trojan service error earned the Cougars a 25-17 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Hughes killed a USC over pass for a 13-10 BYU lead in Set 4 and Julien’s second float ace of the match made it 14-10. A Ramanis kill made it 20-17 then Teon Taylor and Hughes teamed up for a block and a 21-17 BYU lead. A one-handed set from Hughes teed up Benson for a kill and match point at 24-20 and the two connected again for another kill for the winner.

The two teams will meet again in the Fieldhouse on Friday at 7 p.m. MT.

Newsletter