Leading the offense, Luke Benson finished with a career-high 21 kills, along with six digs, four blocks and 39 attempts on a .333 clip. Benson also had four of BYU’s five aces, tying his career-high. Kupono Browne recorded double-digit kills with 13, followed by Teon Taylor and Trent Moser with eight kills apiece.

The Cougars also found success on the defensive end, with libero Bernardo Adam recording a team-high and career-high of 15 digs combined with setter Noa Haine’s career-high of 14. The Cougars notched 47 digs to Loyola’s 33.

BYU would only lead during two instances in the first set at points 1-0 and 2-1. The Ramblers packed on points with a 4-0 run, taking a 5-2 lead. After a pair of BYU attack errors and back-to-back kills from Loyola’s Daniel Fabikovic, BYU took a timeout down five at 12-7. After the timeout, the Cougars scored five of the next seven points to cut Loyola’s lead down to two at 14-12, including a kill from both of BYU’s pin hitters Miks Ramanis and Browne.

The Cougars sought a comeback after a Benson ace towards the right corner, now down just one point at 18-17, forcing Loyola to take its first timeout of the set. Loyola went on a 5-0 run, taking the score to 22-17 after another BYU attack error.

The Ramblers closed out set one 25-19 after a block by Jimmy Meinhart.

Trent Moser came off the bench for BYU early in the second set, giving BYU an edge after recording a block, taking the score to 6-6. Browne evened the score at nine with a kill, his third of the night. The Ramblers then scored back-to-back points off kills by Fabikovic and Parker Van Buren who went on to lead all players with 24 kills.

BYU found more momentum with a 4-0 run, featuring a Moser kill, Gavin Julien block and a Benson ace, giving the Cougars a 14-13 lead.

An attack error by Loyola’s Van Buren pushed the score to 20-20, forcing Chicago to take its second and final timeout of the set. Benson registered his third ace of the night to give BYU a 22-21 advantage. Another attack error by Loyola gave BYU a set point at 25-24, and Benson’s seventh kill of the night would conclude set two which featured 14 ties, knotting the match at one set apiece.

The Cougars jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead in Set 3 courtesy of kills by Browne and Benson and a block by Julien. Loyola took a timeout down 13-9, BYU’s largest lead of the night so far. Benson followed by recording his fourth ace of the night for the Cougars to take a 14-9 lead.

Loyola fought back with a 16-10 run before taking its second lead of the set and earning a set point at 25-24. BYU fought off a Ramblers’ set point before Loyola closed out the third set, 27-25 after a kill by Jake Read to lead two sets to one.

Moser recorded his sixth kill of the night, to give BYU a 7-5 lead in the fourth set. The sophomore out of Gilbert, Arizona continued to be a spark off the bench for BYU, recording his first ace of the season to tie the set at 10 apiece.

After kills by Browne and Moser, the Cougars led 17-14, leading to a Loyola time out. The Ramblers later tied the set at 18 after a kill by Miller Trubey off the bench. BYU then secured the next two points after a kill by Teon Taylor and Jon Stanley, his first of the season to give BYU a 20-18 advantage. After two set-points in a row for the Cougars, a Benson kill won the fourth set for BYU, 25-22, sending the match into a decisive fifth set.

Browne tied Set 5 at 6-6, with his 13th kill of the night. After a long rally, Loyola earned a two-point lead at 9-7. Stanley later recorded his second kill to draw BYU within one. Stanley then headed to the service line and teammates Taylor and Browne blocked Loyola’s first swing of the play, knotting the set at 10 for the sixth tie of set five.

After ties at 12 and 13, Benson recorded back-to-back kills to secure a five-set victory, 15-13, winning the match 3-2.

The Cougars remain on the road in Illinois and will face Lewis University on Saturday at 7 p.m. CST in Neil Carey Arena, with a live stream on Volleyball World’s YouTube channel.

Women’s volleyball hires new technical coordinator

BYU women’s volleyball has hired Emily Logan as the program’s technical coordinator, head coach Heather Olmstead announced.

Logan will be responsible for assisting with the technical and statistical aspects of the team, specifically with game plan preparation, practice organization, equipment and off-season training programs.

Serving as a student technical coordinator since 2021, Logan was also a research assistant under Dr. Gilbert Fellingham, former BYU women’s volleyball volunteer assistant coach and statistical consultant for USA Volleyball. She completed her undergraduate honors thesis looking at the optimal components of float serves in women’s collegiate volleyball.

A native of Grand Prairie, Texas, Logan graduated from James Bowie High School before earning her bachelor’s degree in statistics at BYU this past December. She served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tampa, Florida from 2019 to 2020, and married her husband Mark in 2021.

Track and Field competes in Cougar Invitational

BYU men’s and women’s track and field saw multiple personal bests on the opening day of competition at the Cougar Invitational on Thursday at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Men’s Recap

Mid-distance runner Joe Lighthall finished first at 1:11.26 in the 600-yard run. It was the first time running the distance for the freshman newcomer and a new event overall for the Cougars who will now compete in it as part of the Big 12 Conference.

“It was a great race,” said assistant distance coach Ryan Waite. “Joe ran really strong. He executed exactly what we talked about beforehand. He just needs to get a little stronger for that finish. He has six weeks until the Big 12 Championships and if he keeps improving at the rate he has so far, he’ll be probably be a contender to score in Lubbock.”

Danny Bryant and Harrison Gould finished first and second in the men’s shot put throwing 17.87-meters/58-7.5 and 16m/52-6, respectively.

In the men’s decathlon, freshman Jaden Roskelley currently sits in second place with 3,015 points. Teammate Aaron Wood sits in fifth place with 2,684 points moving into day two of competition.

Women’s Recap

Gretchen Hoekstre highlighted the day for the BYU women throwing 16.69m/54-9 in the shot put. Her mark currently ranks No. 4 in the NCAA thus far in the 2024 indoor season. Hoekstre was only 14 inches off her lifetime best throw of 17.10m/56-1.25, a mark that continues to sit No. 2 all-time in the BYU record books.

Junior Maddy Eaton took second overall in the pentathlon, earning 3,519 points. Eaton had two personal bests through competition. She threw for a new personal best mark of 9.06m/29-8.75 in the shot put and jumped for another best of 5.31m/17-5.0 in the long jump.

“I felt pretty good,” said Eaton. “We haven’t been tapering, and so we’ve had harder training this week. I’m happy with the results based on how my body was feeling. PR’s are great, and I’m pretty happy about it, but I’m not satisfied.”

Other significant performances came from Zoey Bonds tying a personal-best time of 8.75 in the 60m-hurdles and Mayci Taylor winning the high jump with a clearance of 1.73m/5-8.

“It was really fun to watch them today after coming off a long Christmas break,” said jumps and multi-events coach Tiffany Hogan. “I was very pleased with their performances. They all have very high expectations for themselves. Some of them left a little disappointed, but I was not. I’m excited about the trajectory of this group.”

The Cougars will head into the second day of competition starting at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. with the women’s long jump. The second day of the men’s heptathlon will begin at 1 p.m. with the 60-meter hurdles.