No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball finishes off amazing comeback at No. 6 Ball State

Courtesy BYU Photo
25mVLB vs St Thomas Aquinas 1-10 390 25mVLB vs St Thomas Aquinas 1-10 2025 BYU Men’s Volleyball BYU-3 STA-0 Photo by Jaren Wilkey/BYU January 10, 2025 © BYU PHOTO 2025 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322BYU men’s volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead has often referenced his team’s depth in 2025.
That depth showed up big time on Friday.
The fifth-ranked Cougars fell behind No. 6 Ball State 2-0 in their match, and looked like their first loss of the season was inevitable.
Instead, Olmstead inserted two key subs — junior Tyler Herget at setter and sophomore Ian Little at opposite hitter — into Set 3 and made himself look like a genius.
Herget and Little fueled a huge comeback as BYU rallied for the reverse sweep (23-25, 25-27, 25-15, 25-19, 15-12) at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Ind.
“We were there in those first two sets, we kept telling the guys,” Olmstead said in his ESPN+ post-match interview. “I thought we let lot of easy touches go in those first two sets. But our guys stayed the course. We wanted to do that aggressively from the service line and all over. Hergy (Herget) came in and did a great job and Ian Little, those two subs were really big time for us.”
BYU kept its momentum from winning Sets 3 and 4 into the fifth set, moving out to an 8-5 lead on a Keoni Thiim kill and getting a clutch solo block from Herget to go up 10-6. It was 12-7 when Thiim won a joust, but Ball State managed to close to within two at 12-10. BYU led 14-11 after a Cardinal service error to get to match point. Ball State scored once but Benson went off the block for the 15-12 win and the 3-2 victory.
Thiim led BYU (5-0) with 19 kills and Luke Benson had 14. Little contributed 10 kills and hit .389, while Herget dished out 30 assists and two aces in three sets of work. Senior middle Teon Taylor was terrific with nine kills, hitting .750, and leading the Cougars with five block assists.
BYU hit .319 and held Ball State to .175, finishing with 63 kills and 54 digs to the Cardinals 47 kills and 44 digs.
The Cougars also had to overcome 25 service errors and was outblocked by Ball State 13.0 to 9.0. The Cardinals also had six aces to just three for BYU.
Raje Alleyne and Patrick Rogers had 12 kills apiece for Ball State (3-2).
The Cardinals overcame a 15-10 deficit to win Set 1, which was closely contested. Ball State earned the win with four service aces (to none for BYU) and 4.5 blocks to the Cougars 1.0.
BYU led Set 2 23-22 and received two favorable video reviews to force extra points but the Cardinals eventually won 27-25 to claim a 2-0 lead in the match.
Herget, who started 21 matches last season but backed up Noa Haine in the first four matches of 2025, and Little provided an immediately lift as the Cougars dominated Set 3, hitting .391 and holding Ball State to -.071. Taylor got the final two kills on big swings and BYU took the set 25-15.
BYU jumped out to a 6-2 lead in Set 4 and stayed ahead the whole way. The Cardinals managed to crawl back within two twice, the final time at 18-16. But a couple of Ball State errors gave the Cougars some breathing room and a Thiim kill gave the visitors a 23-18 lead. Little pounded out back-to-back kills and BYU won 25-18 to set up the fifth set.
BYU and Ball State meet again on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT and the match can be streamed on ESPN+.