Weird and funky: No. 8 BYU men’s volleyball sweeps Saint Francis to open season
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- BYU’s Trent Moser swings against St. Francis in a men’s college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
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- From left, Tyler Herget, AJ Cottle and Trent Moser rise up for a block against St. Francis in a men’s college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
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- BYU’s Teilon-Jonathan Tafuga serves the ball against St. Francis in a men’s college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
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- BYU fans cheer in a men’s college volleyball match against Saint Francis at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
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- BYU’s Trent Moser hits over the Saint Francis block in a men’s college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
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- BYU’s Connor Oldani takes a swing against St. Francis in a men’s college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
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- BYU’s Trent Moser takes a swing against St. Francis in a men’s college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.
Opening night for any team with a lot of new pieces can be an adventure.
Or as BYU men’s volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead described it, weird and funky.
During Friday night’s 3-0 (25-22,25-20,25-18) sweep of Saint Francis at the Smith Fieldhouse to open the 2026 season, an attack from the Red Flash sailed out of bounds toward the Cougar bench. Olmstead — a former BYU libero — attempted to pass the ball but shanked it ten row up into the stands behind him.
He got a sheepish grin on his face and took a good deal of ribbing from his players.
“I told the guys I shanked the ball,” Olmstead said. “I’ve never done that, so just in general, it was a weird night. So I gave the guys a lot of slack because once that happened, I realized, OK, there’s just something funky in the air tonight.”
No. 8 BYU may have been a little bit out-of-sorts in its first match of the season breaking in four new starters but things turned out well anyway, mainly due to solid ball control, responding to adversity and a strong performance from senior Trent Moser in his return in a Cougar uniform.
Moser, one of four former Grand Canyon players who came to Provo after that school cancelled its men’s volleyball program last spring, led BYU with 14 kills, hit .333 and added four block assists to the delight of the 3,334 fans who filled the Fieldhouse.
“It’s amazing,” Moser said. “Playing here and playing at GCU was totally different. At GCU, we got around a thousand people a game. When I got here to warm up, there’s already a thousand people in the stands. It feels so good to have that much support. The first set today, it felt weird. Honestly, I feel like I was totally here just yesterday. It’s been like a year and a half or whatever, but I’m so happy I’m here.”
Moser said he was actually on the phone with BYU libero Jackson Fife when the GCU players were told the program was being cut. Fife immediately contacted the Cougar coaching staff, which led to Olmstead texting Moser. They were on the phone the same day to discuss a return to the fold. A week later Moser and GCU teammates Connor Oldani, Kyle Zediker and Max Phillipe came on a recruiting trip to Provo.
“I think it’s such a cool story because he’s a kid that goes to another school and becomes and All-American a circumstances kind of fall the way they did, and it was a credit to him and I think a credit to the guys and the coaching staff,” Olmstead said.
Moser added: “I said if Shawn wanted to take me back, I’m cool with it. We’ve always had a really good relationship. I talked to him and Devin (Young) and Otavio (Souza) at travel tournaments. There was no hard feelings, really. It’s just so easy to travel from Arizona to Utah for one year. I don’t want to travel across the country, I’ve got to go to Utah. I love this place.”
Moser was terrific in the first set, totaling seven kills on nine swings with just one error (.667). The Cougars hit .462 in Set 1 and led 13-7 when Gavin Chambers scored on a Saint Francis overpass. Later, the score was tied at 16 after three straight aces from Brady Stump rallied the Red Flash. From there, BYU righted itself and Moser got the final kill for the 25-22 victory.
Saint Francis — picked to win the Northeast Conference this season — got on a hot streak in Set 2, hitting .625 early to take a 13-8 lead. BYU came back to tie it up at 15 on a Oldani kill, then took control with a four-point run keyed by back-to-back aces off the bench from freshman Trevor Herget. Teilon-Jonathan Tafuga ruled the end of the set, getting three straight kills for the 25-20 win.
Set 3 was tied at 11 when the Cougars made their move, another four-point run with Moser’s attack giving the home team a 15-11 lead. A combo block between Chambers and Tafuga pushed the BYU lead to 23-16 and the high-flying Herget came off the bench for consecutive back-row kills for the final two points of the match.
“I thought we’d come out a little more aggressive and assertive because I haven’t had a team for quite some time that has done that so consistently in practice,” Olmstead said. “They’ve been doing it every single day. But I’m happy. They needed to get our here and kind of shake the rust off a little. You do it in a win and there were a lot more good things than not. I’m excited for everybody to see this team that we’ve seen over and over, because that’s a part of it, but it’s not even close to the level these guys will be at.”
Tafuga contributed nine kills on 15 swings with just one error (.533) and three aces. Freshman middle AJ Cottle added eight kills (.600) and four block assists and senior setter Tyler Herget dished out 35 assists along with eight digs. Oldani, making his BYU debut on the right side, had six kills and led the team with ten digs.
The Cougars outhit the Red Flashes .310 to .164 and produced 30 digs to the visitors’ 16.
