No. 10 BYU men’s volleyball sweeps UC Irvine
BYU volleyball players (from left) Brandon Oberender, Davide Gardini and Alex Ah Sue pose for photos before the 2022 season. (BYU Courtesy Photo)
The No. 10 BYU men’s volleyball picked up its second straight victory against No. 13 UC Irvine, sweeping the Anteaters (25-22, 25-18, 25-21) in the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday.
“It felt great winning in three tonight, coming off a five-set match last night,” said BYU senior outside hitter Davide Gardini. “We are all very sore, and playing a five-set game is super tough. Being able to get that win means a lot to us. We played very well and there are some things we could improve on, but we feel pretty confident right now.”
The teams faced on Friday night in a thrilling five-set match with BYU coming away with a narrow win. In the all-time series between these two teams, BYU now leads 52-20. These two wins over UCI bring BYU’s overall season record to 2-2.
Gardini paced the Cougars with a team-high 13 kills, hitting a .444 hitting percentage while also adding two service aces and three blocks to his stat line. Senior opposite hitter Alex Ah Sue backed Gardini with 11 kills.
BYU freshman outside hitter Miks Ramanis added a career-high nine kills.
As a team, BYU recorded a .395 hitting percentage on 44 kills while holding the Anteaters to a .187 clip.
The Cougars managed a 3-0 run, including a kill by Ramanis, breaking away in Set 1 at 17-14. A few errors by both teams occurred until Oberender notched another kill at 20-17. Gardini and Ah Sue continued the momentum, tacking on three combined kills. A .407 clip gave the Cougars leverage, winning the set at 25-22.
The second set shifted after two kills and two aces by Gardini. This gave BYU an edge at 18-13. From there, Ah Sue celebrated his eighth and ninth kills of the night, widening the gap to 22-17. Two UCI attack errors secured BYU its second set win at 25-18.
Zeo Meyer had a kill to give BYU its first lead in Set 3 at 7-6. BYU followed with three attack errors, giving the Anteaters their lead back at 9-8. This lit a spark under Gardini who slammed two consecutive kills. From that point, the teams tied another twelve times. At 23-21, Ramanis hit his ninth kill. A final service ace by Ah Sue sealed BYU its first sweep of the season, winning the final set 25-21.
Up next, BYU (2-2) will host the University of Mount Olive for a two-game series in the Smith Fieldhouse starting on Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. MDT.