Matthew Norton, BYU Photo
The BYU men's volleyball team is preparing for competition in the 2024 season.
STANFORD, Calif. — No. 6 BYU men's volleyball defeated No. 7 Stanford in a five-set thriller (25-13, 16-25, 23-25, 25-23, 18-16) in a conference matchup Friday night. It broke at the end. At Maples Pavilion.
BYU's 3-2 victory was led by opponent Kupono Brown, who had a career-high and match-high 26 kills on the night, including two aces and five digs. The 26 kills are the most by a Cougar since Davide Gardini totaled 29 kills against Grand Canyon in 2021.
Brown was one of three Cougars with double-digit kills, followed by Luke Benson with 13 kills and Mikus Lamanis with 12 kills.
BYU (11-6, 2-3) also held Stanford to a .285 batting average while hitting .322 with a team-season-high 64 kills.
The Cougars trailed 19-12 in the fourth set, but rallied for the win and won the fifth set in a row.
The teams switched in the fifth set, with BYU leading 8-7. Gavin Julien's solo block and Brown's kill gave BYU a 12-11 lead and forced Stanford to take a timeout. Will Rottman, who led Stanford with 17 kills, served a ball into the net to give BYU a 13-12 lead. Another service error by Stanford gave BYU match point, but a kill and ace from Moses Wagner kept the Cardinal from getting any closer. A block by Taylor and a kill by Lamanis made the game 18-16, and BYU had three more match points for the 3-2 win.
The Cougars continued their 7-0 run with kills from Tion Taylor, Julien and Lamanis, taking a 13-point lead at 19-6 in the first set, and Ian Little off the bench also had an ace. decided. Lamanis then got his fourth kill of the night on a one-handed set by setter Todd Hargett for a 22-7 lead. Another kill by Brown ended BYU's dominant 25-13 first set and gave the Cougars a 1-0 advantage.
Stanford turned things around in the second set, building a 6-1 lead on back-to-back aces from setter Nathan Lietzke. The Cardinal had back-to-back kills to build their largest lead of the set up to that point at 21-14, then took another seven-point lead at 23-16. The Cardinal were then able to close the set 25-16, ending the match at 1-1 and holding BYU to its lowest set score of the season. Lewis was the only other team to do the same in 2024, defeating BYU 25-16 in the first set on Jan. 13.
The score was tied at 17-all in set three, but BYU still led by one point when John Stanley got his first kill of the night at 20-19. Stanley then served the Cougars at 21-20 and helped BYU tie the game with 21 seconds left after a Stanford offensive error.
Benson's kill brought the score to 23 again, but Cardinals' Will Rottman had a kill and an ace to end the second set at 25-23. Stanford ended the third set with a 2-1 lead.
Trailing by five points at 17-12 in the fourth set, the Cougars had setter Noah Hayne come on and assist on Julien's kill, stopping Stanford's 4-0 run at 18-13. BYU scored the next two points, led by Ramanis' ninth kill, forcing Stanford to take a timeout at 18-15.
Trailing by four points, 20-16, Taylor's block was enough for the Cougars to cut Stanford's lead to one point at 20-21. Stanley's second kill of the night brought the score to 22, and Brown's kill gave BYU a 23-22 lead. Brown then stepped to the service line and recorded his second ace of the night to give BYU the set at 25-23 and push the match into a fifth set.
The Cougars (11-6 overall, 2-3 MPSF) will face Stanford (8-8, 1-3) again on Saturday at 7 p.m. (Montana time) live on the Pac-12 Network. .
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