Men's volleyball 2016

[Surfah]

I saw the last three points of the fifth set last night. It looked like it was a hard-fought match.

BYU was rolling the first 2 sets but they couldn't pass worth crap which allowed UCSB to take sets 3 and 4. BYU was hitting really well all night. BYU is the best team in the country and it's not even really close. They're not a team that will get overpowered by anyone. They lose when they don't take care of the ball.

But UCSB had a good game plan. They took advantage of BYU's generally easy serving by bringing everyone up on the jump floaters so they could pass the ball overhead. This led to good, quick passes resulting in the middle being wide open all night. They're also a very scrappy defensive team. Not many balls hit the floor without a touch. In the end I think it was good for them to have a grinding match like that so they're focused going into the final and NCAA tourney.

Penn State was upset last night by Saint Francis. This was huge. PSU has won 17 straight EIVA titles (It's a terrible conference). But this means they're out and they're hosting the NCAA tourney this year. Unfortunately this also means that Stanford likely gets an at large now and will face BYU in the semifinal.

[pelagius]

BYU was rolling the first 2 sets but they couldn't pass worth crap which allowed UCSB to take sets 3 and 4. BYU was hitting really well all night. BYU is the best team in the country and it's not even really close. They're not a team that will get overpowered by anyone. They lose when they don't take care of the ball.

But UCSB had a good game plan. They took advantage of BYU's generally easy serving by bringing everyone up on the jump floaters so they could pass the ball overhead. This led to good, quick passes resulting in the middle being wide open all night. They're also a very scrappy defensive team. Not many balls hit the floor without a touch. In the end I think it was good for them to have a grinding match like that so they're focused going into the final and NCAA tourney.

Penn State was upset last night by Saint Francis. This was huge. PSU has won 17 straight EIVA titles (It's a terrible conference). But this means they're out and they're hosting the NCAA tourney this year. Unfortunately this also means that Stanford likely gets an at large now and will face BYU in the semifinal.

Totally agree ... I also think BYU has trouble with big/tall setters. Given weakness on the serve the tall setter takes advantage of our aggressive blocking (the little second hit dump was very effective ... Stanford was also able to do this against us).

In the 4th and 5th set the SFH was really rocking. I don't know if it came across on the byutv feed but it was the loudest I've heard it this season which was impressive given the non-student/student ratio was much higher than the regular season.

[Surfah]

Totally agree ... I also think BYU has trouble with big/tall setters. Given weakness on the serve the tall setter takes advantage of our aggressive blocking (the little second hit dump was very effective ... Stanford was also able to this against us).

In the 4th and 5th set the SFH was really rocking. I don't know if it came across on the byutv feed but it was the loudest I've heard it this season which was impressive given the non-student/student ratio was much higher than the regular season.

Yes. The SFH sounded and looked great on TV.

If BYU makes the final I am thinking of heading to Happy Valley to watch. I really want to watch Patch in person. I am not sure people appreciate how amazing he is as a hitter. He had a couple hits last night that just blew me away. The one where he went over the triple block. My goodness. He is special.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Totally agree ... I also think BYU has trouble with big/tall setters. Given weakness on the serve the tall setter takes advantage of our aggressive blocking (the little second hit dump was very effective ... Stanford was also able to do this against us).

In the 4th and 5th set the SFH was really rocking. I don't know if it came across on the byutv feed but it was the loudest I've heard it this season which was impressive given the non-student/student ratio was much higher than the regular season.

Yeah, that was a blast. Can't wait for Saturday.

[Joe Public]

Given weakness on the serve

I saw that one serve at the end that didn't even make it to the net.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I saw that one serve at the end that didn't even make it to the net.

There were several. Kind of a weak night serving. Langlois and Sander are our two best servers and they struggled at times. We only had two aces and they were both from lobs by Durkin.

[Joe Public]

BYU's firing on all cylinders right now against UCLA.

[pelagius]

Nice win boys.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That was a blast.

[pelagius]

That was a blast.

It was ... most fun I've had at a sporting event in quite a while.

[myboynoah]

What year is Sander the Younger? Sophomore like Patch? And Legolas?

Patch is a freak, and Sander is not far behind.

[pelagius]

What year is Sander the Younger? Sophomore like Patch? And Legolas?

Patch is a freak, and Sander is not far behind.

Sander = Sophomore and Langlois = Junior

[Surfah]

BYU gets the #1 seed as expected but after that all the bracketologists struck out. LBSU gets the 2nd at large over Stanford. Not sure about that. Stanford had better metrics but their late season slide I think hurt them. Also, most expected Ohio State to get the #2 seed but that went to UCLA and Ohio State in the #1 at large team. Metrics love Ohio State, but the MIVA was down this year and needing all of 5 games to put away Lewis for the championship hurt. Still the selection committee went away from their usual metrics. They wanted more cross conference play and I think the match between tOSU and UCLA was the difference there.

Interesting tournament. Olmsted said last night that BYU will see UCLA again and the tournament is set up for just that.

[pelagius]

I thought Sander played the best last night (of course having Patch on the other side makes it much easier for Sander) but this was quite the play by Patch :

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[Jeff Lebowski]

I thought Sander played the best last night (of course having Patch on the other side makes it much easier for Sander) but this was quite the play by Patch :

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I am in that video.