PROVO, Utah – Determined not to lose a match at home, the No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball team beat UC Santa Barbara 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13) Friday at the Smith Fieldhouse.

The victory marked BYU’s (17-4, 17-2 MPSF) 22^nd straight win at home.

“I thought they (UCSB) played great, but I thought we outplayed them in a lot of areas,” BYU head coach Chris McGown said. “The blocks came alive for a little while and got us off track. But for the guys to regroup and play well the rest of the game, I was really impressed with our team.”

BYU vs. UCSB Box Score

Taylor Sander tied his season-high kills mark with 27 and also had eight block, tying his career high in total blocks and setting a new career high in block assists. Sander was aided by Matt Underwood's 11 kills on a career-high .625 clip. Michael Hatch led the Cougars with nine blocks to tie his career high, and Tyler Heap had a career-high 56 assists.

UCSB (14-7, 13-7 MPSF) attempted to match each of BYU’s points, but the Cougars maintained at least a three-point lead through the first set. The Gauchos did most of the damage themselves with multiple service and hitting errors, extending BYU’s lead to 15-8. Attempting to keep their lead and win the first set, the Cougars stayed strong at the net with strong blocks and even stronger kills. Sander was perfect in kills during the set, slamming seven in seven attempts.

BYU got behind in the second set, committing multiple attack errors and giving UCSB four of its first five points. Tied at 11 points, Sander and Hatch helped push the Cougars over the Gauchos with combined kills, but they weren’t able to hold onto the lead. UCSB had back-to-back blocks and a hitting error to put the Gauchos up again 22-17. The Cougars battled in the final points of the game but came up short and lost by three points, their first set loss at home since January.

The Cougars got off to another rough start, taking their first timeout after getting behind 5-1 just minutes into the third set. BYU and UCSB played point-for-point the entire set, with the Cougars always trailing by just a few points until the 21-25 loss. 

Trying not to make the same mistake a second time, the Cougars jumped ahead of the Gauchos 2-1 to begin the fourth set. The Cougars made their biggest lead of the set so far, forcing a UCSB timeout after a four-point run with a block by Heap to lead 17-13.

Not giving up, BYU extended its lead to 20-14 with a kill apiece from Underwood and Sander, and a Devin Young service ace. Underwood and Sander came up clutch with the last kills of the game to end it 25-18. Underwood led the set in kills with six.

BYU led in the fifth set, pulling away 3-0 right out of the gate. UCSB worked to earn its points back, tying the Cougars at 6. Sander and Josue Rivera kills pushed the Cougars up 9-7. Sander and Young came up strong with two kills and a block to push the Cougars up 12-9. Just a point away from the BYU victory, UCSB served the winning volley for another Underwood kill, his 11th of the game. 

BYU faces UCLA Saturday at home at 8 p.m. MDT in pursuit of clinching the No. 1 seed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament. Please note that the time is different than normal due to broadcast schedule. 

PROVO, Utah—Back at No. 2 in the nation, BYU men’s volleyball hosts No. 5 UC Santa Barbara and No. 9 UCLA in its final regular-season home matches Friday and Saturday.

The Cougars (16-4, 16-2 MPSF) welcome the Gauchos (13-6, 12-6 MPSF) Friday, with first serve at 7 p.m. MDT on BYUtv. Last season, BYU defeated the Gauchos 3-2 on the road.

Saturday, the Cougars face UCLA (14-8, 11-7 MPSF) at 8 p.m. MDT on BYUtv. (Please note the match is an hour later than usual due to broadcast conflicts.) BYU last faced the Bruins in the championship match of the 2013 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament held at the Fieldhouse. The Cougars came away with a 3-2 victory.

Overall, BYU is 33-19 against UC Santa Barbara and 25-30 against UCLA. This is the first time the Cougars have met either the Gauchos or the Bruins this season.

BYU is led by outside hitter Taylor Sander, who holds the Cougar rally-scoring era career kills record with 1,563 and the all-time BYU service ace record with 160. Sander is second in the nation in kills per set this season with a 4.59 average.

Sander is helped out by setter Tyler Heap’s 10.78 assists per set. On defense, Michael Hatch leads with 1.49 blocks per set, good for No. 3 nationally, and Jaylen Reyes contributes 1.79 digs per set.

Evan Licht leads UC Santa Barbara with 3.0 kills per set, helped out by Jonah Seif’s 10.39 assists per set. Chad Kingi averages 2.19 digs per set.

Robart Page leads UCLA with 4.05 kills per set, hitting .290. Hagen Smith contributes 8.33 assists per set, while Spencer Rowe averages 1.03 blocks per set to lead the Bruins.

Both teams will face Cal Baptist prior to their trips to Provo.

Links to live video and audio streaming and live stats can be found on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.