It was a loud atmosphere in the Smith Field House, too. These teams didn’t have quite as much to play for as the two Chicago teams, but that didn’t mean they valued a conference championship any less. The Smith Field House was packed and rockin’ with over 4,000 fans despite this match coming after graduation and final exams for BYU (the two BYU seniors Ryan Boyce and Russ Lavaja in fact had already graduated from the university a couple of days before this match).
Ben Patch got off to a much faster start tonight than he did in the Cougars’ quarterfinal against UCLA, getting four of BYU’s first five points on kills as the Cougars took a quick 5-2 edge. Taylor Gregory, one of the statistical leaders in blocks on the season, came up with a relatively rare ace (just 11 for him on the season) to get one of the point back, and then 5-4 was a long rally going in favour of Long Beach, ending with Josue Rivera tripping over Lavaja a little up the middle, opening the door for the 49er kill. Patch made it five kills in six BYU points and then rotated back to serve, eventually uncorking the first service error of the night by either team. Taylor Crabb got on the board for the first time on the rally ending 8-all.
A few sideouts later, BYU’s all-time service aces leader Taylor Sander put them back on top 12-10, but just as quickly Ian Satterfield‘s left-side block against Patch brought it even once more. Sideout after sideout followed, with Lavaja coming up with a very nice kill on an out of system play as BYU’s pass led setter Ryan Boyce to quick-set him not to the middle, but the outside. With no charged timeout taken prior, an automatic timeout came at 15-14 BYU. After 12 ties, Long Beach finally took their first lead of the set at 16-15 with a kill for Crabb off the block, but gave it back with their first service error of the night on the next ball. After a few more sideouts, the 49ers went ahead two for the first time at 19-17, prompting a timeout for BYU.
Long Beach extended to a three-pont lead coming out of the timeout, with Crabb racking up the kills on an un-diggable run of 8 for 8. 21-19 was a great rally, with BYU getting a point called in their favour as 49er libero Andrew Sato (son of new Japan coach Gary Sato) was ruled to have just come up short on a pancake attempt. Long Beach took their first timeout with their lead whittled to 21-20. They got a free ball on the next rally and Patch made sure the opportunity wasn’t wasted. 22-all was a long, long rally, ending with a Patch hitting error long and wide. Both teams reached double-digits in digs for the set on this rally, and teams sometimes don’t reach double-digits in digs for a match. Long Beach reached set point at 24-23, but the Cougars saved it. On 24-all, BYU played one of those rallies where they keep a ball alive as if by magic, but that almost never results in a point being won. The Cougars staved off the second set point for Long Beach at 25-24, and then on 25-all a hitting error by Taylor Gregory made it set point BYU, prompting Long Beach’s timeout.
The house kept rockin’ in between points. Dalton Ammerman came up with the kill for Long Beach to stave off BYU’s first set point. On 26-all, Boyce got away with perhaps a questionable set to make it 27-26, and a picture-perfect serve from MPSF Player of the Year Sander got the ace to put the Cougars up 1-0 in the match.
Undeterred by the close loss, Long Beach came out strong in set 2 with three straight, prompting a surprisingly early BYU timeout at just 3-0. The Cougars took four of the next five out of the timeout to make it even at 4. It followed sideout after sideout for a while there, with the Cougars spotting the 49ers a few of their points on hitting errors. Nonetheless, BYU took one on serve to be able to serve with the lead at 11-10, that opportunity being a Devin Young service error into the net. Long Beach took the first 2-point advantage of the set at 14-12 when the Cougars were called for 4 hits. BYU came even again at 15-all before the Beach sided out. Rivera’s back-row attempt, one of uncharacteristically several he got in this match, landed just wide to put Long Beach back ahead again. An iffy set for Connor Olbright was only too easy for the Cougar front-row to demolish, tying it again at 17, and making it timeout Long Beach.
A short string of sideouts after the timeout concluded with an easy right-side kill for Patch, finding blissfully unoccupied court (like you see in beach sometimes) to put the Cougars up two for the first time in set 2. After that 5-1 run to put the Cougs up ahead, Long Beach called time. It did little if anything to staunch the BYU run, as Rivera’s kill made it 22-19 BYU, and then a weird out-of-system play by BYU got bailed out by the 49ers being in the net. The Cougars reached set point at 24-20. A Tyler Heap block landed out to stave off the first for the 49ers. They rotated Crabb to the service line at that point, which is not exactly where you want him when the rubber meets the road, but they also saved off the second set point to make it 24-22. BYU called time, and executed perfectly coming out of the timeout with Patch on the right side to send ’em to the locker rooms up 2-0.
It was a long stretch of sideout after sideout to start the 3rd, ending with a kill for Crabb to put his 49ers head 9-7. BYU called time down 11-8. BYU played Musical Setters a little as the match went on, with each of them having their own strengths and foibles. From Long Beach’s lead at 8-7, they kept it up to 19-18 when Patch rotated back to serve — and came up with a couple of bullets to put his Cougars out on top. That prompted Long Beach to call timeout, and on the first rally back the 49ers were whistled for a back-row fault to put the Cougars up two. A big “B-Y-U!” chant broke out as Lavaja rotated to serve on 23-21. A couple of shorties decided the point, with Boyce blocking Crabb to make it match point. Sander had a shot at championship point, but Long Beach came up with the roof. No matter — Patch put the final ball away a rally later.
#1 BYU d. #3 Long Beach State (28-26, 25-22, 25-22)
Stats for the match were pretty much even, with slight edges for BYU in kills and efficiency. Long Beach did not embarrass themselves in this match, and I say the at-large is a toss-up. I don’t think a dispassionate fan (such as myself) really has cause to be upset either way. Both UCI and Long Beach are very, very deserving. Frankly it’s a shame either of them have to be left out, but as selection committee chair Brian Santiago commented during an interview at halftime, expansion of the tournament to 8 teams isn’t going to happen for a few years. We’re currently pretty well smack in the middle of an NCAA budget cycle, and even adding the Conference Carolina champion next year as an automatic qualifier is gonna take a little doing. He essentially confirmed the play-in match, but noted that Conference RPI will be used to determine who will play in it, something I’m not sure exists at this point in men’s volleyball.
Anyway, that’s all in the far future. The immediate future is BYU taking the MPSF automatic bid and making the selection committee have to think a little tomorrow (rather than it being obvious if Long Beach had won this match). It’ll be fascinating to see who gets the extra ticket to LA.
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