BYU first dominated, then struggled, then eviscerated Barry in a rollercoaster match Friday that saw the Cougars win three sets to one and move to 11-4 on the season.
BYU got past Barry by set scores of 25-14, 25-15, 19-25 and 25-13.
The Cougars made light work of the Buccaneers in the first two sets before opening the door to a potential comeback by the visiting school.
That door wasn’t open long though before BYU slammed it shut on Barry in its first taste of the Smith Fieldhouse.
“A lot of guys did … some good things,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We’ll take it, and anytime we can play more volleyball is a good thing, especially for our team. It’s really, really valuable.”
The Cougars entered their meeting with the Buccaneers on a hot streak with four straight wins, including a pair of road victories over MPSF foe Concordia last weekend to begin the league schedule.
For the most part, BYU’s strong play continued against Barry, as the Cougars earned a fifth consecutive victory despite dropping their first set in the Smith Fieldhouse in a victory this season.
The Buccaneers kept up with BYU in the first few moments of the opening set, but that was short-lived as the Cougars took over and grew a lead as the first set wore on.
BYU had a side out percentage of 85.7% in the initial set, keeping its visitors from getting in a rhythm and making things competitive.
“I was really proud of the guys, how they started,” Olmstead said. “(Junior setter Tyler Herget) was moving the ball around and getting our middles really involved, and so it was just a lot of good things there.”
Things hardly changed in the second set, with the Cougars taking care of the Buccaneers with little resistance. BYU overwhelmed Barry, scoring three or more consecutive points on three different occasions to pull away from the Buccaneers and take a 2-0 set lead prior to the break.
However, the third set turned out completely different than the first two, with the Cougars playing new faces and finding themselves in a 10-5 deficit before rallying back to knot the score at 10.
Barry had three 4-0 runs from there to take back the momentum and ultimately push past BYU for a comfortable six-point set victory.
Olmstead let a bevy of players get in on the action Friday, playing 13 different players to varying results. Only one, junior libero Jackson Fife, saw time in all four sets.
“I was excited we got to play a bunch of guys,” Olmstead said. “They got to learn through that. The best learning experience is in the game. We had an opportunity where we could get them on the floor. … There’s nothing more valuable than that.”
The Cougars reinserted their starters for the final set and nearly doubled up the Buccaneers to end the night. Herget continued to be a playmaker, living on the service line in the fourth set, picking up three aces throughout a 6-0 run that all but ended the match.
“I was … just putting the ball in,” Herget said of his serving. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was there so that we could play some volleyball and be able to win and keep scoring, and so I think that was just the real emphasis that our coaches had … keep our serves in and put some pressure on them. Don’t make it easy, but put some pressure and make sure we put (the ball) in.”
Herget and the Cougars will look to replicate that game plan Saturday when they meet the Buccaneers again in their second of two meetings, beginning at 7:00 p.m.