No. 6 BYU got back in the win column Saturday night in Provo against Harvard, gliding past the Crimson for a sweep in the two teams’ first-ever meeting.
The Cougars won on set scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-15.
After a pair of losses to No. 5 USC last weekend, BYU savored a decisive victory in front of 4,869 fans in the Smith Fieldhouse.
“It’s good … to get back on that side of things,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “It was for the most part (a) pretty good performance top to bottom.”
The Cougars outmatched the Crimson, with the gap between the two teams only widening with each set.
“If we didn’t get a block, we were making good touches,” Olmstead said. “That helped us and kind of slowed them down from being able to string together … points.”
BYU took an early lead in the first set and never faced much danger of losing it. Harvard made some runs, cutting into the Cougars' advantage and coming within 2 points at 16-14, but the Crimson struggled to overcome their poor serving, falling in the initial set on their 11th service error.
“I felt like, especially in the first set, I think they kind of got themselves into trouble by their misses,” Olmstead said. “They were kind of stringing together a bunch in a row, which alleviated things for us.”
Added BYU freshman blocker Niko Hales: “Everyone serves a little bit long here, which is always nice to be the home team.”
Things didn’t get any harder for BYU in the second set, as the Cougars held a lead all the way through. The Provo school kept Harvard from getting any momentum with a sideout percentage of 84.2%, only giving up consecutive points to the visitors on three occasions.
Overall, BYU’s defense was stifling, holding the Crimson to a staggering -0.091 hitting percentage in the second set.
“That just comes down to our film sessions,” Hales said of the difficult looks he and his teammates were giving Harvard up front. “Just looking for tendencies and knowing the scouting report, knowing where they’re going to go, knowing where hitters like to swing and then just sticking to it and putting the block in the right place, so I thought all around we did a good job tonight.”
Hales was one of three Cougars to finish the night with four blocks, with senior outside hitter Miks Ramanis and senior middle blocker Teon Taylor joining him.
“When we got … in certain positions, we were able to get our block really kind of anticipating (and) expecting things, so that was nice,” Olmstead said.
Everything came to a head in the final set as the Cougars bested their prior sideout percentage with an impressive 86.67%, continuing to make things difficult for the Crimson.
Additionally, a pair of BYU 4-0 runs all but did Harvard in, keeping the visitors playing catch up yet again and giving the Cougars their most comfortable set win of the night.
The contest marked the sixth time this season that BYU had earned a sweep, with each perfect match coming in the Smith Fieldhouse.
“It’s really just the best environment in college volleyball to play in,” Hales said, “so I think no one likes to play (against us) here.”
Harvard has to face the Cougars and their fans in the Smith Fieldhouse one more time before returning home. The two sides will meet for a second contest Monday night, with the match scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.