BYU Volleyball: Cougars lose last regular season match at Grand Canyon

BYU Men’s Volleyball dropped its regular season finale at Grand Canyon in five sets (19-25, 27-25, 19-25, 25-22, 16-14) on Thursday night.

The Cougars struggled throughout the season in road games, and posted a poor 1-8 record in true road games. The Cougars 12-11 overall regular season record this year is the team’s worst since 1996, when BYU went 8-14.

The Cougars started strong in the first set and created an early lead, before the Lopes brought the set within one at 15-14. The Cougars would finish the set on a 10-4 run, however, and win the set 25-19 on an Alex Ah Sue ace.

The second set was very tight, and the Lopes and Cougars traded points throughout the set. The Cougars led late at 23-22, but a late run by the Lopes gave them the set. The Cougars hit a match-high .536 in the set, but it wasn’t enough to get over the edge against the Lopes.

The third set was dominated by the Cougars, who opened up a 9-3 lead and never looked back. The Cougars would win the set by a score of 25-19 to go up 2-1. The fourth set was back and forth again, and the Cougars could not extend a large enough lead over the Lopes to put it away. The Lopes tied things up late at 19, and led the rest of the way to win 25-22.

The Cougars led by as many as four in the fifth set at 10-6, but the Lopes would come racing back and beat the Cougars 16-14, as the Cougars had four errors down the stretch that ultimately cost them the match.

The Cougars will compete in the MPSF tournament next week, and await the result of the Grand Canyon vs Stanford match-up to know their schedule and location. The Cougars could potentially host a quarterfinal match-up at the Smith Fieldhouse on April 13.