LOS ANGELES — The No. 3 seeded BYU men’s volleyball team fell 3-2 (32-30, 27-29, 23-25, 25-18, 12-15) against the No. 6 seeded USC in the Galen Center on Wednesday evening in the 2024 MPSF Quarterfinals.
Luke Benson led BYU with 25 kills on a .465 hitting percentage. Miks Ramanis and Kupono Browne also recorded double-digit kills with 19 and 14, respectively. Jackson Fife led all players in digs with a career-high performance of 12. USC’s Jack Deuchar led all players with 30 kills.
It was an even match as BYU finished with a .353 hitting percentage, nearly outhitting USC who finished with a .343 team clip. The Cougars also recorded 70 kills compared to USC’s 67.
Set One
A 5-0 run gave the Trojans an early 10-6 lead to force a BYU timeout. The Cougars then earned back-to-back points immediately following the timeout courtesy of two USC errors. A Gavin Julien kill and subsequent USC attack cut USC’s lead down to just one point at 16-15.
USC matched its biggest lead of the set at 20-16 following a Cougar attack error, causing BYU to burn its second and final timeout of the set. A kill by Ramanis sent through three Trojan blockers took the score to 22-18. Back-to-back kills by USC’s Dillon Klein gave the Trojans set point at 24-18, but BYU would survive through two more points to force a USC timeout at 24-20.
The Cougars continued on their momentum to go on a game-altering 5-0 run, earning their first set point at 25-24 for BYU’s second lead of the entire set. The game battled through six more set points until back-to-back kills from Ramanis would conclude the set at 32-30 for the most points won in a set by BYU this season.
Set Two
In similar fashion as the previous set, USC found another 10-6 lead in set two, leading to a BYU timeout. A kill by Benson found BYU down one at 15-14. A 3-0 run by the Cougars, featuring a Ramanis kill and Tyler Herget ace, took the score to 17-16 in favor of BYU.
A USC service error gave BYU a 21-20 edge, and back-to-back kills would take the score to 23-22, causing a Trojan timeout. Ties occurred later at points 24, 25 and 26 when BYU found its first set point at 27-26. USC then went on a 3-0 run to finish the second set at 29-27, evening the match at 1-1.
Set Three
USC opened the third set with a 10-6 lead after back-to-back kills from Klein, causing BYU to burn a timeout. A solo block by Herget cut USC’s lead to 11-8, Herget’s fourth block of the night. A block by Julien brought it back within two at…