Gauchos lose to the Cougars 3-1
Thursday night at Thunderdome a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match took place between Brigham Young University and University of California, Santa Barbara. The match went on till four sets, three of which were won by Cougars. At the end, BYU had won by 15-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-20.
With its recent loss, the number of defeats that the Gauchos have suffered this season overall total 6. UCSB’s season wins tally a figure of 8. In MPSF, the Gauchos have been able to make 6 wins at the expense of five losses. In contrast to this, BYU have had a total of 11 wins this season and they have recorded only three losses. While the Cougar’s MPSF statistics stand at an impressive 7-2.
The Gauchos started off the first set of the match with much zeal and vigor. It seemed as if they would stretch their three game winning streak to a four one. Instead of that, UCSB had to face a fourth consecutive loss playing against the Cougars.
However things turned out at the end, BYU was outplayed by the UCSB’s men’s volleyball team. The Gauchos restricted the Cougars to a low hitting percentage of .077. In comparison, USCB was able to post a hitting percentage of .684 in the first set of the match. The Gauchos gave the Cougars a hard time keeping up with them and secured a win at 25-15.
Unfortunately for the Gauchos, that was the only time in the entire match that they shone. As the match progressed, UCSB lost its momentum and began to be completely overpowered by the Cougars. UCSB could not give in all that they had in the second set of the match which it lost to the Cougars at 25-23.
To make matters worse, the Gauchos had to do without their senior middle blocker Scott Slaughter for some part of the game because he got his ankle hurt in the third set as he was playing at the net. Slaughter returned to play the fourth set of the match.
The last two sets of the match were handed over to the Cougars with not much of a fight. Gauchos let the two sets go by the same difference: 25-20.
The Cougar senior setter Vince Devany had a good night as he was able to register a total of 41 assists. In this season, Devany’s assists equal 538. In the recent match with the Gauchos, Devany was able to cross the 500 assists line for the third time in his career.
The next match of BYU will be played today at the same place against the UCSB. It will mark the end of a back to back series between the two teams. For now, it is a matter of speculation whether the Gauchos would be able to redeem themselves or not.
Tags: