Cougs make it a clean sweep over UCLA
Well, it was deja vu, all over again.
The Cougars swept the Bruins for the second straight night, 3-0 (30-21, 30-23, 33-31), at the Smith Fieldhouse.
The way BYU co-head coach Ryan Millar sees it, his team made quite a statement this weekend.
"Not only to UCLA, but to the rest of the country, that we're legit," Millar said. "There may have been some doubters out there, but when you beat a team like UCLA 6-0, it says a lot."
BYU improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while UCLA dropped to 2-3 and 0-2.
"UCLA's a great team," said freshman Robby Stowell, who recorded a match-high 19 kills. "Our goal was to sweep them. One of our goals this season is to be perfect at home."
The Cougars dominated the Bruins in the first two games Saturday, but UCLA led 30-29 in game three before BYU rallied to close out the match, much to the delight of the sellout crowd.
Stowell was one of several Cougars who turned in a pair of impressive outings against the Bruins.
Cougar star Yosleyder Cala didn't play in the first two games, then came off the bench midway through game three. His presence seemed to ignite the Cougars at a time when the game was tied 17-17.
"Cala's an amazing player," Stowell said. "He fired up the team and he fired up the crowd."
In his abbreviated appearance, Cala had a kill, a block and two digs.
"Andrew Stewart played well, but it's great to have a guy like Cala come in," Millar said. "That shows the depth level on this team. It's pretty impressive."
As a team, the Cougars hit .367 compared to .208 for the Bruins.
Stowell said BYU wasn't about to entertain a thought of a letdown Saturday after winning Friday's match handily.
"Our team is super-focused," he said. "We're not going to be satisfied with one night's win. We had great synergy."
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com
You can be the first to comment on this story.