Lewis threatened to send BYU packing, but the Cougars were able to adjust to outlast the Flyers, beating them 3-1 in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament semifinal match in Columbus, Ohio.
And just like that, BYU is back in the championship match — for the fourth time since 2013. The Cougars are looking for their first national title since 2004.
The second-seeded Cougars will face top-seeded Hawaii in the title match on Saturday.
The Cougars got off to a 10-4 lead, and continued to have a comfortable lead throughout the majority of the first set, until Lewis was able to respond and cut their deficit within one, 18-17. However, BYU never lost its lead and was able to close out the set 25-22.
Part of what hurt the Flyers in the first set was nine service errors. In comparison, BYU only committed four service errors in the first set.
In fact, on the Cougars’ third set point, the first set came to an end because Lewis committed a service error.
BYU’s lead in the second set wasn’t as quick to build as it was in the first set, but the Cougars continued to dominate and eventually got off to a 10-5 advantage. With back-to-back blocks, BYU put an end to a commanding performance with a 25-15 win in the second set.
The third set proved to have the most competitive start, with the Cougars struggling to pull away. In fact, Lewis saw its first lead of the match when an attack error by Davide Gardini gave the Flyers a 10-9 advantage.
Down 19-17, BYU called a timeout. But if coach Shawn Olmstead was looking to regroup his team to close out the set and complete the sweep, it didn’t happen.
The Flyers stayed alive by taking out BYU 28-26 in the third set.
While the Cougars were strong from the service line in the first two sets — one of the multiple ways they formed an attack — they struggled from that area in the third and fourth set. It was made most evident by Gabi Garcia Fernandez.
The senior is BYU’s strongest server, and came into the match four aces short of taking over the BYU record, but committed multiple service errors in the latter half of the match.
Another area the Cougars struggled in, that allowed the Flyers to threaten to take the match, was at the net. BYU was held to .250 hitting in the third set and didn’t get any blocks.
This story will be updated.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/33mjaar
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