BYU vs Lewis

2021 NCAA Championship Semifinals

By BYU

May 6^th, 2021

With a bye through the first round of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament, the No. 2 BYU men's volleyball team prepared to square off with Lewis in a semifinal matchup that would send the winner to the national championship game against No. 1 Hawaii.

The Cougars have made seven previous national championship appearances, winning three national titles. Head coach Shawn Olmstead has made two championship appearances as head coach previously.

1ST SET

The Cougars started off hot, leading 10-4. Gabi Garicia Fernandez served his first ace of the night to put BYU up 4-1. Setter Wil Stanley controlled BYU’s pin hitters to a .400 hitting percentage. Libero Mitchel Worthington had impressive digs keeping the Cougar offense in system.

BYU took set one 25-22.

“The one thing we do as a team is trust each other," Garcia Fernandez said. "As a hitter, I trust Wil to do his job. We don't expect him to be perfect, and we don't want him to be perfect, but he really does a perfect job. He’s just a leader, one of the best leaders I've had the honor to play with. He doesn’t get as much credit as he should. He will go down as one of the most legendary setters in this program, so we're proud of him.”

2ND SET

BYU began set two with aces from Garcia Fernandez and Gardini (3-1, 10-5). The Cougar offense and defense was on point, averaging a .400 hitting percentage and registering a match-high three blocks. Stanley efficiently set Garcia Fernandez and Gardini, allowing them to make smart kills, taking advantage of an out-of-system Lewis. Zach Eschenberg served an ace from the back line to give the Cougars the 23-15 advantage.

Felipe de Brito Ferreira ended the set with back-to-back blocks, giving the Cougars the 25-15 victory.

3RD SET

Set three started the same way set two ended, with a de Brito Ferreira block. De Brito Ferreira continued to dominate, hitting .714 in the match, with a 6-1-7 statistic at this point. Eschenberg was clutch with his kills, stepping up after a few missed kills from Gardini and Garcia Fernandez. Lewis, now much more aggressive, came back from several ties and claimed its first multi-point lead of the night at 19-17.

The Cougars and Flyers would tie many more times, taking play into deuce points. Lewis ultimately won with their fifth block of the set, 28-26.

4TH SET

After winning set three, Lewis came out in set four looking to even the match. Once again, both teams seemed evenly matched in kills and blocking ability. The Cougars powered back at 13-11, forcing a Lewis timeout. Garcia Fernandez was the first player on the court to hit 15 kills (15-5-27), Gardini and Eschenberg also registered in double digits. At 20-19, BYU and Lewis combined for the longest rally of the night. Crafty kills by Gardini over the Lewis triple block prompted another Flyer timeout (22-19).

Three serves in a row by Jon Stanley put the Cougars in position for match point. A final service error by Lewis ended the match, sending the Cougars to their eight national championship match, with a 25-20 set four victory.

National-Championship Bound

BYU will face Hawaii in the 2021 NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship, Saturday, May 8 at 6 p.m. MDT on ESPNU.

“It’s something that we’ve waited for," Gardini said. "It was a long, long offseason last year. All we wanted to do was come back, and we knew that after how the season ended last year we were gonna be able to come back and have this bit of a season. Every single moment of the game we’re thinking: ‘Hey, that's our goal. That's what we’re going to do. We’re going to play on Saturday.’ It’s gonna mean a lot to us. I’m so excited for all of us to be able to play on Saturday, even the guys who didn’t make the trip. It's gonna be a good, good day for all of us.”