Jarman, BYU block helps No. 5 Cougars to sweep of Carolina's Barton

PROVO — It wasn't a road trip to the No. 1 team in the nation in Columbus, nor a home match against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival UCLA, whose coach also works with the U.S. national team.

But Friday night’s match between No. 5 BYU and Barton College from Wilson, North Carolina, was important for the state of collegiate men’s volleyball.

And the Cougars took it seriously.

Storm Fa'agata-Tufuga had a match-high 12 kills, and Price Jarman supplied eight of BYU’s 14.5 blocks to go with four kills to give the fifth-ranked Cougars a 25-12, 25-15, 25-17 sweep of Barton in the second-ever match between the two programs.

Freshman outside hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez added seven kills and six blocks for BYU (4-1), and Leo Durkin dished out 31 assists, seven digs and four blocks.

"I know for a fact the team was excited just to experience this environment, and what an experience for these guys," said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead, whose team drew 3,595 fans indoors during a winter weather advisory in Utah County. "To be able to come here, let our fans come out — it’s hats off to our volleyball community. I’m happy to play those matches; I think we need to, to promote the growth of the sport.

"We played that team just a few months ago, and some of those guys were on the team last year. There are going to be a lot more of these matchups with our conference and the Big West against those conferences before May. We’ll play them more, and a matchup in May would be nice, because it means we’re both in a good spot."

Aleksa Brkovic led the Bulldogs (0-4) with eight kills, and Oscar Fiorentino added 16 assists and three kills.

But the Cougar block was too much for the undersized roster of 12 Barton players to handle.

"It started with our servers; they were really getting after it," Jarman said. "It’s pretty easy to make good blocking moves when the other team isn’t passing the ball.

"We were disciplined, put our hands in the right spot, and got after it tonight."

Olmstead added that BYU’s block made a big difference.

"Price did a really nice job, and that’s what we wanted to get going," Olmstead said. "That’s a nice chunk of blocks, but we also had a lot of good touches. They followed the scouting report well."

BYU jumped out to a 10-4 start in the opening set, paced by a 9-2 run that included aces by Garcia Fernandez and Fa’agata-Tufuga. Jarman doubled the Cougars’ early advantage at 16-8 with his third block of the set, and Fa’agata-Tufuga served up back-to-back aces to give BYU a 22-10 advantage in the rout.

BYU hit .688 with 12 kills to just one error en route to the 25-12 first-set, holding each Bulldog attacker to one or fewer kills in the set.

It was more of the same in the second set, when BYU opened with a 9-2 run capped by back-to-back blocks by Jarman. The senior from Las Vegas had five blocks in the first two sets, and the Cougars held the Bulldogs to a subzero hitting percentage (eight kills with nine errors) in the 24-15 second-set victory.

"I liked how we got off in each start. We were aggressive from the service line," said Olmstead, whose team served 10 aces. "I thought we worked on some things that we wanted to work on.

"We can still get better; our passing needs to get better. But there are a handful of things we can be happy with."

Barton used a 3-0 run to tie the third set at 7-7 with their second ace of the match. But Andrew Lincoln came off the bench to put down a kill for a 14-10 lead, and the Cougars cruised to the sweep while substituting a full roster of younger players, including West Jordan native Cyrus Fa’alogo, the sophomore transfer from Long Beach City College who recorded his first home kill at BYU.

Perhaps the most exciting moment of the third set came when Barton head coach Jeff Lennox inserted Michael Perez, who had a lengthy back-and-forth conversation with the BYU student section, to serve. The senior who had played in just five sets prior to Friday night went in to serve, put a ball over the net, and BYU took the point — causing the students to roar with chants of “Mi-chael! Mi-chael! Mi-chael!”

Perez went back to the bench, and immediately ran up and down the first row of the student section to slap palms.

"We approach every match the same. But this is a good team," Jarman said. "I don’t think we saw their best tonight, but I fully expect to see it.

"They have a lot of talented players, and for them to represent the opposite coach out here is great for the game."

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