BYU vs. Lewis: 2021 men's NCAA volleyball semifinal | FULL REPLAY

[Music] [Applause] live once again we welcome you to columbus in the ohio state university ncaa.com proudly presents the men's volleyball championship our second semi-final features the cougars of brigham young university versus the flyers of lewis the winner gets hawaii on saturday eight eastern time on espnu let's take a look at the updated bracket hawaii has moved on hard fought three sets to none victory over university of california santa barbara bottom of the bracket number two versus number three seeds byu taking on lewis i'm paul sunderland joined once again by my partner all american at pepperdine and two-time all-american kevin barnett got a volleyball match to look forward to but a heavyweight fight might break out given the firepower on both of these teams very similar in style what decides it what differentiates these two fine teams well it might be the big right hand of gabby garcia fernandez and he has that huge international level right arm the opposite for byu but it all it comes down to blocks for them i think as well they can set the tone they defeated pepperdine in the mpsf tournament it was 13 blocks to zero and i think also they just need to worry about their side play your game don't worry so much about your opponent gabby garcia fernandez last year's national player of the year and for lewis 21-2 they've won 12 in a row are they ready for this kind of moment i think they are i think they they have some really physical guys there another big tall team remind me of a throwback to like pepperdine in the middle 90s for them it's just pass and serve look keep byu off balance and pass on your side it's pretty simple and then transition swings to score it's not a defensive minded team dan said dan friend head coach said they're improving in that aspect of the game so when you get fewer opportunities it's all the more important you convert them for points both of these teams absolutely loaded with weapons we will decide our second finalists coming up on saturday between the number two seed byu cougars and the lewis flyers that's coming up next right here on ncaa.com [Music] first up look at the starting lineup for the 19-3 byu cougars zach eshenberg on the outside garcia fernandez davide gardini going to be a big story you see bretto ferreira one of the middle blockers in the middle of will stanley first team all-american and mike mitchell worthington will be the libero for the flyers at 21-2 so far on the years mentioned they have won a dozen matches in a row big lineup there is dan friend in his 17th season has done a fantastic job cole brilheit plays at the opposite position kyle bourget ryan coonan tyler mitchum who had a fantastic match and we are underway we'll get through the rest of those starters boujee is slowed at least when we're underway nice play by stanley and a nice chop into the cross court and the first score by number five gabby garcia fernandez six foot seven senior out of san juan puerto rico real international flavor on the byu side wearing their white jerseys as the higher seed they will be the home team are you catching the theme of international talent here in the final four [Applause] one on one that ball ripped down the line but well wide [Applause] [Music] [Applause] kyle bourget wearing number 21 in the black uniforms for the flyer six foot five sophomore out of cupertino california [Applause] [Music] little stanley with some nice defensive that's going to be key and there's the block of lewis that's mitchum tyler mitchum what a development for this kid out of bowling brook illinois one of the things dan friend has done a really nice job with is recruiting some talent from other places but he recruits well at home he has a lot of really top quality players from the chicago area from lower wisconsin you see illinois kid after illinois kid that he has kept home and developed into a national threat every year for lewis flyers mitchum the 611 redshirt senior had a magnificent match as they advanced into this semi-final with their win over penn state he was 14 of 20 with no errors into your point from bowling brook illinois and three times an all-american dan friend said he was a little bit under the radar a little bit rough around the edges but he has become a world-class player and that is a world-class serve that is ace number 41 so far on the season in 20 what 23 matches now now 23 matches 70 miles an hour give you an idea clay stanley best server in the world in 2008 olympic mvp served between 70 and 74. that's what we're talking about when we say international arm another 70 mile an hour bullet first look at ryan coonan nice dig by garcia [Applause] [Music] both teams feeling each other out and a good swing by zach eschenberg six six six out of newbury park california yeah he finishes it off but a couple of really nice plays by gabby they're on his own service playing that right back position i'm really impressed with the handset a couple years ago as a freshman he didn't have that polish that finish that perfection of contact in all the other phases of the game to go along with this cannon [Music] that ball missed out of bounds but a nice start certainly from the service line [Music] [Applause] [Music] boujee back to serve i took off a couple of years well they're doing that because of covet he is actually a senior out of cupertino california boy byu is handling the ball very nicely philippe out of the middle 6-9 senior from brazil yeah not only six nine but a big thick six nine imposing six foot nine much the way we just saw patrick gassman in the middle six foot ten going 270-ish [Music] had a huge semi-final performance both offensively but particularly blocking at the net unforced air a very very tough start right now for boujee but just underway byu out to the quick 7-2 lead dan friend pretty patient but he's thinking about a timeout at 8-2 if that happens only two points that the the flyers have scored two out of the three have been on this serve so far [Music] ask dan friend how battle tested is your team and he said well i'm not sure maybe the miva the miva if you prefer has not been what it has been the last few years and this season it's down a little bit as that ball is just long you think about ohio state and loyola both of whom won back-to-back national titles but that's been a number of years now ipfw is still building they did not get a terrific amount of top shelf competition this would be a real test for the lewis flyers gibrito ferreira goes back to serve after the miss by the flyers lewis had a wonderful season 21 and two that ball missed wildly their only losses for to ohio state and to mckendree talking about lewis for byu lost to ucla twice and to grand canyon so far that is their resume yeah the last time they lost to the bruins bruins served nine aces with just 12 errors that will put a lot of pressure on you know john sprawls patience for service errors and service pressure is awfully high and the offense of ucla hit over 500 in two of the four sets in that match a three set to one victory for the bruins there is sean olmstead in his sixth year as head coach of the men at byu previously an outstanding head coach for the women his sister heather has now taken over the duties of coaching the women had a good run through the ncaa tournament but we should pause to admire the hammer off the right side i gave you karate chop off that one i'm going to need to ice my arm so after what after that this is how gabby has grown like he plays that ball in the middle the perfect footwork to the outside and then it goes through the scene but that is a high swing that is between 10 and a half and 11 feet and annihilation that is how he has grown as a player the ability to make the play defensively he didn't make and get between phases of the game into swinging at the ball and putting it away for his side unreal and byu off to a dream start obviously very early in this best three out of five set match kevin used the analogy of a boxing match okay byu has landed the first blow what about a counter punch from lewis just doesn't seem to me that they're settled in i like they took the time out as though it was a round so you can go over you can talk to your cut man you know where's freddie pacheco yeah exactly freddie pacheco you got to get the the grease put on your eyebrows so you don't get a split just settle down just relax six points first set so what his team dan friends team just needs to chill out work their way back into their game and their game is top flight they have beaten some good teams and they are big and talented we haven't even talked about kevin calling their 6 8 sophomore center out of naperville illinois your old hometown yeah he might be the best player out in april illinois we'll have to put him into contests we'll see unquestionably he's the best player no i think it's keith barnett keith barnett's the best setter i think out of naperville illinois calling is very he's terrific actually kevin is outstanding here's coonan davide gardini dug for the first time [Applause] byu scrambling effectively lewis trying to get something going in transition and an unforced error there out of the middle [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] t.j murray 69 richard senior missing that play davide gardini if you're a fan of volleyball back in the 90s and early 2000s you know that gardeni is one of the legendary names in the sport father a three-time world champion during the golden age of italian volleyball also a three-time olympic medalist two silvers and a bronze the gold has forever eluded italy including that greatest generation at least olympic gold yep three world championships in a row is pretty good usually a tougher tournament and that's a nice response off the perimeter by lewis that football ball to the floor by boujee and i don't know if davide is a black belt but his father is also a black belt in karate and i thought a personal trainer the first time i saw his dad marco mayoni went down with a sprained ankle in the world championships gardening rushes out to work on the ankle i'm like he's that amazing volleyball player and he's going to work on marco's ankle always had great hands unbelievable his father is a wonderful man now coaching in the polish league and if i'm not mistaken didn't his team win the polish league this year that is the report out of poland yeah and that's one of the top professional leagues in the country sean olmsted told us a very interesting story about how davide the son obviously of andrea found his way to provo utah kind of a long story so we'll weave it in there it was back in 2008 andre anastasi and andrea gardini were the head and assistant coaches in 2008 in beijing and they found their way to byu to sean olmstead and cook to carl mcgowan in provo utah and at that time of course davide was just a very very young man but the connection was blossomed there and it held later on and you can finish in the details because it's really an interesting story first team all-american now for gardening yeah they took them to a utah version football game and that impression kind of stuck so the opportunity to come to america and play for sean olmsted just another one of the exceptional human beings who's coaching on the men's side yep yep there's a little one foot take off back slide-ish what a magnificent pass set that up after a rocket from garcia fernandez a beautiful pass by carlos jimenez the outstanding liberal for ryder we all know that dan friend is a friend to everyone it's just how it is but he's as good a guy as you will find both of these coaches in the game or any game in terms of men and how they treat their their young athletes that ball flailed out of bounds by eschenberg six six grads to out of southern california his wife kennedy plays on the outstanding women's team for the cougars been a lot of volleyball in the last five or six weeks the women's tournament was just held in omaha and reduced to 48 teams an outstanding tournament won by kentucky so congratulations to the wildcats for winning their first ever championship and that championship is usually held in the third weekend in december but pushed back because of covet i've enjoyed this spring of volleyball i really have i i think it's an argument for having men's and women's indoor on top of each other and finishing with an april may of championships indoor and out after the final four in college basketball get a nice little focus yeah before the nba playoffs start yeah not a bad idea probably won't happen ever but i'm in favor of it john cook is in favor of it head coach at nebraska on the women's side 14 to 10 now it has been all byu so far lewis called an early timeout trailing 10-4 and here is mitchum once again lewis has gotten settled down they've gotten some momentum overpass yep tapped straight to the floor by kunin ryan coonan listed in the promotional materials for uh lewis as a five-time all-american let's just because he's been you know because of cogan he got an extra year so congratulations to him but let's just say back-to-back first-team all-american performances so congratulations to coonan 6-9 senior out of franklin wisconsin yeah and reminding me a bit of aaron russell yeah who shocked to start him with the usa men and word has it we're not going to see him this summer i hope that is not true but uh the same sort of frame i remember aaron russell middle of his senior season at ufc kind of breaking a new level and kunin has done some of that this year for lewis i think he really has a frame and a game that could go international and maybe national team yeah he looks the part and he's got a really big arm they need it in transition your roberto ferreira serving a lot of service errors we'll give you those numbers in a second like that right on cue yeah that's a nice quick swing yeah i mean he passed the ball low controlled and then that swing to the outside to be that mobile at that size he's got a little bit of filling in to do but you're talking about anybody who's got to fill in a little bit for the international game kid has a future [Music] boy that's a nice set to the outside really good delivery we haven't mentioned his name yet will stanley 6'4 graduate wearing number three and white first team all-american once again and speaking speaking of volleyball families will and john stanley jr on this team they are the step brothers for clay stanley who was mvp three-time olympian for clay stanley mvp at the 2008 olympic games when the united states won gold his father is a two-time olympian and a member of the international volleyball hall of fame but other than that the stanleys haven't done much [Laughter] yeah i remember clay coming to watch will when he was a senior coming out to california to watch some of his juniors tournaments and will just like his stepbrother has a powerful jump serve and with him at one side and then gabby at the other side opposite one another every three rotations you're getting a heater give you the numbers on the flyers serving i would call them woes so far nice dig by stanley and kept alive by ashenburg [Music] nice smart tap down the line once again by kunin kevin seven service errors already for the flyers they feel like they have to get after it much the way santa barbara knew they had to get after it against hawaii i think the feeling is definitely there for lewis you're gonna have to bring that in though because you have no aces that's a lot of free points for a team like byu and you're still within four yep yep you're still very much in the set yep but if they dig a ball they need to get in transition no question about that here's coonan [Applause] gardini i don't know if he missed his timing or just waited until the block was on the way down he's early he's too early fortunately 6-9 and fortunately that play's legal now 10 years ago that's 100 illegal yeah just throwing it too much out of ravenna italy hitting 340 so far in the year averaging just over three kills per set 31 aces on the season yeah 340 is a nice number oh that's a nice swing kept alive gardening be careful back there on the carpet you want to get a rug burn [Applause] that's a nice response lewis has certainly smoothed things out tj murray once again with a kill great call by you response in that play but the response overall from lewis they absorbed that first blow they went to the corner vinnie pacheco had some good words for him maybe apollo creed was in the corner for this fight and said listen take it easy take a breath get back you're in this and they certainly are oh no they're playing it at a smooth high level that they've seen shown all season long and that ball hit out of bounds by mickey ohio a 6-9 graduate student out of tampa finland 1815 byu let it 10-4 they've been sort of comfortably ahead throughout going back to serve once again as murray [Applause] alec leonard has checked in kevin number [Applause] 10. [Music] [Applause] and with that i think he could play for hawaii he could overpass [Applause] and that's going to be another point once again mitchum pretty intimidating right there on it he gets lucky on this play though he has to hit that thing yeah you must hit that ball you can't just redirect it and give them a shot get it there and beat that thing take a full jump and clobber it time out now called by byu and a response indefinitely indeed for the flyers of lewis back romeo illinois is the hometown of the lewis flyers not exactly as far as honolulu hawaii a lot of hawaii fans were on for the first semifinal which they won three sets tonight back with kevin barnett if you don't know where romeoville is located it is in the chicago suburbs about 45 minutes outside of town if you're familiar with the blues brothers if you're my age or older then the joliet prison is up the road i grew up in lockport which is a stone's throw across the river across the canal from lewis university until fifth grade an outlying suburb that was an outline shank pass that time by gardening and look at this lewis is back within one after trailing 10-4 to start this match yeah they punched right back leonard doing a nice job jump float six foot eight 200 pound red shirt sophomore out of lake grove new york good pass that was really a good response by michael worthington 5 8 junior libreo out of mesa arizona we're in the blue jersey for byu [Applause] eleventh appearance all time in the ncaa tournament for byu four times a runner up most recently in 2016 and 17. also won three championships [Applause] mitchum boy that's a high contact point and i like the matchup whenever it's a good pass especially tight to mitchum i would just feed him the whole time i have no qualms about setting him no matter what the opposition is doing because that's over anybody two blockers right in front of him and like you said he went right over the top 1918. [Applause] call 23 and byu where the gap comes right back after the past it looks like lewis has taken a little bit off from the service line right now after all those early errors and it served him well oh not taking anything off from the service line it's gaby garcia fernandez here he comes and you remember last night look at lewis they're on the back line they are standing along the back line with four i would cut it right now all day cut it there is a ton of real estate in front of the receivers he was trying to cut that one down in front and again mitchum putting that ball quickly to the floor registers another kill he's off to a nice start so the last two times garcia fernandez has gone back to serve lewis has sided out on the first ball they have gotten themselves right out of that rotation remember they got stuck there on the first time in the first rotation for number five the two big offensive weapons for the flyers mitchum and kunin off to a very good start eight of 14 combined with no errors [Applause] eight service errors so far for the flyers they trail it 21-19 [Music] [Applause] [Music] out to gardini another slam dunk right over the top touch off the edge of the block gardenia reminds me a lot of body type of sean rudy who was national player of the year champ national championship for pepperdine and a gold medalist in 2008 just the figure of them is the same and i i wonder will davide garnier have a very similar trajectory and career for in this case the italian national team as sean rooney did for the usa national team well we shall wait and see he will be off to the v l roster training we won't wait long no the v l v l this year will be held in a bubble for both the men and the women vienna if you're not familiar volleyball nations league used to be the old world league in the old grand prix on the women's side all of it will be held both men and women in italy that is the only lead-up competition to the tokyo olympic games coming and davide gardini will be at least have an opportunity to make that team if you're going to be in a bubble make my bubble remedy please a beautiful coastal town south of venice north of ancona on the adriatic side of italy yeah beautiful beautiful stretch of the world and a nice play and response right now for byu they had their lead cut to one on a couple of occasions and now on top in this opening set once again best three out of five [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 22-19 gardening three kills on five swings garcia fernandez three of four right now byu hitting 389 good offense after a slow start from the flyers hitting 333. byu has the second ranked offense in the country oh good sir that one cut down in front by ashenburg [Applause] [Music] [Applause] short serve again oh that's a nice response cumin very nice timing and good execution at the offensive end calling with a nice delivery mitchum taking his time one ace for lewis so far against eight errors [Music] [Applause] very close to being over yeah very very close that gabby garcia-fernandez gets byu to set point [Applause] is [Applause] oh nice pass that was a really tough opportunity really good response calling with a good aggressive delivery into the middle after a good pass by kunin down the line saving one set point good work done here by lewis throughout this set they are back into the match hitting 385 one on one gardini dug nicely that time by jimenez oh that's such a smart shot boujee looked timed measured and almost off speed but nicely done off the top of the block sometimes you just need to recycle a ball in a smart way and he gets a fortunate bounce there but of a smart shot set point number three and a service error that's been the story of the opening set byu takes it they got out quickly kevin 10-4 i thought lewis really responded nicely they've given themselves a lot to look forward to i think we're going to settle in and be here for a while second semi-final hawaii has already moved on they will play the winner of this on saturday on espnu we'll be back with the second set in columbus ohio [Music] back at the ohio state university byu up one set tonight gabby garcia fernandez a huge presence for the cougars over the last few years and in the first set of this national semi final four of five hitting 600 with an ace several other rips from the surface line and i want to talk about balance for a player and can you find balance for gabby garcia fernandez that was his best swing right there with all the defensive responsibility and then the offense behind it but you may not need it sometimes you just want your star player to go off and that'll be fine so if he's going to hit 600 byu is going to win this match and they're going to punch their ticket to another national championship being held at ohio state they have some demons they need to exercise well runners up in 16 and 17 the most recent loss was to ohio state ncaa champions in 1999 and 2001 and 2004. yeah 99 you're going all the way back to the ryan millar era brian miller another one of those 2008 gold medalists for team usa look at the olympians from byu taylor sander ryan millar who you mentioned rich lamborn who was the libra in 2008. happy birthday rich happy birthday richie usa and john stanley john stanley the father to will and john and to clay also played russell holmes also an olympian in 2012. so some awfully rich tradition up in the wasatch mountains start of the second set byu won the opener 25-22 they had a big early lead that lewis really settled down nicely eschenberg high flat off the top of the block [Music] had a nice season kevin i'm just reminding myself of his numbers he hit 324. that's really good production for number 11 and what it's kind of prototypical outside hitter six foot six good build nice arm yo einen back to serve oh that's a good delivery for i like these two setters i like the setters that we've seen all the way around but gary for santa barbara and uh for hawaii in the opening match tele in particular back to the line for lewis now goes cole brillhart the pocket opposite please explain he's six foot one playing opposite d1 and doing a great job pays fourth known as the pocket opposite they put him in your pocket go win some matches he's he's a po they don't rely on him much for much for offense he only took six swings in their match in the quarterfinals but he's out there because he is a really really outstanding all-around volunteer yeah he'll step in to pass from that opposite position you run a hybrid system [Applause] that is just a rip give me some give me some mphs wow that's not mph's right there 57. yeah well that's not right either 75 69 109 i saw a variety of numbers it has it's flicker he has blown the machine up ladies and gentlemen wow second ace you mentioned his kills and his efficiency also has three digs so he's playing at both ends quick early lead once again for byu [Applause] [Music] more defense as evidenced by that and gardini sprays that one long trying to find some hands for the flyers of lewis i'll take that swing though i like that from davide gardini i want your hitters to do that i'm sick of free balls and being conservative that thing has popped up and you can get an approach fire away [Applause] [Music] here's boujee who settled in after a tough start now three of eight pretty good numbers he was over two to start so climbing his way back up great pass real oh look at that what a rip that ball hanging in was carlos jimenez the libero for lewis but wow [Applause] [Music] yeah that's just heat that you don't get any even good college players six foot seven he doesn't look six foot seven to me he's so well put together and so athletic we've already seen that at the defensive end as well puerto rican national team is about to get better good contact by gardening one hand slam dink this with both a smart throw down if the officials are going to let that go you take full advantage yeah again totally legal nowadays yeah think of james shaw played for stanford he would do it on the second contact at the center spot i've seen it done a few other times almost a straight down with two hands very difficult to defend if there was any if there's any seam at all in the block service error that was a huge story in the opening set when the flyers dropped that set 25-22 and gave byu if you will nine free points all on service errors the first american i remember throwing the ball with one hand which is now very popular jamming if you uh if you want to characterize it by a single word jamming the ball was taylor sander right [Music] [Applause] [Applause] back to serve [Applause] [Music] there's a throw down but byu has seen that an awful lot in their own gym good block again that time by stanley and a net violation is going to be called against coonan number nine in black for the flyers [Music] [Applause] [Music] the lead in the opening set for byu was 10-4 now we're sitting at 7-3 it's been less of an emotional carry and more of a slow build in the second set [Applause] service error there byu will give you their story they've got three aces and now that is their sixth error [Applause] [Music] here is colin 6 8 sophomore center i was just about to say has a pretty dynamic serve himself they've played 23 matches has lewis he's got 17 aces so far on the year [Applause] stanley for the cougars [Applause] there's a jam on the middle we are throwing a party here like i said bob marley we're a german [Music] [Applause] nice play once again by tj murray we'll look at his numbers three of five so far both teams hitting in an exceptional clip byu 462 and the flyers hitting at 406. there's one block in the entire match i just noticed by this point hawaii had 10 in the previous match against uc santa barbara and these are two of the top blocking teams in the nation yeah i was just about to look at their numbers byu averages 2.8 blocks per set and even better lewis is 2.9 number two in the country another ace served up byu is using a very similar formula from the service line as hawaii did set in our first matchup 10-5 now another timeout called by lewis 10-4 in the opening set 10-5 here in the second as byu's lead [Applause] number one seed university of hawaii has advanced to our championship match that's coming up this saturday eight eastern on espnu will it be byu the number two overall siege champions in mountain pacific sports federation or lewis coming out of the miva back with kevin barnett all-american at pepperdine and two-time olympian i'm paul sunderland gardini back to serve and i want to go back and revisit one of your keys for lewis because it seems like it was serve and pass equals and right now serve and pass is being won by gardenia and the cougars right the equation has gone to the other side pretty nice looking side out score once again by boujee he's responded nicely averaging 2.8 kills per set hitting 308 eight kills on 18 swings in lewis's win over the penn state nittany lions on tuesday in what was the quarterfinals well the unfortunate news for lewis in the second set is again that they were doubled up at their first time out but it was all different ways garcia fernandez wasn't really doing the damage it was davide gardini doing the damage and there he is again actually i mean on the outside but it's different ways that byu is winning they're winning with aces as well four aces now and so if you're louis you're kind of responded to one method of attack and now you're receiving another method of attack you have to pivot and respond again you're constantly on the defensive through a set and a half ball set pretty tight that ball rocketed over the top looking for a touch will stanley is saying no don't challenge i'll tell you lewis was very smart they got that first contact on the setter will stanley and then the offsetter set that ball way too tight that time for gabby garcia fernandez i'll tell you if gabby gets his feet just a little bit closer and elevates i think he kills that thing into the court [Applause] nice cover good hard work that time by worthington keeping the ball off the floor and right back at you by grill hot if you had the over on the number of set kills the net see the woman at the cage and collect your money 12 7 is the advantage here because here's another one yep they don't ask you how well that's a break for lewis they've been siding out you pointed it out that they had sided out with garcia fernandez serving kept him off the line yeah well last time you remember he got one ace but then lewis was able to get out of there [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh that's that's tough that's an unforced error by colin not a bad idea [Applause] [Music] [Applause] a wry smile but that was a very important missed opportunity clearly a two-point switch could have been 12-9 as eshenberg goes back to the line for the cougars of byu [Music] mitchum again he is an impressive weapon out of the middle if they can pass a little bit better and get him a number of opportunities hit 489 so far on the year 1.3 blocks and that's just right over ferreira right over him he was there that's a good good looking block does not have the toughest jump serve or the toughest float serve right now i'd love to see him develop a jump serve with his length you can see him swing at the net but it is rare that middles have big jump serves yeah i noticed it wildly rare yeah yep why is that kevin uh i think because it's such a small window they work in they get their arm ready and they snap the ball around a lot rather than the big wind-up and swing deserve down the line and yo right there to tap it down that nice work done from the service line but the mechanics that are necessary for a powerful jump serve are not the mechanics that are used by middle blockers in attack i agree with that the mechanics are used by outside hitters and opposites in attack that are used at the service line longer approach long run up big high ball yeah yep yep i agree just as i say that there's a near ace from a middle blocker smart shot up into the block restart the point yeah that ball wow what a block and that was on kunin the six foot nine outside hitter but what a stuff that time by byu and this was a good idea of a shot here kunin goes up this ball is tight and he tries to kind of wipe it sideways but it just gets caught in all those hands that are up high johan and gardini and echenberg there as well that was i agree with you kev that was not a terribly thought out swing that was just a better block oh yeah it's will stanley up there in the right front aha and back to back misses that time again by garcia fernandez [Applause] [Music] [Applause] conversation between sean olmstead and the second referee we may have our first challenge maybe coach olmstead thinking that there might have been a net violation earlier on in that rally but no challenge each team with three challenges and unlike in the women's game you just saw that tournament in the women's ncaa rules if you use a challenge you have used it and have it no longer no matter the result in the men's game nice play by ashenburg in the men's game if you were proven correct to keep it so you basically like internationally have an infinite number of challenges i'm enjoying watching will stanley work gabby garcia fernandez talk him up all you want great player eight attempts heschenberg nine attempts davide gardini nine attempts five attempts for the other middle yeah so this is a setter utilizing all of his weapons to the benefit of his team that's a great point will stanley a first-team all-american coming from a magnificent volleyball family and tradition and the coaching staff the olmstead family elmstead clan hidden bad either time out taken byu leading 18 to 10 byu hitting at 429 and they're hitting 467 in the second set whereas lewis has dropped significantly hitting over 400 in the first down to 167 here in the second yeah both of these head coaches have terrific coaching families when you look at sean olmstead coached the women then went over to the menace sister coaches the women at byu too much success and on the other side dan friend his wife laura lee coaches the women at lewis yeah family affair and rick olmstead of course long time coach in santa barbara who's karcher durham's high school coach and long time referee this family is just absolutely dedicated to the sport and having a lot of success heather olmstead was national coach of the year a couple of years ago when she took her cougars to the national semifinals yeah i knew rick olmstead as a referee during my time of playing i'm sure you were good buddies oh well i still have several yellow cards from him at my house thank you rick hawaii waiting in the wings a winner earlier today over a very game uc santa barbara boyd speaking of how tough they were santa barbara made a couple of unbelievable saves sprinting all over the building here at the cavelli center and uh somebody from ohio state came up to us afterwards and it's a good thing we you know we have to have these precautions so all the bleachers are pushed up against the wall because santa barbara needed all that real estate to keep the ball off of the floor it's a great point it has provided some terrific runs to the edges yeah coming out of the timeout here is stanley once again 18 to 10 advantage good block touch in the middle by johayne [Applause] [Music] oh what a smack into the cross court by kunin ryan coonan back-to-back first-team all-american honors 4.4 kills per set 347 so far on the year big numbers i talked about cole brillhart at the opposite position he has not gotten a set yet so you really need a lot out of number nine [Applause] that was a very tight set maybe an opportunity but boujee could not get over to make the play defensively [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and that's a missed opportunity there for lewis you could tell right away that garcia fernandez was not going to take a whack at that [Music] [Applause] [Music] gardini trying to go off speed that's a bad toss he threw that thing too low and two forward in front of him and just tried to do something with it there wasn't a lot to do with that that's when you blame your setter [Applause] complete yourself of that skill [Applause] middle blocker back to serve now for lewis trailing by seven already down one set tonight [Applause] oh that's such a smart swing number five just changing direction just a little bit keaton long six foot five freshman out of plano texas wearing number 16 on the floor now in the right front for [Music] lewis [Applause] [Music] [Applause] service error by nikki yohinin [Music] the pace of this second set is slow just a little bit a couple of service areas couple of untimely miscues now byu's kind of been in control i think that's flattened out the emotion in the building yeah oh nice pass by worthington that was a oh wow wow sport court damage he is the real deal patient he is here i mean one on one this should be a win every single time that swing right there his body language reminds me of george romain one of the largest mammals ever to play volleyball [Applause] well it's a good swing really nice response bouchette has been impressive and again his numbers i know it was a small sample size but we've been off to a little bit of a slow start since then he has been fantastic five of 11 almost hitting 270 almost hitting 300 now for dan friend 2019 into the semi-finals at long beach was lewis then they ended up finishing they don't play it played out they finished officially tied for third [Applause] garcia again oh it's rejected mitchum again boy he has been really good [Applause] question is can you turn it into some emotion for your side typically in a close match that's a big momentum shifter but at 2115 not a lot to be carried from it yeah and i don't know if you want to wag your finger i'll uh at 20 to 15 and that ball hit out of bounds it's my favorite geico commercial right now the byu bullpen is having a lot of fun right now that time unfortunately at the expense of the flyers of lewis as that overpass was hit out of bounds 22-15 echenberg's been really solid shank pass calling cannot keep that ball alive and now byu just two points away from a big advantage [Music] if you remember back to those ohio state losses for byu in the finals it was the same story both times they could not pass the ball they were passing the ball backwards and got run out the gym well that is a role reversal for the moment against lewis in this national semifinal those were a couple of really really good ohio state teams nice block out of the middle working against mitchum and kunin is rejected [Applause] 16 in white set points now for byu to take a commanding lead louis just six for 20 here with five errors in the second set kunin going off speed rejected again back-to-back stuffs kevin by byu through two sets there's a cougar that right now is choking on a scarf someone help him out because he's eating the flyer my goodness what a powerful performance through two it's up to byu now to finish it off in the third they've done it every which way powerful serving aces and now picking up the block game at the very end of this [Music] back live in columbus the ohio state university ncaa.com proudly presenting the men's volleyball championship look at the updated bracket mentioned it hawaii congratulations moving on to the championship match a hard fought albeit three sets to none victory over university california santa barbara and they are the number one seeds there in the championship match coming up saturday at 8 00 pm eastern on espnu and right now it looks like it will be number one versus number two and so the question obviously kevin is how do the flyers turn it around it's a team with a lot of weapons but right now they're being outplayed just about every phase yeah you're going to find a way to get your footing you're gonna have to put some service pressure on byu thus far you have done nothing to pressure byu into any sort of destabilization so i'd start with that but you have to manage that with all the misses right they've had far too many misses in their service game and that's been an issue from the very start 13 service errors just one ace byu five aces on nine errors and never mind a whole bunch of passes that are 35 feet in the air yep yep that has been the story so far remember the opening set where byu got out to the quick start lewis found their footing got right back into it but they missed nine serves in that opening set and lost it only 25-22 it was all byu in the second out to a 10-5 lead and closed out the flyers of lewis 25 to 15 and mitchum now is blocked three straight blocks by number 16 in white the unusual thing about this match was we were all the way through the first set and there was one block going on we're talking about taking the line that's right that's right they made a limited supply in ohio state but now byu is really asserting themselves with some good reads at the net five blocks [Applause] and a quick back-to-back hitting errors this time number 16 coming on the floor replacing brill hart is number 16 keaton long as i mentioned six foot five freshman out of plano texas [Applause] big moment for the freshman why would uh dan friend make that particular substitution because you have to find some offense from somewhere and brill hart is not where it's coming from you weren't using him at all so you have to change what you're doing can you continue to pass well enough to play a freshman opposite that you're not going to get any passing out of so it's up to your outside hitters to pass the ball now it's up to boujee and number nine kunin to take care of that alongside your libero bourget has been pretty good offensively six of 12 hit 333 kunin struggled a little bit six kills but he's got four errors on 18 swings that ball hit well and lewis we're tied at two and speaking of twos byu up two sets to none as the number two seed [Music] [Applause] that is such a good swing that ball was pretty tight ashenburg just went way up in the night to get it how about the fling from will stanley yeah yeah yeah will stanley has been very impressive you talked about how he was distributing the ball and sharing the wealth that's a really good quality swing yeah he located that thing from 30 feet garcia fernandez back to serve looking to add to his total already with a pair of aces oh great pass yeah mitchum on the slide we've seen three slides tonight that is more backslides in men's volleyball than has been seen in 10 years i was going to say 30 but i'm always hyperbolic one i was just careful to avoid brad keenan he ran it all the time i liked him i like the play [Applause] [Music] get it away from number 16 and white if you can eschenberg again giving his numbers seven kills on 12 swings [Music] hitting almost 500 for number 11 in life as a matter of fact hitting 500 on the dot yeah you're not able to slow anybody down right now byu is just running their offense at will and will stanley feels like it doesn't matter where he goes it's pretty confident it's going to be put away gardening is stuffed three-man block out of the middle mitchum there with some help from colin [Applause] foreign with his third block seven of 12 so far he too hitting 500. [Music] oh that's a smart shot a little reverse flip over the top nicely done that time by will stanley kind of doing it all cowling very very good as well it's just a really good read both teams passing the ball pretty darn well right now yeah 5'4 i like to start for the flyers it's the first time they've been in contact early trailed 10-4 and 10-5 in the first two sets kunin nice shot off the top of the block it's a good match-up for them with coonan going against stanley yeah see if they can exploit that a little bit see if they can get some production out of their opposite position and change the narrative in this match and his colors are pretty familiar to a lot of volleyball fans the black and red there's gonna be one last black and red team in the world of men's volleyball stanford cut their program about a year ago a little less than a year ago and told the coaches and players sorry you're gonna play one more season and then you're done i thought a really nice move by the players that they blacked out the stanford logo on the front of the jersey as well as the back for their final match oh i did not see that that was a player's decision to do that to their jerseys and stanford was not a middling program this is a team that produced any number of players of the year all americans nationals correct yeah they were in the national championship game as recently as 2014 against loyola yeah [Music] and uh i i think given the situation over there at stanford an embarrassment to get rid of the men's volleyball team yeah the women's team has won back-to-back national titles and very sad to see them go gardening able to tuck that ball down inside t.j murray good offense once again by byu handling the ball well [Applause] chance here for byu and take full advantage that's going to be a double [Music] [Applause] [Music] contact i'm just looking back through stanford was runner-up in the ncaa's in 1989 they won a national championship in 1997 and you talked about and then they were uh runners-up again in 2014. they won in 2010 as well yeah yeah [Music] [Applause] yeah and any number of athletes from that program are on the national team it's it's impossible to call that program unsuccessful when you're producing athletes that are olympians representing your school [Music] it's a question of priorities and i think that that athletic department is an embarrassment for what they did to men's volleyball i mean they cut programs that were fully endowed yeah yeah that that's ridiculous the program costs you nothing what are you getting rid of right thinking about mike lambert great player for the united states gabe gardner on the gold medalist in 2008 also stanford matt ferbringer four-time all-american the shogis shoji brothers currently on the national team 2b olympians again in tokyo this year [Applause] [Music] nice dig by stanley right on target and that ball gaffed by garcia fernandez [Applause] well this has been by far the closest lewis has been at this stage of either set i mentioned previously 10-4 deficit in the opening set 10-5 here in the second [Applause] pipe combination and missed out of bounds gardening's missed a couple he missed one hitting out of the left front this time out of the middle back [Music] and this is the first lead of the match for lewis [Music] a very similar situation to uc santa barbara in our first match everything to play for nothing to lose swing free get after it must win situation obviously for lewis yeah an interesting point with this floor i'm seeing pressure dimples when the players are jumping that is typically not something you get off of this surface is often laid on concrete right on top of felt for many places here it is flexing through to the bottom of the wooden floor slide once again nice dig down the line by the liberal worthington up into the block but cannot be controlled not a bad shot by hessenberg but better done by tyler mitchum ashenberg looks like he stepped into a pressure dimple there he went to jump and just didn't get off the ground at all well i've never heard the poor pressure dimple before i like that a lot but how does that affect the play if at all no it's actually good you're getting some spring out of the floor if you think of old maple's pavilion to bring up stanford again that place was like jumping on a trampoline yeah yep service winner nicely done by bourget again [Applause] number 21 in black out of cupertino california coming in with 29 aces gets the service winner here and for the first time some real pressure on byu [Music] [Applause] oh boucher got to do better with it than that went deep into his hands garcia again slowed it once they had the blockers there kevin but couldn't get the job done no it's a tough ask and the problem is you can't just focus on him because you have zach esterberg hitting 385 you have gardenia that's the only guy you've really gotten to at 0.71 so that's one thing but then the middles are both hitting over 500. often you can focus in on somebody slow them down and then you can kind of take care of some other people right now you have too many people who are going off kunin going high flat the official in the far corner all the officials got it that is a very very good swing coonan now eight kills 21 swings to get there not a very good efficiency at only 190 way below his season average of 347. nice offense passed and killed by gardening and a great call by you nice offense all right that's how you do it right pass right into the approach and then hit those lines because even if you don't get the ball to pass down the line you're going to catch an outside hand there it's going to chisel out no chance for the defense to pick that one up if you do catch the hand at the net [Applause] good touch that time by gardening and throws the ball smartly off the block that is an experienced play and he has played an awful lot of high level junior youth volleyball u-21 for italy we're learning earlier today about some of the extensive training he's gotten with the fine international program and development program in italy many out many out [Applause] no we are going to have a challenge potential net violation against gardini i did not see anything of the sword i thought it was a really good play that is keith merliss down there i i thought he had a hat permanently attached to his head usually not advised no i thought that thing was sewn in or something you don't see keith to the terrific beach referee no there's nothing there no there's nothing there not even close except the exceptional play really smart shot really smart shot i had no idea keith merliss had hair on top of his head we were talking earlier today to your old friend giuseppe the developer of data bali been a great source of data and information for volleyball teams around the world at all kinds of levels assistance sold that company and he is a volunteer assistant coach at byu there he is right there on the left of your screen and uh told us about the training that the young players in italy get of which uh davide gardini has been a beneficiary and now byu right they'll take their under 21 team their youth development teams and they'll put them in a2 and have them actually play a schedule against the second division in italy they said he said they did on both sides but on the women's side for a little while when ugonu was young and a couple other very good players they put him in a one yeah the developmental team the women's youth team in italy was too good yeah uh really excellent plan and way to leverage the league could you imagine if there was a usa basketball development team that played in the western division all right boys you got the nuggets tomorrow then we're going to match up against the lakers followed by dame and portland good luck over the next week and then you get the greek freak and play in milwaukee or maybe go to new jersey and uh or brooklyn i should say here's will stanley tied at 14. and that missed into the top of the tape serving and receiving all was a huge story and it's not just defined or exemplified by the misses and the service aces we've come to the media timeout third set byu on top two sets to none but the pliers [Applause] well but a very interesting season of course for all sports and uh culminating with the 2021 ncaa men's volleyball championships quarterfinals uc santa barbara over pepperdine and ucsb follow falling to the number one seed hawaii rainbow warriors and as you can see the finals will be on espnu at eight eastern time taking on the winner either number two c byu currently with a two sets in them lead or the flyers from lewis with two-time olympian kevin barnett paul sunderland thanks for joining us here on ncaa.com here's coonan up into the block offensive rebound smart shot and that ball might have been out of bounds coonan though with a nice save [Applause] kunin out of the pipe found an angle with a thumb down but just ran out of real estate good eye that time by the liberal worthington byu is working hard to get into those three-man blocks and that was even gabby garcia fernandez on the left where he's not usually working hard to get over to that right side and get in front of the lewis hitters they got the touch that then generated the opportunity that was out of bounds here is gardeini currently eight of 17. got one ace boy that ball was set tight but that was a nice quick arm swing once again by keaton law [Music] you want a spark you wanted somebody to get the ball to and spread byu out a little bit there you go not a ton of men's volleyball talent coming out of texas i'm happy to see that so much women's volleyball talent is coming out of that state you have to believe that if you could grow the game you would have even more men [Applause] [Music] good pass eshenberg again but will stanley what a job he is doing moving the ball around and making choices kevin garcia fernandez 16 attempts gardening 17. eshenberg 13. so that's all nice they've lost the middle a bit 11 total attempts by the middles combined remember early in the match it was a lot closer they've gone to the pins more makes it awfully hard on lewis to defend lewis's passing's making it a little hard on him right now paul's still alive and friends not gonna like that one nope it's a judgment call though nice play down the line once again by long but bill forrester know he doesn't like it and now keith marlos well that ball was stuck down there it was a sticky wicket down there for a while yeah i think that should have been called yeah well that's mostly where the second referee has got to help out because the first referee kind of kind of blocked on that play and usually they'll do that they'll give you a little signal to your point kevin getting back into the middle yeah i think you should if you're byu you're gonna open up those pins just enough so if you over the next five points get to 21 22 territory you can open that middle and play that middle a few more times you'll open those pins up and you will side your way out to win what a big tied at 17 remember this rotation right here going back to the line one of the most dangerous servers in college volleyball can lewis get out of this rotation yes they can big play by lewis in this third set where did eschenberg go i don't even know why he's hanging out over there almost look like he was past the referee stand he got hit with that ball off the block when he should have been up on the block he should have been up on the block absolutely here is bourget having a very nice semi-final for lewis lewis the number three seeds chance for lewis to extend the lead cunanan trying to go high flat here's the additional room oh and look at that byu almost over ran it what an effort by gardeini almost a full volleyball court length behind the playing floor well i like the play is being allowed there it's perfectly safe yeah so what if it's carpet no i agree timeout called by byu once again the lewis flyers carving out their only lead so far in the match earlier on and now taking the 1917 advantage what area is mostly kevin has lewis improved upon here in the third to put some real pressure on byu well you can start with keaton long i mean he's got four attempts so you're spreading byu out a little bit more and conan he he's coonan is hitting 200 but he's had some good swings as of late they're also fighting off some of these serves you know they're giving up too many aces but five aces that goes back to the previous set yep yep you know they have settled down and kevin calling doing a nice job distributing the ball kunin he's going to take a lot of sets anyway i did the math before the tournament he takes almost 10 swings per set so it's not not unusual for him to have this kind of activity additionally they got blocked early in this set have not been blocked since so you haven't been giving up points that way [Applause] and and i just have a feeling and i'm looking at the numbers garcia fernandez feels like he's cooled off a little bit you know he had a couple of tough uh swings objectively 294 is less than 600 i guess yeah they've cut into it just a little bit his production yeah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] lewis hitting 333 in this set 15 points higher than byu balls are just out of bounds coming out of the timeout eshenberg eight for 15. he has two aces yeah both of them kind of short in front of the receivers wow wow so they're expecting the short one he happens to hit one long that spins down to the line great hand ball contact look at the spin rate on this ball boom right on the end line the libro jimenez had no chance that was perfectly placed and comes back and misses that one 20 to 19 must-win situation for tyler mitchum and the flyers of [Applause] lewis mitchum taking all of the 10 seconds that he's allowed gardini almost jumped backwards on that play i think the ball was in anyway but got to touch off the defender and byu pulled that ball right off to the sport court that thing was spinning down and one of the points that was made by sean olmsted us when we talked to him today sit back when they faced ohio state in those back-to-back years and could not pass he said we couldn't replicate that in our gym we couldn't replicate nick scherzin in our gym we couldn't replicate the opposite from ohio state in our gym and now they're the big serving team so those receivers see those kinds of service every single day another bad toss that time and a kind of an awkward miss by gigo ferreira and you asked dan friend the outstanding head coach for the lewis flyers in his 17th year given this year in the mi va maybe being a little bit down from where it has been where they battle tested enough to face this kind of serving and attacking as gabby garcia-fernandez registers another kill yeah and he said that was one of his concerns he wasn't sure [Music] what do you think so far no [Music] stanley has been superb once again at the setting position the first team all-american out of honolulu good pass by bourget boy that ball i was about to say ball set too tight but got away with that one kunin absolutely crushing the ball down the line [Applause] no one highlight film deserves another there was not much room down that line i thought gardeni had stopped way short but he was he was pretty close to in front there wasn't a lot of room for kunin and he used every centimeter of it another big moment nice pass by worthington that ball can't be saved garcia fernandez doing a nice job in row one putting the ball away on the left side tied at 22. again to the differences between men's and women's volleyball you're allowed to pursue that ball in minutes yeah they right for some reason in women's volleyball they deem it to be too dangerous do you think your athletes can't run in a controlled manner to some other portion of the gym i had never understood that that needs to be changed yeah yeah [Music] [Applause] must win set situation to stay alive for the flyers of lewis oh are you kidding off the top of the tape wow how lucky is that your italians better than mine how do you say good luck in italian [Applause] the wolf is already dead one of the great italian phrases wow what a break for byu now lewis will have to respond just the first time out for lewis 23-22 is the advantage moments ago lewis had a lead by two and now they'll have to come [Music] out [Music] 23-22 second semi-final hawaii has already advanced now it's time to see if lewis can stay alive byu three-time ncaa champ in the national championship match as recently as 2016 and 17. and a very lucky serve for gardening kunin out of the back row and missed wide the freshman looking for a touch but a net violation wow keep long staying aggressive giving lewis some additional offense and saves the day for the flyers tied at 23. [Music] gotta win by two [Music] eshenberg is roofed keeping along number 16 in black on the outside the kid out of plano texas set point now for lewis playing as large as the state of texas right now making a difference for his team that is just a nice disciplined move take the angle be over at just the right moment and what a moment for a freshman national semifinal to come in and do that to put your team to a point to heaven opportunity to stay alive time out called by byu they're out of timeouts lewis still has one remaining the last national championship that was concluded was in 2019 those championships were held at long beach state lewis was knocked out in the semi-finals they have been a really solid program for a number of years but this you think this is their best team of all time byu no lewis lewis no i i don't think it's the best team of all time because you're missing an opposite and while long has come in and done a nice job i i don't think you can give him a glaring hole yeah i mean you could go back to ryan milar's era that team uh that's probably the best team that they've ever had sorry i'm now switching teams on you um i'm following i'm fine yeah yeah no i i think that i think louis is one opposite short of making this an epic match yeah yeah yeah well they're looking to extend it set point for lewis a swing to stay alive when the ball is roofed and then it's going to go byu's way everyone trying absolutely trying to say where it should be absolutely that was two bad sets in a row will stanley left fernandez at six feet off the net here and then this set also got way too sticky towards the net [Applause] reaching deeply into the cross court tied at 24 one set point saved eschenberg going high flat and gardini can't get there that's about the only place that block deflection could go that could find the floor and lewis got it and gardening hit the ground far he did [Music] [Applause] set point number two he's still trying to shake that off here is keaton long back to serve he's come in giving some offense to lewis [Music] kept alive swing by boujee what a smart swing but just missed it boy that was a quality swing it's the right idea absolutely it's the right idea put it into a deep corner he just missed it good snap over the top really impressed with that swing and i think we're going to challenge you why not yeah you should absolutely it's a set point that's a smart challenge by dan friend the head coach for the lewis flyers it is it is the right idea but he gets a little too much heal on his hand at the point of contact and that's why this ball goes long you want to try and chip that thing and i think that's just why i do too i oh that's gonna be so close yeah so close the shadow the shadow is in the ball i think is not and remember in order to overturn you can see the linesman and it's also right in front of the first referee yeah they're right on it they're right on it it was called out and that really looks out in order to overrule it the video evidence must be absolutely conclusive i don't think i'd be surprised to get a change here i would too i think that ball's just out it's excellent positioning from our referee crew and lionsburg yep yep [Applause] yeah i think that falls out of that i and what a what a quality shot by boujee it's the right idea i'm gonna roll it to the corner because i got three up in front of me that are big probably the worst thing that happens is he comes off the block back to me or hits the fingertips like we saw earlier in the night and it goes long but he just didn't get enough snap on it he got too much heal and not enough crisp contact off the hand yeah a centimeter or two we're saying just wide it's not a big call is it well as is louis you're still alive uh yes yeah you're still in good shape we'll play off but you're just great shape if you get it reversed exactly right exactly right if the call is reversed then they're on the board yeah to me that ball's out of balance yeah the call is confirmed we are tied at 25. look look at the official it was and that's the right call a good challenge and uh good work by the officiating crew good work by our crew showing all those angles right that's how about yeah this is how the system's supposed to work yep yep look who's at the service line the wrong guy if you're wearing red and black yep and he should let it have it too just get it tough toss way out in front not a good toss no not a good toss but i like the aggression at that moment you're up 2-0 get it third set point for lewis boujee has been excellent what a pass by gardini and right back garcia fernandez found the small scene to take it back one play further dan friend was late with that challenge he may have thrown that challenge in there also because of the person who was at the line you get a de facto timeout before gabby surged wow three set points saved oh nice tap down boy that was a creative swing by number nine in black ryan coonan you can't do that if you're not 6-9 you can't do that little snap over the top that way fourth set point now for lewis at least at that pace that was a nice swing yep now remember mitchum's had problems with his servant he has a jumper perfect pass by worthington oh stuff block on the outside lewis survives they win the third 28-26 who kevin will play on i love it i love going to the jump serve to try and get the win i like it at a downward trajectory from there and louis fighting like pugilist from joliet i know it's romeoville people louis has lived to play again as they take out byu 28-26 it took him four set points to get there and they will the winner of this will get hawaii on saturday once again on espnu coming away at eight eastern time back with two-time looking at pepperdine all-american kevin barnett i'm paul sunderland or really well played and if you look at the numbers i mean byu was held to only 250 in that third set who's leading in blocks i'm not looking louis yeah by two wow how many blocks does byu have five how many they have three points into this into the third set five their block did nothing it went back to all of a sudden it reverted back to the early part of the first set for byu yeah i was waiting to see how they come out here mitchum [Music] he'll still be in the middle he served and played right back for that last play long in there at the opposite now i know worthington handled it pretty well for byu and sean olmstead but that was a pretty tough serve for mitchum in that circumstance that was well done so fourth set and we will start things off with louis serving this is middle blocker tj murray oh nice short serve good reaction by worthington and echenberg going off speed that's some smart play game of short court all of a sudden oh that was that was some pretty smart play [Applause] [Music] hope no one thinks they can push it off the antenna and have it be good yogina now back to service he's been pretty quiet offensively don't go to him a lot [Music] [Applause] keaton long he's had an impact on this match very much so good play out of the middle no question about the touch we haven't heard from the middles that uh very nicely done by felipe out of brazil we haven't mentioned his name six nine senior hits 451 so far on the year and it was his fifth kill on six swings and not a lot of action but awfully effective [Applause] service air once again by garcia he's got a couple of aces five digs a couple of blocks 12 kills on 22 swings hitting for a nice number the 2020 national player of the year this year was from the university of hawaii [Music] long there on defense oh lucky play certainly an inadvertent contact out of the middle and byu was fooled a little bit the ball went down everyone was fooled including yeah look at that oh that micro paintbrush it helps to be six foot eleven overpass and thrown straight to the floor that's off of stanley and a quick early lead and what a turnaround for the flyers of lewis well what's been the spark you haven't been getting blocked you haven't been getting aced as much [Applause] you put long in at the opposite position kid hasn't played significant time in a month gotta go back to loyola chicago match to find long playing and he's only played in eight matches this year wow what a moment he's been up to it he's four for six playing defense got that huge stuff block garcia with a really classy swing absolutely bravo for keaton long wearing number 16 in black for lewis came off the bench in the second set replacing cole brillhart they're kind of mr do everything but they needed some offense that was a good substitution by dan frank [Applause] and that ball missed just over the sideline flyers continue to lead it 5-3 here in the fourth trailing two sets to one talk about adjustments on the byu side do you think after they won 25-15 in the third maybe a little bit of a letdown in the fourth or was it just lewis really raising their level i think lewis found their level for a longer period of time because we saw them come back in that first set but they just couldn't sustain it into the middle again nice offense this is interesting too they're having mitchum serve and then play right back long is playing left back there maybe mitchum is considered a better threat on that right back position than long out of the back row [Applause] he's shown a pretty nice arm swing for a middle blocker he does have some heat on the serve as does gibrito ferreira [Applause] [Music] that was a little sticky not gonna call it slammed up nicely done [Applause] [Music] i don't like it because it changes direction so much in his hands yeah that's that's gaining an advantage in my opinion [Applause] 11 in white registering his 10th kill second byu cougar in double figures [Music] is [Applause] that ball just out of bounds lewis looking for a touch and i don't think we're gonna have oh maybe we are dan friend wants to have a look and he's going to challenge that there was a touch on the block you remember when the challenge system was fairly new internationally and we watched the brazilian coaches on the women's side gets sold down the river by one of their outside hitters on several plays three plays in about a cent and a half burned all the challenges because particularly the last one wasn't even close well it's made volleyball players into oh that might be right off the elbow yeah maybe maybe now they have cameras that are running separate from ours they have cameras that are running 120 frames a second you're usually seeing about 60 frames a second it's not nearly enough to my mind but no it's not it's not enough no that this one looks does it's gonna be the right forearm if anything of garcia fernandez there i don't think there's enough there to overturn it i don't see if you're an official unless they're seeing something decidedly clearer or better than we are that you can overturn that call remember live it was called out by the officials and obviously no touch and that's what's being challenged well george and lisa long are not in the stadium shout out to the parents hopefully enjoying the performance of their freshman son who has made a huge difference for lewis yeah yeah yeah they'd be in real trouble without it oh it'd be over yeah oh they got it yeah see they have access to other views that we don't have yeah good work by the officials and there you saw the second referee yeah keith merlis just said right right there on the forearm right off the elbow so by my count uh dan friend and louis have two challenges remain remember the one that they challenged from boujee right was just out of bounds so that was one challenge that was wrong so they lose it and byu has all three of their challenges 7-5 lewis leading trailing two sets to [Applause] one [Applause] [Music] after a bit of a delay kunin back at the line [Applause] that ball was absolutely that was one of the best swings gardening has taken in a while [Applause] you're just joining us in our extended coverage of the second seven semifinal davide gardini the son of one of the great players of all time not just for italy but in the whole in the world in the history of the game andrea gardini three times a world champion and he's worried about foot folding there he threw the ball way too far in front of himself and he knew it and the key to that is when you do that you really have to jump forward and you have to snap the ball up a little bit both up and with more top spin if you're gonna hope the other the other strategy is what he did which is just drive it and so you try and drive it hard enough that it beats the cable of the net before it comes down but it's not a good feeling when you know that you put it too far yo heinen with the kill out of the middle hasn't got a lot of action a big part of the offensive plan eight swings six kills one air very very nice by the 69th grad student out of finland we should point out that he was given the academic award for the player in the national semifinals with the highest gpa off the edge of the block and out of bounds eshenberg looking for the touch off the block well now now the byu players they want a challenge that that ball went off of keep long on the way out of bounds well now again and i get getting clarification from some of our sources here 120 frames per second for the net camera on the r2 side okay but that's it everything else is 60 frames a second okay which is which is slow yeah yeah so you're looking at a caterpillar oh it got it yeah it got right on the right hip on the way out of bounds [Applause] right there you can see the ball clearly change direction [Music] so that's going to be byu's point and possession the ball was initially called out of bounds so we'll have a two-point switch byu got ahead 10-4 in the opening set one at 25-22 another big lead in the second set 10-5 cruised to a 25-15 advantage lewis hung in there they made some changes they brought in keaton long the freshman out of plano texas he's had a big impact on this match and involved in this particular play lewis four set points to win the third set must win situation and they're now trailing 2-1 keaton long is six for eight he's hitting 625 he has two blocks and that ball was right off of his hip but here's a kid that you have no scouting on right zero interesting you never even thought he was going to play he was not listed so there's something to be said for throwing somebody in there that the other team has no idea what to do with and you test the ability of byu to adjust in the moment again high up into the block and out of bounds what a good match he is having kyle boucher six foot five senior out of california hit 308 on the year [Music] on the night now seven of 19. we're back to that tour at offense 778 for byu and 625 for lewis in this set and that ball missed well long and we're tied at nine [Applause] and i had the sense that boujee was having a little more of a productive night but he's got those four errors that is bringing down his efficiency [Music] [Applause] not sure oh well we have maybe a little blood here quick cleanup yeah i was wondering i was wondering what the delay was and we'll have a little patchwork on ryan coonan a back-to-back first-team all-american he's got a wonderful collegiate career and most likely has a very very bright future playing professionally and possibly for the united states [Applause] yeah i think if you're a lewis fan you're hoping it was just a cut and i think it was because there was there was not usually if you really damaged something you tape a couple fingers together but that was that was very very light indeed garcia fernandez has been pretty quiet from the service line of late and again misses again [Applause] [Music] it seems to be something kevin that byu is really missing their service pressure to my mind has really dropped yeah they've been unable to kind of put the screws to lewis is the way they did in the first and second sets and lewis you can feel them gaining some confidence here they should win it 28-26 and now they're going toe-to-toe with the second seeds and playing a very high level of volleyball and that ball is missed out of bounds [Applause] 11-9 is the lead garcia with his fifth hitting error on 25 swings he's got 13 kills to lead the way gardini with 10 eschenberg with 10 and both middle blockers with six apiece [Applause] [Music] lewis got out to a very bad start serving remember they had nine service errors in the opening set they've only had eight cents [Applause] oh what a block that's a phase of the game that's been pretty quiet but nothing quiet about that gibrito ferreira just roofing that ball [Applause] now all by himself he's getting full credit for that one that was a pretty good read because there was a lot going on kevin and he was on an island tied at 11. [Applause] and that should be a lift yeah no question that's going to be a lift good block again by byu will stanley at six foot four we've seen it multiple times in this match it is not a mismatch when he's up there with near anybody ninth stuff block now for the cougars of brigham young ball stepped pretty tight they got mitchum hitting out on the right side good cover oh what a smart shot really good volleyball smart smart volleyball by byu yeah the cover is the biggest play in that entire rally the tip is nice but it's not possible without the cover by ferreira right there middle doing his job yep three blockers up there's got to be some open floors somewhere and gabby garcia fernandez finds it we'll step aside fourth set byu back on top 13 11. looking to close it out move on to the finals [Applause] byu the number two overall seed in the tournament back to their very efficient ways offensively kevin barnett here in the fourth set eight of 12 hit 583 the flyers just six of eleven hitting 273 byu has clawed back to take the 13-11 lead eschenberg back at the line so critical moment for lewis just not to let the momentum get away from them and same kind of thing their fans are now up and making some noise it's a good competition between the fans providing some atmosphere and also the benches they've had to carry it all year all these benches talked a lot about the uc santa barbara bench and that benchmark it has been true for everyone you're playing in these empty gyms your bench has to be even more active than normal and mitchum misses that ball out of bounds tyler mitchum nine of 17 after having a really big match preceding this when he was 14 of 20 when lewis took out penn state byu has three players in double figures mitchum's going to get there just a matter of time in this fourth set de brito ferreira [Applause] good contact back to kunin what a nice swing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] see that tape kevin on his right finger i think it was just a slight cut easy for me to say but certainly no ill effects and good news for the flyers trailing by one into the campfire yeah yeah that's a good spot to tip mickey [Music] [Applause] very efficient that's seven kills now on ten swings so this should be the rotation where they score will stanley's jump surf plus your two best hitters in the front row well handled by bourget and a good response tj murray coming right down the middle for the [Applause] [Music] flyers [Applause] and the flyers cannot track that one down in rotation row number one garcia fernandez registers his 15th kill [Applause] battle between these two offenses the advantage at least for now to byu on the pipe that oh oh that ball was out didn't you see it out i had it in you did okay okay but you know the barn on notoriously bad i was about to bring up the barn eye look my eyes are a few months older than yours i saw that ball clearly out clearly out not sure how you define the word pew but yes we'll get a challenge so we'll have a definitive ruler yeah we will indeed good looking play back row quick combination on the bay the ball was called out of bounds very close otherwise it wouldn't be challenged but live slow it down here yeah it was called out that falls out oh that's so close but it's so cool remember remember uh keith merliss before signaling a couple of millimeters on a play previously in this match missed by boujee yeah this this one this one is wow that's really close and and of course the only definitive angle is the one where the camera is right on the end line and so maybe the officials are looking at that one now you freeze that when it looks in the other one it looks like right but you you you know what i'm saying yeah yeah you got to have a camera right on the envelope well since we don't have that we have this angle in the reverse angle and i think that from there it looks in yeah yeah from the other view we saw on the side it looks out well or at least so close yeah that you wouldn't be able to change it yeah it has to be definitive not 99 that's not good enough got to be 100 convinced that that any part of the ball caught some part of the line right we don't have the hawkeye where you would have the depression dimple of the ball is that al skates texting again no [Laughter] you have to love the volleyball community i've heard from uh coaches that between them have uh i don't know 50 conference titles and well 20 something yeah 19 national championships your head coach mark dunphy has four or five has four because rod had oh i was talking about people we've actually heard from yeah during this match i have another coach i've heard from who has 20 something conference titles and a couple national titles and who was that mr mark pavlick all right done a fabulous job over many years at penn state [Music] penn state was the first team other than a west coast team to win a national championship back in the 90s and the call was confirmed i told you i told you it's just these point for sunderland years of experience no no a few extra months of experience there you go and and and a new prescription but that's a huge call huge call i'll be at lenscrafters tomorrow 17. 14. the barney the barnard suffers once again another defeat the partner is not making playoffs that was a good looking play for lewis and that that swing by cunanan just a couple of millimeters long how will they respond gotta get out of this rotation back to boujee oh that's a good swing boy what good ball control by the attacker now with eight kills on 20 swings and that was one of the best alec leonard on the floor 6-8 200-pound richard sophomore he had seen him previously out of lake grove new york and missed it just out of bounds i had it in just kidding just kidding how was that i'll tell you what the lines people they've been on they're working hard the speed with which the ball travels it is a real challenge sorry for the [Music] gil redundancy now on to serve byu with a might be their largest lead of this fourth set and that one sails well long making it 18-16 keaton long now back to the line freshman out of texas who's come on and really giving lewis a lift we've mentioned it since he let's give you his numbers long now five of eight he's got a couple of digs and a couple of blocks oh that's just a magnificent rip that's fun to watch yeah [Applause] [Music] if you're a fan of lewis or if you're on the lewis side that's one of those where you have to recognize the greatness of your opponent nice job we'll we'll be signing out now i mean that was just a magnificent swing over the top of the block no defense for that one good pass what a good pass [Applause] and looking for some hands and eschenberg missed that wildly down the line yeah that's costly because you had your best server at the line yeah we've had some misses from gabby from the line i noticed that time he went back did not waste time he switched up his routine a little bit just went faster and went and got the ball he didn't think about it nothing just attacked it i like the switch and strategy with his approach lewis trailing by only two gardening's passing the ball very well jimenez good contact and leaving it into the middle tyler mitchum with the kill has been pretty good at the line he does have one ace but he's been putting on some pretty consistent pressure [Applause] eshenberg again passing and hitting really nice play by number 11 in white byu siding out maintaining the slightest bit of separation now at 2 20 to 18. [Music] [Applause] tough swing going off speed roll shot worthington's got it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] big chance here for byu garcia demanding the ball going off speed again what a play that time by keeping long [Music] point of the match so far nice dig by bourget and right on the sideline wow what a point by both teams reminiscent of the earlier match as well huge point and a big moment interesting choice here too you have a libero setting the vic or a pipe against three blockers and still found the slightest bit of real estate outside the block what a quality swing and because it was a quality swing reached high snapped the ball didn't put full steam on it but about 70 percent to the edge of the court 20 to 19. that was the point of the match so far and it gets lewis right back in it again facing another must-win set situation that never looked good he looked unsettled and missed that serve not even close [Music] he has had a superb match a superb season career and tournament i'd like to have that one back john stanley on to serve overpass [Applause] gardini finds a small hole three big blockers in front of him and still found the floor what a save for gardening off that overpass failed to put that away almost got hung on the rim pushed back down spun around how about the footwork yeah timeout is called by lewis i was all i was a little surprised that the set went to gardening maybe there weren't any choices but man that was really really a tough place he was in there the joust with kevin [Applause] second semi final of the 2021 ncaa men's volleyball championship the woman to your right heather olmstead the women's head coach at byu and of course sister deshawn john stanley on to serve byu leading by three she's right up above the bench yelling instructions to her brother who used to coach the women and very successfully another joust coming free ball for byu [Applause] oh that's oh what a good pokey save how can lewis let that ball drop keaton long just fisted that ball up on a difficult chance and now byu two points away from getting to the finals against hawaii i'll tell you how because that ball got passed to the left side and the center is all the way to the right so everyone's expecting the center to get the ball no one's expecting it to go there and that is very similar to unser reception when the ball is passed to the left front there's just nobody there the block big block out of the middle by johanna and byu one point away and they will have five match points for a chance at the championship they've won this title three times 1999 2001 and 2004 their last two trips to the championship were unsuccessful in 16 and 17. tough serve this could about do it and that's going to be a net violation wow well the switch up from john stanley jump float jump float and then hybrid to the spin and ripped it got the overpass he did everything that was asked of him there what a trip from number four match point number two for the cougars and served out of bounds on a jump float what an ending and byu is moving on [Applause] [Music] crazy two things you have to be proud of lewis and the way they responded after the start of this match after the first two sets and even in the middle of that person the way that that team responded for dan friend for one another was impressive number two for byu you have to be impressed with their level of play overall they let it slip a little bit in that third set they didn't generate the same amount of pressure but they showed you why they have been the number one team in the mpsf and why there was a question about number one or number two coming into this tournament them or hawaii i think we're getting the two best teams in the final it's gonna be an exceptional night on saturday night tune in what a matchup and when you look at the final stats byu finishes with eight blocks gabby garcia-fernandez with 17 kills byu hits 354 and they will move on to play in the championship eight eastern time on espnu we knew this was going to be a good one and it turned out to be exactly that and expect even more on saturday when byu the number two seed takes on the rainbow warriors of hawaii the number one series that will be what a matchup there are some arms there are some weapons who will come out on top of that will join us on saturday on espnu at eight eastern time for kevin barnett i'm paul sunderland thanks for joining us on ncaa.com do you

Channel: NCAA Championships

Views: 30,025

Rating: 4.8504672 out of 5

Keywords: NCAA, ncaa sports, college sports, byu volleyball, men's volleyball, men's nc volleyball, ncaa volleyball, men's ncaa volleyball, byu men's volleyball, 2021 ncaa men's volleyball tournament, 2021 ncaa men's volleyball championship, byu lewis volleyball full game, full men's volleyball game, full men's byu lewis volleyball game, ncaa men's volleyball, 2021 men's volleyball, byu vs lewis men's volleyball, byu vs lewis, byu lewis, byu lewis volleyball, byu vs lewis volleyball

Id: Rf5QbQucm_8

Length: 125min 49sec (7549 seconds)

Published: Fri May 07 2021