No. 7 BYU men’s volleyball team secured a straight-sets victory over Fort Valley State University on Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse, winning 25-14, 25-18, and 25-21. The win completed a weekend series sweep for BYU.
The Cougars delivered an efficient offensive performance, recording a .523 hitting percentage with only five attack errors on 65 attempts. Defensively, BYU limited Fort Valley State to a .230 hitting percentage and tallied 10 total blocks while registering 39 kills.
Tennison Lighthall and Connor Oldani led the team with 10 kills each. Lighthall’s effort marked a career high. AJ Cottle contributed seven kills without an error, achieving a perfect hitting percentage in his most extensive playing time since returning from injury. Max Phillipe, Gavin Chambers, and Oldani each recorded four blocks to anchor the defense.
The match was notable as it marked head coach Shawn Olmstead’s 200th career win at the helm of the BYU men’s volleyball program.
“I’ve been fortunate. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I think that every day,” Olmstead said. “These young men and all the staff over the years have put a little bit of faith and trust not just in me but in the program, the school, the institution. It really has nothing to do with me. It’s all about those people. These guys right now, all the outstanding athletes I’ve had over the years, they’ve made my job kind of easy at times. I’m just unbelievably blessed and grateful I get to come here every day and be a part of their lives. Hopefully I can influence them a little bit and win some volleyball matches in the meantime.”
Olmstead is now one of only two coaches in program history to reach this milestone; he joins Carl McGown, who holds BYU’s record with 205 wins in 336 matches. Olmstead reached his 200th victory after coaching 278 matches.
With this result, BYU extended its streak to 27 consecutive sets won and achieved double-digit kills for the sixth time this season.
In set one, BYU established control early with an opening kill from Oldani followed by a solo block from Trent Moster during a decisive initial run. The Cougars built their lead through strong serving by Lighthall and effective net play by Phillipe and Oldani before closing out with a service ace from Lighthall and taking advantage of opponent errors.
Set two saw Fort Valley State take its first lead briefly before BYU responded with key plays from Phillipe and Cottle to regain momentum. The Cougars pulled away after several runs fueled by kills from Cottle and solid blocking.
The third set began evenly until back-to-back blocks from Lighthall and Chambers shifted momentum toward BYU. Despite Fort Valley State tying mid-set, timely plays by Oldani and Herget helped maintain BYU’s edge until Chambers ended the match with a kill assisted by Kyle Zediker.
Next week, BYU will travel to Honolulu for two matches against No. 3 Hawaii on Wednesday and Friday.
