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No. 1/1 BYU took full advantage of all the No. 3/3 UCLA errors and is once again the MPSF Tournament champions.
The Cougars benefitted from the Bruins having a season-high 27 service errors as it beat UCLA 25-20, 25-19, 18-25, 25-15 in the MPSF Tournament finals on Saturday in Provo, Utah.
This is the third time in the last four seasons that BYU has won the MPSF Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
All-conference outside attacker and 2016 Karch Kiraly Award finalist Brenden Sander in the victory had 11 kills on a team-high .526 attack percentage. In addition, All-American opposite Ben Patch, a finalist for the Bryan Ivie Award, finished with a match-high 14 kills and led the Cougars with eight digs.
Despite the loss, UCLA making its first MPSF Tournament finals appearance in almost a decade out-hit BYU .342 to .329. The Bruins running their 6-2 offense also had four players finish with double-digit kills.
All-conference outside attacker JT Hatch had a team-high 13 kills. Setter Micah Ma’a, middle attacker Mitch Stahl and outside attacker Jake Arnitz also each had at least 10 kills and a .400 attack percentage.
Both BYU and UCLA entered this conference championship match both projected to make the NCAA Tournament, according to the latest Off the Block bracketology.
UCLA with the loss is projected to earn an at-large bid and be the No. 3 seed, while BYU is projected to be the No. 1 seed and earn a bye to the NCAA Tournament semifinals.