UC Irvine wins NCAA volleyball title, sweeping BYU

LOS ANGELES (AP) — UC Irvine won its second straight NCAA men’s volleyball title and fourth in seven years, sweeping top-ranked BYU in three sets Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Connor Hughes, Kevin Tillie and Zack La Cavera each had 11 kills to help the Anteaters (25-7) become the first team to successfully defend a title since UCLA in 1996. UC Irvine also won in 2007 and 2009.

BYU (26-5) beat Irvine twice in the regular season, but couldn’t overcome the Anteaters’ offense and their own mistakes. They had 21 errors to Irvine’s 12.

Irvine won the first set 25-23, in a game that saw 12 ties and 10 lead changes.

In the second set, BYU used an 8-1 run to take the largest lead of the match for either team at 11-4. Irvine came back, winning the next five points to pull within two, and tied it at 12. The Anteaters survived a late BYU rally and took the set 25-22.

In the third, Irvine was down 24-21, then won the next five points to close out the match.

Taylor Sander led the Cougars with 20 kills.