No. 2 BYU sweeps No. 1 Hawaii in a battle of unbeatens

Something had to give.

For No. 1 Hawaii, it was its serve-receive.

Its blocking.

Its nation-leading hitting.

Its home winning streak.

Name it.

And its name was Brigham Young.

The second-ranked Cougars held the Rainbow Warriors’ potent offense and normally steady defense hostage for 98 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday night. And BYU made it look easy by sweeping Hawaii in stunning fashion, 25-15, 25-17, 25-20.

Led by the over-the-speed-limit serves from junior opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez — several of his eight clocked at over 80 mph — and a .603 hitting efficiency that obliterated the previous UH opponent’s record, the Cougars made a statement that could be heard around the country.

>> Photo Gallery: Men’s NCAA volleyball: Hawaii vs. BYU Cougars

And loudly.

It left one undefeated team — BYU at 17-0 — and Hawaii (14-1) left wondering what happened.

“Hurts? Yes,” said senior hitter Colton Cowell, who finished with nine kills, four in Set 3. “They did exactly what we had written down in our scouting report. We failed to execute.

“They played really good volleyball in every aspect of the game. We’ll reflect on what happened tonight, come out and have a better showing tomorrow. If we’re going to beat a team like this, it will take a complete team effort.”

The teams meet again today, a match expected to be sold out well before the first serve at 7 p.m. (Some 400 tickets remained as of Thursday night).

A season-high crowd of 6,143 saw BYU defeat Hawaii for the fourth consecutive time in Honolulu.

The Cougars also:

>> Snapped the Warriors’ 25-match home winning streak;

>> Were the first to sweep Hawaii at home since, well, BYU did it in 2016;

>> Handed the Warriors their first nonconference loss in 20 matches dating back to the Cougars’ victory in the 2018 Outrigger Invitational finale;

>> And were one point way from becoming the first team since host Stanford in 2016 to hold Hawaii to 20 points or fewer in all three sets.

“Nothing went right for us tonight,” said senior opposite Rado Parapunov, the only Warrior in double-figure kills (10). “They did way better in everything, especially serve-receive. They executed. We didn’t.

“It’s volleyball. There has to be a winner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t us.”

BYU more than avenged the shellacking given by Hawaii last season in Provo, the first time the Warriors won 3-0 in Smith Fieldhouse in 29 visits. The Cougars started off hot, without a hitting error in Set 1, and Garcia Fernandez — the nation’s aces leader — putting down two of his eight aces in his first service turn to set the tone of the match.

Garcia Fernandez also had a match-high 13 kills, hitting .688, while sophomore hitter Davide Gardini had 10 kills with one error and senior hitter Zach Eschenberg added 10. In the battle of the two top blocking teams in the country, No. 1 BYU had a 6.5 to 2.5 edge over No. 2 Hawaii and finished with a 16-9 margin in digs.

”Coming in and knowing we were undefeated, they were undefeated, we have our big guns, they have their big guns … it was going to be a big match,” Cougars senior setter Wil Stanley, a Punahou graduate, said. “I think what happened last year in Provo was a big fuel for us.

“I have a bunch of family here and it was special for me to go out and give a little more than usual. I mean, that Hawaii team is really good. They’re going to be good tomorrow. And we’re going to see them again in May (NCAA tournament) for sure.”

Stanley didn’t play last season against the Warriors — his season ended 13 matches in with a fractured ankle. On Thursday, he had one of BYU’s 10 aces and the match-ending kill.

Hawaii had four aces, including a career-high three by sophomore hitter Filip Humler. Parapunov had the other, the 89th of his career, tying him with Stanley’s older brother, Clay, for 10th on the Warriors’ all-time list.

“It was a little bit of a surprise,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “They were so good in the first set and then we started turning it around. We hit .556 in the third and we needed to play a best-of-seven if we were going to keep (the win streak) going.

“Both Colton and Rado were off tonight and we just didn’t execute. They played great from the get-go.”

Hawaii only led six times in the entire match and never in Set 1. The Warriors hit .000 in the opener, scoring 15 points, the fewest since losing 25-14 in Set 2 of the 2018 Big West tourney to host Long Beach State.

To emphasize how the Cougars’ night was going, two of BYU’s points came on dig-kills, service overpasses that the Warriors failed to play.