By james art 
No. 5 BYU’s Men’s Volleyball has faced its most difficult opponent this season of UC Irvine’s home court in Irvine, California.
This proved to be a challenge for Cougars this week in the first NCAA match in the first five games of the season.
The match on Wednesday was Slugfest, as Byu and UC Irvine were fighting back -behind, trading with victories between the first four sets. In the end, the cougars appeared, lost a difficult fifth set 15-12 to suffer their first loss of the season.
Irvin pic.twitter.com/qwpvzrjysu
– BYU Men’s Volleyball (@byumvolleyball) January 23, 2025
Byu was led by Keoni Thiim with a team of 18 beats and four aces, and Teilon-Jonathan Tafuga had 15 career murders in Wednesday loss.
The fierce match on Wednesday made the couges fall on Friday, as UC Irvine took advantage of his native court and made his way through all night. BYU was first swept over this season and for the first time since March 9, 2024 against Stanford.
Irvin pic.twitter.com/8m72XLYNG7
– BYU Men’s Volleyball (@byumvolleyball) January 25, 2025
The anti -artras maintained the defense of Byu all night with multiple services and movements. Adult Nolan Flexsen and Hillir Heno, who had 27 combined strokes, hit almost .400 in the night they feed on the firepower of UC Irvine.
The cougars had a welcome view with Senior Mix Ramanis, who returned to the floor for the first time since the BYU’s home was opened on January 3. Luke Benson did not play in the match on Friday.
Byu struggles to hit the ball well in both games and anteatters made the cougars pay by raining them by 32%. BYU was kept to .128 percent of hitting on Friday, the lowest assessment of the cougars this season.
Back back this week marked the first time in March 2023 that BYU has lost two straight games on the road.
Cugars will prepare to host Hawaii No. 4 on January 31 and February 1.