Hosting undefeated No. 2 Brigham Young this weekend, the men’s volleyball team saw a pair of late rallies fall just short, as the Cougars kept the Cardinal winless for another week.

BYU (6-0, 4-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) defeated the Cardinal (0-7, 0-4) on Friday night, 30-23, 30-25, 30-28, and Saturday night, 30-24, 30-20, 30-28, clinching the sweeps with close wins in the third game of each match.

“In both matches, we did some good things in the first two games and I was happy with the way we played,” head coach John Kosty said. “We gave up a couple of streaks that gave BYU the separation they needed to win. In the end, it just came down to an error or two by us, and that’s what rally scoring is about; you need to play consistent volleyball through 30 points.”

The Cardinal kept Friday’s match close with clean passing and tough serving, resulting in two aces and only five errors compared to 13 by BYU.

The Cougars’ hitting and blocking, however, proved too much for the Cardinal. BYU had five players hit over .400 on the night, while junior outside hitter Matt Ceran was the most consistent Stanford hitter at a .333 clip. Part of the problem for the Stanford attack was a BYU front line that notched 13 blocks in the match against Stanford’s eight.

Ceran led all players with 15 kills and freshman right side hitter Evan Romero posted 13.

“Matt Ceran has been playing better and better,” Kosty said. “He is a transplant from the middle and really coming along nicely on the outside. And Evan Romero has been getting good kills and picked up throughout the weekend. We have been relying on him more and more to get us kills recently.”

Freshman Garrett Werner was third on the team with five kills and had a team-high four blocks. Junior outside hitter Brian Skinner started in the place of junior Jesse Meredith, who is out indefinitely with an ankle sprain; he struggled offensively, but tied for second on the team with two blocks and five digs. Senior libero Brian Lindberg led in the back row with six digs.

After BYU’s victory on Friday night, the teams had less than 24 hours to regroup and prepare for Saturday’s rematch.

“We made some slight blocking adjustments and a slight defensive change in aligning our defenders that proved positive,” Kosty said. “What BYU adjusted was their mental attitude coming into the second match. I think they realized that we are better than our record shows and that we can compete.

“It seemed like, even though they won in three, they were disappointed about the opportunity we had to win the third game on Friday. They came out with their ‘A’ game on Saturday and really stepped it up.”

The Cardinal took the first point of the match on a kill by freshman setter Kawika Shoji, but that would prove Stanford’s only lead of the game. The Cougars took a 3-2 advantage and did not even allow a tie down the stretch. They built a seven-point lead late in the game and, after three consecutive servers missed, won the game on a kill by Russell Holmes.

Romero had a game-high seven kills, but the Cougars tallied more kills, aces, digs and blocks than Stanford in the frame.

In the second game as well, BYU pulled ahead early and then charged to a victory. The Cardinal fell back after a tie at 5-5, and the Cougars’ lead reached double digits during a five-point service run for BYU’s Yoslender Cala. The Cougars won the game on a missed Stanford serve, the ninth of the game and 13th of the match.

The Cardinal prevented BYU from building a sizable lead early in the third game and finally took control at 19-18. The Cougars fought back to tie and regained the lead, but Stanford closed the gap once again. Skinner blocked Cala solo to force a BYU timeout with Stanford leading 28-27. The Cougars scored the next three points, though, winning the game 30-28 on a close out call.

“In the third game, we did some good things and a couple of calls didn’t go our way,” Kosty said. “That’s men’s volleyball — the ball moves so fast that it sometimes becomes a judgment call. We hit a ball that I thought was in and the linesman thought was out.”

Romero and Ceran again led the Cardinal offense on Saturday, with 16 and 10 kills, respectively. Sophomore middle blocker Brandon Williams hit .667 with seven kills to finish third on the team.

Romero and Williams tied with Skinner with a team-high three blocks, including a solo for Skinner. Sophomore libero Jarod Keller led with seven digs while Skinner had five.

“Brian Skinner played outside hitter the whole weekend and it was his first time starting at outside,” Kosty said. “Outside of his hitting stats, he did exactly what we needed him to do and he played a solid role for us. He passed well both nights and his solo block on their hitter, Cala, in the third game gave us a ton of momentum.”

Despite remaining winless two weeks into conference play, Kosty remains confident about his team’s potential.

“Right now, we are at the point where we are on the verge of winning matches,” he said. “We are competing with everyone we play, we are playing an exciting style of volleyball and we are getting better in every game and every match.”