BYU junior All-American Ben Patch made his return from injury for the Cougars on Friday night – the front end of a two-match top-billing stand this weekend in Provo Utah. The 3rd-ranked Cougars are playing host to #1 Long Beach State this weekend, and in spite of being without Patch, who still leads the team in kills/set this season (4.83), the Cougars were able to pull out a 3-2 victory, which was an instant-classic that lived up to the hype (20-25, 26-24, 25-20, 21-25, 17-15).
Patch participated fully in Friday’s warmups, and was “available to play,” but didn’t enter the game until BYU led 14-13 in the decisive 5th set. He played for 4 points and had 0 kills on 1 attack before being sent back to the bench. He also warmed up with the team before their win on Tuesday over Princeton, and while he didn’t play, BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said that it was up to the coaches at this point as to when he’d be available.
Patch’s last game for BYU came on February 4th, and has been battling a groin injury since. The Cougars won all 11 games that the senior missed, plus the 12th on Friday where he had very limited action. The team only has 3 games left before the MPSF tournament begins, and have already locked up quarterfinal hosting duties. With the win, BYU took over 1st place in the league and after beating #4 Hawaii twice last week, have all-but-locked-in at least an at-large invite to the 6-team NCAA tournament.
Price Jarman, who is dealing with an ankle injury, did start for BYU and had 9 errorless kills on 12 swings for a .750 hitting percentage on the game.
Full recap to follow.
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