NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship
St. John Arena / Columbus, Ohio
With his team trailing 18-10 in Set 1 of the NCAA Championship match against No. 1 seed Ohio State, BYU’s second year head coach Shawn Olmstead turned to the bench and junior opposite Ben Patch. Patch, who has missed much of the 2017 season with a groin injury and is turning pro after the season, came in to pick up his team with a pair of dominating kills to cut the margin to five at 22-17. OSU, however, went on to win the set 25-19.
When in the lineup, Patch has helped the Cougars to the tune of 4.41 kills per set, while hitting at a .355 clip. The junior played sparingly in BYU’s quarterfinal win over Barton on Tuesday. He did not appear until the Cougars were handily up 21-8 in Set 2, but wound up with four kills and five aces in the match. Patch did not play in the semifinal win over Long Beach State on Thursday.
Patch tallied his 1,000th career kill on March 26 against Long Beach State, making him just the seventh Cougar to reach the milestone in the rally scoring era. The Provo, Utah, native earned first team All-America honors in 2013 and 2016 and was the 2013 AVCA Newcomer of the Year.
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