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State College, Pa. • BYU's Jake Langlois is a late bloomer, taking up volleyball late in his teenage years, growing to 6-foot-10, and becoming one of the No. 1-ranked Cougars' top players.

The big outside hitter from San Jose, Calif., got off to a slow start in his first NCAA Tournament on Thursday night at Penn State's Rec Hall, too, then provided the difference down the stretch as the Cougars beat Long Beach State.

After getting no kills in the first set and two in the second, Langlois had four in the third set and two more in the fourth to help the Cougars (27-3) move into the championship match. He finished hitting .120 after being in negative numbers the first two sets.

"Jake has been a big part of our success this year, and I thought he contributed a ton," said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead. "He contributed in a lot of different ways that maybe don't stand out. But he's a huge part of what we are doing, and so I think all the guys are comfortable with the approach that Jake is going to get going, and his excitement, his physical play, is going to come around. And that's exactly what happened."

Langlois' kill late in the second set tied it at 22, but after the teams traded service errors, Long Beach's Kyle Ensing and Bjarne Huus ended it with back-to-back kills.

The Cougars never trailed in the third set and broke from a 6-5 deficit in the fourth set thanks to two Langlois kills and a block by Price Jarman.

"Our team passed really well, and when we are in system a lot more we are able to get [rolling] more with Ben [Patch] and Jake and Brenden [Sander] all hitting so well, that opened up the defense for us to be more aggressive," said senior Michael Hatch.

Sander had two aces and Langlois three.

"I thought that these guys did an outstanding job following the scouting report," Olmstead said. "They've been pretty good at that the entire season, actually. … I thought the guys did some really good things, right from the get-go. That was my perception."

Then Langlois came in and put the hammer down.

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay