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Columbus, Ohio • Ten minutes into Tuesday's NCAA men's volleyball tournament first-round match, it appeared the upstarts from Barton College were going to give heavily favored BYU all it could handle at St. John Arena.

Less than an hour later, Cougars coach Shawn Olmstead was clearing his bench and the Cougars were coasting to the semifinals. BYU fought off some early match jitters and buried the Bulldogs 3-0 to move into Thursday's rematch with Long Beach State, the team with which it shared the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season championship.

The scores were 25-19, 25-11 and 25-15 in a match that was competitive early but turned heavily in BYU's favor midway through the first set and lasted only 71 minutes.

"Overall a great team performance from our guys, highlighted by some standout individual performances, but in the end it was a group effort that got it done, that's for sure," said Olmstead.

Superior in height and athleticism to the Conference Carolinas champion, the Cougars dominated at the net and the service line. They had 18.5 total team blocks to BC's two, and had 10 service aces to the Bulldogs' two.

"At home we have a lot of fans and it is easier to get going, but I think getting going as a team helped us, instead of [waiting] for the fans," said junior Brenden Sander, who led BYU with 11 kills. "It helped us a lot because we focused more on the team effort and the team energy and just playing as a team more than anything else."

Junior Tim Dobbert started at opposite hitter and delivered some excellent plays to reward Olmstead's nod to him over fellow junior Ben Patch, the two-time All-American who has been slowed by a groin injury. With the first set tied 8-8, Dobbert registered a kill and a block to get the third-seeded Cougars (25-4) rolling. Sander's ace ended the set.

"It was just a decision that we made as a staff," Olmstead said of starting Dobbert. "Tim adds a lot in touches, adds a lot of positives. … But Ben does as well. Don't get me wrong there. Both are good options to have."

With BYU leading 19-7 in the second set, Patch made his first appearance and promptly delivered three kills. Joseph Grosh's kill ended the walkover, 25-11. Patch finished four kills and a .333 hitting percentage.

"Midway through the second set, we all felt, 'hey, let's get Ben in rhythm,' and I am glad we did," Olmstead said. "He came in with a good mindset and did a really nice job right from the first set he got."

Like in the first set, Barton started the third set relatively well, and tied it at 9-9 on a kill by Vasilis Mandilaris. But Jarman gave BYU the lead with a big block, one of six he was involved in on the night, and all was well again for the Cougars. BYU scored eight straight points from there, then got the match-clincher when subs Christian Rupert, Kiril Meretev and Will Stanley combined for a block.

"We just started feeling more comfortable in what we were doing," Olmstead said of the late-set surges. "We needed them to work a little harder in transition, and they did. Once we got on a roll we felt real comfortable digging and transitioning the ball, and were just kind of figuring them out as well."

The Cougars finished hitting .351, while the Bulldogs hit a miserable .067.

"The score wasn't what we wanted, but I don't think at any time we thought we were out of the match," said Barton coach Jeff Lennox.

Aleksa Brkovic and Angelos Mandilaris had eight blocks apiece for Barton, but the Bulldogs committed nine service errors, all in the latter two sets.

"They were just bigger and more athletic than us," said Federico Pagliara. "We are not used to seeing that much triple blocking."

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay —

Storylines

R In a first-round match that lasts 71 minutes, the Cougars dominate the Conference Carolinas champion.

• Brenden Sander leads BYU with 11 kills, while Jake Langlois adds seven and Tim Dobbert six.

• BYU records 18.5 team blocks and holds Barton to just two team blocks.