HONOLULU— The BYU men’s volleyball team made it a clean sweep this weekend, defeating the University of Hawaii to claim the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational championship match late Friday night.

After struggling through the first two matches of the tournament, the Cougars found their confidence and consistency just in time to challenge the host team and deep-rooted rival, Hawaii.

“It’s a new lineup, so you never know how things are going to be,” middle blocker Michael Burke said in an interview after the match. “It’s a younger team and a lot of our guys have never played before. Our confidence finally came, and we finally were getting things together.”

The Cougars put together solid performances in three of the four games of the match, beating the Warriors in four games (3-1) in front of a crowd of 4,682. BYU improved its undefeated record to 3-0 while extending their winning streak to ten, dating back to last year.

BYU attacked early and won the first game 30-28, but Hawaii quickly answered, dominating the Cougars in Game 2, 25-30. Game 3 was an emotional seesaw battle with the lead changing hands several times until BYU took advantage of a Warrior service error to break a 25-25 tie. The Cougars won the game 30-28 when Burke put down his tenth kill of the match.

Hawaii put up little fight in the fourth and deciding game, hitting just .122 to the Cougars’ .455.

“It was a good match until game four, and then all the wheels came off in four different directions,” University of Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said to reporters. “We just had a little meltdown at the end.”

BYU outside hitter Victor Batista was a force to be reckoned with, riddling the Warriors with a career-high 21 kills.

“I guess the bad guys won,” Batista said to a local reporter.

In addition to winning the invitational, three Cougars were recognized for their outstanding play.

Burke took home the tournament MVP award and was selected to the All-Tournament team while right-side hitter Casey Patterson and outside hitter Victor Batista also received All-Tournament team honors.

These three veterans also posted some impressive numbers over the weekend. Burke turned in a dominant performance over the course of the three-match invitational, recording 44 kills, 15 digs and 15 blocks. Batista also put down 54 kills and had 14 blocks while Patterson recorded 40 kills and had 21 digs.

This was BYU’s first invitation to the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, which could be seen as a prelude to another NCAA National Championship. En route to winning their first Outrigger Invitational, the Cougars beat three talented teams from Lewis University, Penn State and Hawaii.

BYU has made Honolulu its home away from home in the last year. The Cougars have one seven straight matches at the Stan Sheriff Center, including two wins last year to claim the national title.