#17 BYU Follows Victory over #14 Utah with Sweep of Weber State

MATCH NOTES

#17 BYU def. Weber State 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-22)
BYU moves to 8-3; Weber State drops to 2-10
Deseret First Duel, Provo, Utah
Attendance: 4,110
Box Score
VolleyMob Top 25 (Week 4)

After an emotional five-set victory over #14 Utah the night before, the #17 BYU Cougars notched a straight-set victory over a scrappy Weber State squad looking for just its 3rd win of the season.

“I like the way we came out focused after last night’s match,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “I thought our game plan was good. The assistant coaches did a good job, and I thought the crowd’s energy was really helpful. We had such a great crowd tonight, and it was electrifying and gave the girls that extra energy they needed.”

The balanced Cougar offense was led by sophomore outside McKenna Miller, who notched 15 kills and junior outside Veronica Jones-Perry added 13. Sophomore libero Mary Lake anchored the back-row defense with 17 digs, many in spectacular fashion.

Weber State outblocked the Cougars 10.5 to 7 with sophomore middles Megan Gnieting and Aubrey Saunders each recording six. Offensively, the Wildcats were paced by 10 kills from senior outside Amanda Varley, and freshman setter Ashlyn Power put up 24 assists, marking the 10th time this season she has recorded 20 or more.

Weber State got as close as 21-20 in the first set before the Cougars went on a four-point scoring run that ended with back-to-back kills by Cosy Burnett and Jones-Perry. The Cougars were never seriously threatened in the second set and won by a convincing 25-15 margin.

In the third, the teams were tied at 13-13 and again at 19-19 before BYU recorded three straight kills to give them a 22-19 lead that wouldn’t relinquish on their way to the 25-22 final score.

Both teams will be on the road next week, with BYU facing Utah Valley and Weber State heading to Sacramento State for its first match of Big Sky Conference play.

VIDEO

The play of the @BYUwvolleyball match w/ Mary Lake coming in clutch #BYUWVB sweeps #WSUWVB 25 – 22 | Set 3 pic.twitter.com/XHhXtkdmSh

— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) September 16, 2017

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy: BYU Athletics

No. 14 BYU sweeps Weber State with balanced play

PROVO, Utah – Balanced play helped No. 14 BYU women’s volleyball to a win over Weber State in three sets (25-20, 25-15, 25-22) Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.

McKenna Miller led the team with 15 kills and Veronica Jones-Perry finished with 13. Cosy Burnett and Kennedy Redding followed up with eight and seven kills, respectively. Alohi Robins-Hardy set the team with 30 assists and had nine digs, while Mary Lake contributed 17 digs of her own.

Weber State (2-10) got off to a quick 4-2 lead against BYU (10-1) in the first set. The Cougars countered with a 6-1 run, topped off with an ace by Burnett. Weber State followed with a 5-1 rally to take the lead 11-10. The Cougars and Wildcats stayed neck-to-neck until BYU pulled ahead with a 21-17 lead, secured by a block from Jones-Perry and Burnett. The Cougars took the set 25-20 following a kill from Jones-Perry.

Miller started the second set with four kills, taking BYU to a 6-2 lead. The two teams traded blows, but the Cougars maintained the advantage after a kill from Redding made it 15-12, BYU. After a back-and-forth rally, Jones-Perry’s kill took the Cougars to a solid 19-14 lead. A service ace from Danelle Stetler and an attack error from the Wildcats gave the Cougars a 25-15 set win.

In the third set, the Wildcats quickly put themselves on top with an 11-6 edge. BYU answered back with a 7-2 run and then tied it at 13 apiece. Two back-to-back overpass kills by Redding and Burnett pulled the Cougars ahead 15-14. BYU maintained that momentum until the end, when a Burnett kill closed out the set and match 25-22.

BYU faces Utah Valley next on the road Saturday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. MDT, at Lockhart Arena. The match will be televised live on UVU TV. Links to live stats and video feed can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.

Courtesy: Weber State Athletics

WEBER STATE FALLS IN THREE SETS TO NO. 14 BYU

PROVO, Utah – Weber State volleyball took on No. 14 Brigham Young University and fell in three sets to the Cougars Friday night.

Weber State volleyball came out strong in the first set with a tied score at 5-5. BYU made a push for a 9-6 lead but WSU came back and tied things up at 10-10 with a block by Amanda Varley and Hannah Hill-DeYoung.

The two teams kept things tight for the next few points pushing things to 15-15. The Cougars put together two kills and an ace giving them a 19-16 lead. Weber State couldn’t manage to string together points to finish out the set and BYU claimed the first 25-20.

The Cougars got a 6-2 jump on the Wildcats early in the second set. Weber State tried to gain some momentum with a solid block by Ashyln Power and Hannah Hill-DeYoung that brought the score within two points. BYU pushed and claimed a five point lead but Weber State pushed to keep the score within two.

BYU took advantage of a pair of Wildcat errors and claimed an 18-13 lead. The Cougars finished out the set with a 10-2 run giving them the 25-15 second set win and the overall match lead 2-0 going into the break.

The Wildcats came out of the break on fire and claimed their biggest lead of the entire match with a 11-6 score off a 5-1 run. The Cougars were starting to gain some ground but the Wildcats came up with a block by Gneiting and Saunders to maintain a two point lead.

BYU tied everything up however with a 13-13 score. Neither BYU or WSU could string together two consecutive points as things remained all tied up at 19-19. The Cougars managed three kills in a row to give them a 22-19 lead.

The Wildcats managed to score three more points before BYU finished things off with a 25-22 score for the third set and a 3-0 score overall in the match.

The Wildcats were led by Varley who had 10 kills from 32 attacks. Ashlyn Power added 24 assists to Weber State’s offensive efforts. This was Power’s 10th time this season with 20 or more assists.

Thamires Cavalcanti had nine digs for the Wildcats and Power also added nine. Two other Wildcats also put up solid defensive performances, Gnieting and Saunders each added six blocks.

Weber State finished the night with 28 kills from 97 attacks with 15 errors for a .134 percentage while BYU posted 48 kills from 121 attacks with 23 errors for a .207 percentage. BYU out dug the Wildcats with a narrow margin of just two with the final stats reading BYU 46 and WSU 44. Weber State came out on top in blocking however coming up with 10.5 team blocks to BYU’s seven.

Weber State is now 2-10 overall on the season and will head to Sacramento State next week to start Big Sky Conference play