Match Stats
- BYU def. Saint Louis 3-0 (25-12, 26-24, 25-20)
- BYU moves to 1-0; Saint Louis drops to 0-1
- Provo, Utah
- Attendance: 423
- Box Score
Twelve blocks, including seven by freshman middle blocker Kennedy Redding, lifted No. 10 BYU to a season-opening sweep of Saint Louis Friday afternoon.
Junior setter Lyndie Haddock added five stuffs to the team’s tally, while four other players posted a block in the match.
The Cougars outhit the Billikens .291 to .115, outserved them 5-1 and outdid them 12-5 at the net. SLU won the battle in the back court with 34 digs to BYU’s 26.
Junior outside hitter Veronica Jones-Perry led BYU with 12 kills, while hitting at a .455 clip and putting up four blocks. Sophomore outside McKenna Miller followed with eight kills and three blocks, while junior outside Lacy Haddock chipped in seven kills, an ace and a block. Sophomore libero Mary Lake paced the defense with 11 digs to go with her team-best three aces.
Senior middle blocker Lauren Leverenz racked up a match-high 13 kills, while hitting at a .750 clip, committing just one error in 16 swings, but it was not enough. Senior outside Nenye Okoro also reached double digits with 11 kills, but had as many errors in the match. Sophomore middle Lauren Mershon put up a team-leading four blocks, while senior libero Mackenzie Long led the team in the backcourt with 13 digs.
Saint Louis boasted a brief 6-5 lead in Set 1, before BYU pulled away with a 9-2 run including three blocks and two Miller putaways. The Billikens scored two of the next three points, but the Cougars ended the stanza on a 10-2 run, including six SLU miscues. BYU hit at a .667 clip in the set, with no errors in 15 swings, while 12 hitting errors held SLU to a -.032 effort.
SLU rebounded by scoring six of the first nine points in Set 2, including two kills each by Okoro and Leverenz. BYU turned the tables and took a 14-10 lead as Redding put up two blocks and Lake served up two aces. The Billikens were within one at 14-13 after an Okoro ace, but could not break through. Saint Louis trailed by just one again at 21-20 and 22-21 as Leverenz turned in a block and a kill, before finally tying the score at 23. SLU then thwarted a Cougar set-point chance with an Okoro putaway. A Lyndie Haddock kill and Billiken error finally wrapped up the Cougar win at 26-24.
The teams were level at 13-all midway through Set 3. BYU pushed ahead with five of the next six points to make it 18-14 on a Lacy Haddock ace. The Billikens responded with four straight points to knot the score at 18. The Cougars closed out the match by scoring seven of the final nine points. Four blocks, including three by Redding, led the rally.
The Billikens, which went 18-14 in 2016, have a quick turnaround, facing off with No. 21 Ohio State at 7:30 p.m. ET. No. 10 BYU, which posted a 29-4 mark in 2016 along with a Sweet 16 berth, wraps up the first day of its Nike Invitational with a 9:30 p.m. ET meeting with Texas – Rio Grande Valley.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: BYU Athletics
Veronica Jones-Perry had 12 kills and four blocks as BYU beat Saint Louis in straight sets (25-12, 26-24, 25-20) Friday in the BYU Nike Invitational at the Smith Fieldhouse.”That was a fun match,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “I thought Saint Louis played great. I think our defense was strong. I liked our blocking, serving and some of the digs we got.”
McKenna Miller and Lacy Haddock had eight and seven kills, respectively. Kennedy Redding led with seven blocks and Lyndie Haddock added five. BYU hit at a .291 clip compared to a .115 from Saint Louis.
The Cougars took the first set 25-12 on a .667 hitting percentage. BYU had a nice stretch after surrendering an early 6-5 Saint Louis lead. The Cougars got a few blocks from Cosy Burnett and a Jones-Perry ace to lead 11-7. After a couple Miller kills, BYU extended the lead to 14-8. A pair of hitting errors from the Billikens gave the Cougars a 19-10 lead and forced a Saint Louis timeout. Burnett’s fourth block of the set gave BYU a 23-11 lead. An error from the Billikens closed out the set.
BYU had a slow start in the second set and trailed 7-4 before a kill from Lyndie Haddock. On the next point, Sydnie Martindale had a tough dig that turned into a Miller kill. Two points later, a Saint Louis error tied the set at 8-8. Redding had back-to-back blocks to give the Cougars a 10-8 lead. Mary Lake had two-straight aces to put BYU up 14-10 and force a timeout. The Billikens narrowed their deficit to 15-14, then later trailed 22-21 in the closest set of the match. Saint Louis had a service error but followed that with a kill and a Cougar error to knot things up at 23-23. Miller put it to set point with a kill, but the Billikens responded with a kill to make it 24-all. Lyndie Haddock took it to a second set point with a dump kill and a Saint Louis error gave BYU a 26-24 win.
The beginning of the third set went back and forth, and the Cougars eventually trailed 9-6. BYU gradually got back into it and tied things up at 12-12 after kills by Miller and Lacy Haddock. Jones-Perry gave the Cougars a 15-13 lead with consecutive kills. Lacy Haddock made it an 18-14 advantage with an ace. The Billikens answered with four-straight points for an 18-18 tie. BYU followed with five points in a row, via three Saint Louis errors and kills from Miller and Jones-Perry. A service error gave the Cougars a 24-20 match point, and a block from Redding sealed the match.
The Cougars return to action in the BYU Nike Invitational Friday night at 7:30 p.m. MDT against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
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