By ROSEMARY LARSEN
With a career game from junior Korie Rogers, the BYU women’s volleyball team came back after a slump in the third game to beat the Wyoming Cowgirls 15-7, 15-6, 10-15, 15-6 Saturday night at home.
Rogers set a career-best in kills with 19 and hit .486. She also added to her career-high 16 digs and tied for the team lead with four blocks.
Rogers led the Cougar attack but was followed closely by All-American middle blocker Amy Steele Gant who had 18 kills, a .378 hitting percentage and 15 digs. Helen Hjorth ended the win with 12 kills. Both Hjorth and junior Wendy Midgley had 12 digs for the Cougar defense.
Senior Heather Whittaker accompanied her 12 digs with a high game of 11 kills and a hitting percentage of .409. Whittaker alternated with freshman Melissa Layton at the outside hitter spot which was left open when Caroline Steuer injured her knee in mid-September. Whittaker played a steady match, never losing control as she helped calm her teammates in the first and fourth games.
“She (Whittaker) played cool and steady for us,” BYU head coach Elaine Michaelis said.
Michaelis was surprised at how tough the Cowgirls played. “Wyoming was a better team than they showed on the tape and that’s good to learn because it’s always hard to play over there,” she said.
After a solid three-game win against Colorado State on Thursday, the Cougars lost some of their focus against Wyoming. “It’s really hard to play at a high level every time you go out there,” Michaelis said.
“We played so well Thursday night, then came out tonight at a much lower level. Mostly, we were disappointed because we lost some focus and were kind-of cruising along, but losing one game, that’s all right,” Michaelis said.
Dropping one game to the Cowgirls does not concern Michaelis. “Our passing and serves weren’t really well tonight, but we don’t mind. It’s the match you’re after, not just the game,” she said.
Julie Overton led the Wyoming team with 16 kills and 10 digs. Anna Parmely had 13 digs and seven kills for the Cowgirls and Melody Friehauf and Jami Laya each had seven blocks.
Wyoming out-blocked the Cougars 17-7, but the Cougars were still too hard to beat.
The Cougars hit the WAC road to play two new conference foes, Air Force and UNLV this week.
