Cougar volleyball to compete in Utah Invitational

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After a busy week filled with tournaments and preseason games, the BYU women’s volleyball team is heading to Salt Lake City to participate in the Utah Invitational.

BYU has a tough tournament schedule, playing UC Riverside, Eastern Michigan and the University of Utah.

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BYU's Katie Vaughn spikes the ball during the game against BYU-Hawaii on Wednesday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.
After the Cougars win against the Seasiders on Wednesday night, BYU secured a five-game win streak and are looking to maintain their momentum.

 

“We just have to keep on the task at hand and we need to be ready for whoever we face across the net,” coach Shawn Olmstead said.

BYU will play three games in two days, the first against the UC Riverside Highlanders (1-6) on Friday at 5 p.m. With multiple games in such a short period of time, the Cougars have to remain focused in order to effectively execute their game plan.

“We prepare for Riverside,” Olmstead said. “We play them first and after that we focus on our next match and then we worry about the match after that.”

BYU will also take on a strong Eastern Michigan team (7-1) on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern Michigan won the IUPUI tournament last weekend and had a second place finish in the Notre Dame Invitational. The Eagles also just sealed a seven-game win streak heading into the tournament this weekend.

A recent news release stated that, “Eastern Michigan [will be] the team to beat in the invitational.”

The final match will be one of many Deseret First Duel battles between the Cougars and rival Utah. Utah has impressive hitters with sophomore Morgan Odale leading the team with 74 recorded kills this season. The Utes (4-3) will have home court advantage, but the Cougars momentum will provide them with the confidence they need.

“We got our momentum back,” senior Christie Carpenter said, “and hopefully that will carry on into this weekend’s tournament.”

The Cougars have been making the preparations necessary to succeed in this weekend’s game-packed tournament.

“This week we had to take it one day at a time,” junior Heather Hannemann said. “We will focus on Riverside and after Riverside we will focus on the next match.”

Although it has been a busy week for the volleyball team, Olmstead and the Cougars seem to be confident heading into the two-day tournament.

“There are three [matches], but the reality is we need to take care of the first match and continue to play hard,” Olmstead said.

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