A nine-match win streak came to an end for the BYU women’s volleyball team this weekend as the Cougars played two matches in California to wrap up a stretch of six straight road matches.
Although BYU lost its first match, the Cougars were able to regroup and come out on top for the second.
The Cougars fell to Cal State Fullerton 25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23 on Friday night.
“It’s a setback. We just didn’t play our best,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said in a news release. “I didn’t think our effort was up to par. The scores of each set were close, but we lacked a little in the effort category.”
Even though BYU came up short, the Cougars had a season high 16 total blocks. Other efforts included sophomore Jennifer Hamson’s 18 kills and six blocks, along with senior Christie Carpenter’s 13 kills. Junior Heather Hannemann had 48 assists and six digs, while sophomore Kathryn LeCheminant contributed eight kills.
The Cougars battled with the Titans in all four sets, with 17 lead changes and 32 ties.
After its loss to Cal State Fullerton, BYU came out and battled with a tough Cal State Northridge team and defeated the Knights 25-15, 25-22, 16-25, 25-17.
“We came out the second match much more focused than we were against Fullerton,” Olmstead said. “We were not 100 percent focused before. We responded well by regrouping and focusing on what we needed to do and that was to beat Northridge.”
The Cougars won the first two sets and lost the third before finishing off the Matadors.
“Once again we lost focus for a little bit,” Olmstead said. “We got comfortable and you can’t ever get comfortable if you want to win. We always need to stay focused on the task at hand and that is to win matches.”
Hannemann also set well for the Cougars during the second match with 34 assists and seven digs. Hamson was the lead hitter, coming up big with 16 kills, followed by Carpenter with eight and junior Nicole Warner with seven. Junior Kendalyn Hartsock led the team in digs with 25.
“We picked it up,” Olmstead said, “and we took care of the things we needed to.”
The Cougars return home and will play St. Mary’s in the Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday at 7 p.m.
