BYU women’s volleyball launched spring play today against Idaho State, winning 4-1. The match was set to play five matches, and BYU took the first three, lost the fourth and then picked up the last win to end its first match of spring play.
“We feel good about where we’re at,” said assistant coach Heather Olmstead. “The girls came in and competed hard and executed, which were the two things we were asking of them. From here we’ll look at what we did; we’ll look at some numbers and figure out how we can get better for the next three weeks.”
BYU maintained its early lead in the first set until Idaho State finally caught back up to tie the score at 19. From there each team fought back and forth for each point, tying eight times until BYU finally pulled ahead on the last point, winning the first set 32-30.
The second set started in a similar fashion. BYU led the way until Idaho State broke its run, pulling ahead at 9-8. The Bengals carried their lead until the Cougars took a seven-point run pulling ahead to 17-14, maintaining their lead until the end of the set, winning 25-21.
The third set was a no-brainer for BYU. Maintaining the lead uninterrupted for the entire match, BYU came out on top once again with a 25-18 win.
The fourth set BYU lost its bearings. The Cougars trailed the Bengals, losing the set by a nine-point deficit, 25-16.
The fifth set BYU was back on track. It started a little shaky until it caught up to Idaho State at 3-3. From there the Cougars maintained a comfortable lead and ended the match with their fourth set win of the day at 15-11.
“I think (this match) is something that the girls can build on to get some confidence and see what kind of things we do well,” Olmstead said. “It will also show us what we need to do better and show what we need to work on heading into our next tournament on Saturday at Utah.”
BYU women’s volleyball will be at the University of Utah next on March 29, where the team will participate in an all-day tournament.
