No. 10 BYU women’s volleyball team swept the Idaho State Invitational. The Cougars defeated both Missouri and Idaho State in three sets on Saturday to take the Invitational title.
After beating Boise State on Friday BYU continued play in the Invitational by taking on Missouri and got the win in three sets (26-24, 26-24, 25-17).
“We came out really focused with energy,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “Everyone did their job. It was a great team win. I’m proud of the way they performed this week.”
Missouri got off to an early 6-2 lead in the first set against BYU. The Cougars continued to fight and an ace from Makenna Santiago tied the set at 11 apiece. Three BYU mistakes gave Missouri the advantage and they stretched their lead to 20-15 forcing the Cougars to take a time out. BYU returned from the break and went on a 7-2 run to tie the set back at 22-all. The teams battled back and forth but ultimately BYU won the set 26-24.
A pair of kills from Amy Boswell along with a block helped the Cougars to get off to a good start in the second set. BYU quickly found themselves trailing by three but answered back with a 6-1 run to take the lead at 9-7. With the help of an ace from Danelle Parady-Stetler, the Cougars extended their lead to 17-12. A Veronica Jones-Perry kill and a Whitney Young Howard stuff block brought BYU to set point at 24-18. The Tigers fought back hard and went on a 6-0 run to tie the set at 24-all. Kills from Parady-Stetler and Howard finished the close set at 26-24.
Mckenna Miller got BYU off to a strong start in the third set with four kills putting them up 10-7. The Tigers came back within two at 15-13 but the Cougars went on a 6-1 run with the help of two back-to-back aces from Parady-Stetler making their advantage 21-13. BYU cruised from there to end the set 25-17 on another Miller kill.
A few hours later the Cougars took on tournament host Idaho State and defeated them in three quick sets (25-14, 25-21, 25-14).
Miller led the team with 10 kills on a .389 clip. Lyndie Haddock added 27 assists and five blocks while Mary Lake had 10 digs. Amy Boswell put up five blocks and Lacy Haddock collected seven kills on .500 clip to assist in the win. In addition, Jones-Perry had five service aces.
BYU started the first set off slow and found themselves down 6-2. They fired back on an 11-2 run that was capped off by a Boswell ace to take the lead at 13-8. The Cougars continued their run by scoring six of the next seven points. The Bengals attempted to come back with a 4-1 run but BYU won the set 25-14.
After trading points in the beginning of the second set a Boswell block and kills from Howard and Jones-Perry put the Cougars up 13-10. BYU slowly extend its lead from there with assistance from a Jones-Perry ace putting the team ahead 19-12. The Bengals rallied but ultimately a BYU block ended the set 25-21.
The Cougars took an early lead in the third and final set. Another Jones-Perry ace extended the advantage to 13-5. The Cougars continued to cruise eventually taking another ten point lead and won the set 25-14.
Boswell was named the invitational’s Most Valuable Player and added to the all-tournament team along with Jones-Perry and Miller.
BYU will return to action at home on Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m. when they take on Utah in the Deseret Duel.
