No. 12 BYU women’s volleyball defeated Gonzaga and Portland this past week in their last home games of the regular season. BYU beat Gonzaga in four sets on Thursday night and Saturday the Cougars overcame Portland in three straight sets.
“I thought we played a great match,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “I liked our energy and thought we were pretty focused for the match. We did lose our focus for a slight moment in the third set and it cost us, so we have to learn to play better overall. I liked the way we bounced back in the fourth set.”
Thursday night the Cougars were led by Mckenna Miller who had 20 kills on a .472 clip. Defensive specialist Mary Lake tallied a match high 28 digs. Lyndie Haddock offered 50 assists and picked up eight digs. Amy Boswell added 14 kills and Whitney Young Howard led the Cougars with four blocks.
BYU won the first two sets easily 25-16 and 25-17. However, the Cougars fell short in the third set. BYU wasn’t ever able to gain the lead in the third set and lost 19-25 on a BYU service error.
The Cougars bounced back quickly in the forth set and started off with a Miller kill. BYU held the lead from there and won the set 25-14.
The last time BYU faced Portland they lost in a five set heart breaker. However, for the last home game of the season the Cougars beat them in three sets (25-10, 32-30, 25-15).
Howard led the Cougars with 14 kills on a .600 clip while Boswell had six blocks. Lake picked up another match high 23 kills.
The Cougars were able to win the first and third set easily by ten or more points. Conversely, the second set was incredible close.
BYU fell behind at 15-16 and stayed behind trailing by a point or two until a Boswell block tied the game 24-24. The teams tied again at 29-29 but the Cougars went on to win the set 32-30.
The Cougars will finish their season on the road when they take on San Francisco Nov. 17, Santa Clara Nov. 19 and Loyola Marymount Nov. 22.
