After being selected as the no. 7 seed for the NCAA tournament, the Cougars came with their game faces on as they defeated JMU 3-0 in Provo on Friday afternoon.
With 20 kills from Erin Livingston, 33 assists from Whitney Bower, and 6 blocks from Whitney Llarenas and Kate Prior, BYU showed volleyball fans everywhere why they belong in this tournament.
The first set had a rocky start for the Cougars as JMU went on a 4-0 run within the first few minutes. However, this did not shake their confidence as the score tied at 12-12 with a kill by Livingston.
The score stayed within a point or two of each other with both teams taking the lead after the other until back to back kills by Prior gave the Cougars the win for set one.
Set two seemed to be played by a whole new team as BYU began the set with a 7-0 scoring run on JMU. Mercy was not shown as Livingston led the team in kills and concluded the match 25-10.
JMU didn’t throw in the towel quite yet as outside hitter Brenya Reid led the team in kills with 11. Notwithstanding these great efforts, BYU took the third and final set 25-15 with Bower’s 33rd assist and Livingston’s 20th kill.
With this win in the books, BYU continues on in the NCAA tournament and will play again on Saturday in Provo.