BYU women's volleyball finishes road trip with a sweep of Houston

The BYU women's volleyball team came into the match against Houston coming off a win over UCF on Thursday night and the Cougars were looking to finish their road trip 2-0.

The Cougars did just that as they swept the (other) Cougars in three sets, 25-16, 29-27, 26-24 Saturday.

The first set was BYU’s most dominant by far and it set the tone for the entire match. It started off going back and forth between both teams but the Cougars were able to capitalize off of Houston’s mistakes.

Teammates were feeding Claire Little with many sets throughout the first set and she finished with three kills in the set while Elli Mortenson added six. Alex Bower also totaled 13 assists in the set while BYU cruised to a 25-16 win.

The second set was by far the most entertaining of the three, with the Cougars winning a much closer set with a score of 29-27. Kjersti Strong had a solid performance in this set, recording four kills and three blocks. There were plenty of great rallies in this set with both teams making plays to keep the ball in play but BYU squeaked it out in the end.

As was the case for the entire match, the Cougars rose to the challenge and answered any fight that Houston put up. That trend continued in the third set. It was a back-and-forth affair, but BYU had a 22-18 lead late. Houston fought hard and tied it at 23 but the Cougars were able to hold off their opponent just as they had done all match and complete the shutout with a 26-24 set win.

Bower finished the match with 38 assists, while Little led the team with 15 kills. BYU improves to 16-8 overall and 9-5 in conference play with this much-needed win.

The No. 24 Cougars return to Smith Fieldhouse to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats on Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.