Women's volleyball wins Big 12 home opener over Colorado

There is nothing little about Claire Little's game.

BYU's freshman outside hitter led the way for the Cougar volleyball team as it welcomed the Colorado Buffaloes into Provo (and the Big 12) on Thursday night. Little finished with 15 kills, four blocks, and a whole lot of passion.

Photo by Makayla Cazier Daily Universe

The Cougars came out victorious, winning three out of the four sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22).

The emotion, skill, teamwork and communication that the Cougars played with proved to be too much to handle for the 7-5 Colorado Buffaloes.

BYU's front line was active all night with 15 total blocks on the night and six just in the first set. Virtually nothing got past Brielle Kemavor as she nearly finished the night with a double-double, 10 kills and nine blocks.

The Cougars are a young team this year with many of their contributors being freshmen. One of those freshman is Alex Bower, who finished Thursday night's contest with 40 assists and 12 digs.

Other freshman such as Elli Mortensen and Lulu Uluave played valuable roles.

After the first set ended with two straight Buffalo attack errors, Colorado came back with a vengeance and won the second set thanks to a flurry of scoring runs and four aces.

The third set went down to the wire, featuring 10 ties and five lead changes.

BYU was able to sneak away with the win because of its accuracy and efficiency. Their percentages in the third set were impressive, 41% hitting percentage and 51% kill percentage.

Five service errors, including on match point, for Colorado in the fourth set led to its eventual 25-22 loss.

Up next is another home game for the Cougars against Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Cougars are now 8-3 overall, 7-1 at home, and in the midst of a four-game winning streak.