Cougars defeat Utes in offseason competition

PROVO, Utah—BYU women’s volleyball took down Utah 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21) at the Smith Fieldhouse Friday evening in an offseason matchup.

Tambre Haddock and Jennifer Hamson hit double-figure kills for the Cougars, with Haddock collecting 12 and Hamson recording 11. Hamson also contributed six block assists.

Utah took the early lead in the first set, but Alexa Gray tied up the score 7-7 on a kill, and freshman Amy Boswell followed with a kill of her own to take the first Cougar lead. BYU skipped ahead 14-10 with the help of Ute errors, holding onto that lead through the rest of the 25-22 set.

BYU posted four quick points in the second set with the help of two blocks by Kimberli Boswell and a service ace by newcomer Camry Godfrey. Utah tied it up on a kill 9-9 and proceeded to take the lead. The Cougars tied up the set two more times, but couldn’t gain control, and lost the second set 25-20.

The Utes and Cougars were neck-and-neck through the third set, coming a tie 12 times. At 23-all, Hamson slammed Utah with a kill to put BYU at set point, and a Ute error pushed the Cougars to a 25-23 victory and 2-1 lead overall.

Up 4-1 to start the fourth set, BYU lost its lead momentarily on a Ute kill. Three consecutive Utah points increased the deficit to 15-12, but the undeterred Cougars answered with three straight points of their own to tie it at 15-15. BYU didn’t regain the lead until Haddock’s kill put the Cougars up one, part of a 4-0 run that brought the score to 23-20. Utah got one more kill in before another Haddock kill and a service ace took the set and the match for the Cougars.

The teams played a practice fifth set following the BYU victory. Utah took a 3-1 lead to start, but a 5-0 Cougar run stole the lead for BYU. The Cougars had another 5-0 run, highlighted by two kills from Jessica Jardine, and a Utah error finished off the practice round with a 15-10 BYU advantage.

Last weekend the Cougars lost to the Utes and defeated Salt Lake Community College and Weber State in a tournament hosted by Utah.

BYU heads up the road to Orem April 13 for a tournament hosted by the UVU Wolverines. The tournament starts at 9 a.m. MDT.