Cougars win third straight match

PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior Tambre Haddock led the No. 25 BYU women’s volleyball team (4-2) to a 3-0 (27-25, 25-13, 25-16) victory over former WAC foe Fresno State on Saturday.

“Today was a good win against a good opponent,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “Our blocking was very strong and disciplined. Whitney was aggressive defensively and Kathryn, Tambre and Jessica did a nice job offensively.”

Haddock had 11 kills on 23 attempts to hit .348 to go with ten digs in the victory. Liberos Tia Withers Welling and Ciara Parker added a combined 17 digs, while sophomore Camry Godfrey contributed 32 assists. Freshman Whitney Young helped on defense with 11 total blocks in the win.

The Cougars put the first points of the match on the board with an Alexa Gray kill. Both squads continued from that point to exchange scores evenly until the Bulldogs went on a 4-0 run, taking a 12-9 lead. Shortly after, BYU took control with an 18-15 lead from kills by Jessica Jardine and Haddock. Fresno State kept the score close, though, until another Haddock kill gave the Cougars their largest lead of the set at 22-18. The Bulldogs then went on a 5-0 run to take a 23-22 lead off of four BYU attack errors. Both sides had set points until a pair of Fresno State attack errors gave the Cougars a 27-25 set one win.

BYU opened up the second set 6-1 on a 5-0 run with kills by Jardine, Haddock and Kathryn LeCheminant. The Cougars maintained their hot streak by taking a nine-point lead at 13-4, forcing a Bulldog timeout. Fresno State had trouble controlling BYU’s offense, as the Cougars easily took the set 25-13.

The third set began with even scoring from both teams. Neither squad managed to gain a dominant lead early on, as the score remained within two points until a Fresno State attack error gave BYU a 10-7 edge. The Cougars slowly took a five-point lead at 15-10 from a pair of Bulldog attack errors, forcing them to take a timeout. A 6-1 run gave BYU an 18-11 advantage after a Jardine service ace. It was all Cougars from that point, crusing to a 25-16 win in the third set for the victory.

Fresno State falls to 2-3 on the year, with one of its losses coming against WCC foe Santa Clara.

BYU continues play in the Portland State Tournament on Saturday by taking on Big 12 foe Oklahoma at 5 p.m. PDT. The Cougars and Sooners last faced off in 2012 during the second round of the NCAA tournament in Provo. BYU took that match 3-0, with the Cougars leading the overall series 5-1. Links to live stats for the match can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.