Cougars sweep Lions, Parker first in BYU's rally-scoring era digs

PROVO, Utah – The No. 12 BYU women’s volleyball team swept Loyola Marymount, 3-0, behind Alexa Gray and Jennifer Hamson’s combined 26 kills at the Smith Fieldhouse Thursday night.

“We got a little tested in the third set,” head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “I’m happy with the girls’ performance through the first two, but it’s nice to battle. We can still get better, but I thought it was nice to see other girls do some nice things, too.”

Ciara Parker passed Uila Crabbe's 1,119 digs, the previous BYU rally-scoring era dig record, during the second set - finishing with 20 digs on the night and a current total of 1,131.

Hamson finished with a .444 clip, 13 kills and five block assists while Gray finished with 13 kills on the night. Tambre Nobles added eight kills, 11 digs and four block assists with Camry Godfrey Willardson finishing with 39 assists. Amy Boswell had a game-high nine blocks on the night.

BYU (17-3, 8-1 West Coast Conference) led LMU (17-4, 5-4 WCC) in blocks 17-1 and finished with a .357 hitting clip and a team total of five service aces.

The Cougars got off to a slow start with Nobles leading the way with three kills to cut LMU’s lead 6-5. After a back-and-forth battle, the Lions made consecutive errors to tie the set at 13 apiece. BYU took its first lead, 16-15, on a Lions error and a block by Nobles and Young extending it to three for the 20-17 lead. The Cougars finished strong with two kills from Nobles and a Lions error to take the first set 25-19.

BYU held LMU to single digits in the second set, 25-9, and ended with .588 clip. Multiple kills by Hamson and Gray gave the Cougars a quick 9-4 start. Nobles, Tia Withers Welling, Parker and Hamson added one point each on service aces with Hamson’s kill and ace extending the lead to 21-8. BYU ended the set on a 4-0 run with kills by Boswell and Gray, followed by a Gray block to take set point.

LMU responded in the third set with a quick 8-4 lead before Gray answered with consecutive kills to cut the deficit to two. The Lions extended their lead to 15-9, but were followed by a 7-2 BYU run that included consecutive kills by Cosy Burnett and a solo block by Willardson to cut the deficit 17-16. A block by Young and Hamson gave the Cougars their first lead, 20-19, since their 3-2 start. LMU came within one until Gray’s kill ended the match 25-23.

The Cougars stay home to host Pepperdine on Saturday at 1 p.m. MDT. The match will be televised live on BYUtv with links to live stats and a video feed found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.