Burnett, Cougars hold strong to beat LMU

PROVO, Utah—After losing the first set, Cosy Burnett and No. 10 BYU women’s volleyball won three straight to beat Loyola Marymount in four sets (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19) Tuesday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.

“LMU came out swinging and they were pretty aggressive,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “”We had to get our energy up and go back to the game plan. I thought the girls did a great job of doing that after the first set. I was proud of them.”

Burnett set a career-high of 12 kills tonight in the win. Alexa Gray added an additional 12 kills along with a career-high tying 13 digs while Danelle Parady chipped in with a career-high 12 digs and six kills. Amy Boswell had six blocks and Whitney Young Howard had five, while Alohi Robins-Hardy had 29 assists for the Cougars (12-2, 2-1 West Coast Conference). Ciara Parker had a match-high 16 digs in the win.

LMU (9-5, 0-2 WCC) opened the first set with a three-point rally before committing a service error to take the lead 3-1. They would carry that momentum to win five of the next six points, making it 8-4. Veronica Jones ended LMU’s run with a kill to make it 8-5, followed by a Burnett kill.The Lions then took the next four points to make it 12-8. BYU and LMU followed by taking turns winning points until the Cougars made a late run to come within a point at 23-22 following two kills from Burnett. The Lions had two-straight kills to win the set, however, 25-22.

Burnett came out with two kills to open the second set 2-0 for BYU. LMU answered with two points of their own to tie it up. The Cougars and Lions then traded points until BYU rattled off four-consecutive points, capped off by a Burnett kill, to make it 11-7. Two back-to-back errors for LMU then forced them to call a timeout, trailing 14-7. Boswell’s back-to-back blocks and a Gray ace contributed to the Cougars pulling away 23-16. The Lions would rally late, but another kill from Burnett and a block by Howard sealed the set for the Cougars 25-19.

BYU and LMU traded points throughout the third set until back-to-back kills by Burnett put BYU out in front 9-7. Gray contributed a block and two kills along with a Parker ace to put the Cougars out in front 12-8. However, LMU added three-straight points to mount a late comeback, taking a 17-16 lead before a BYU timeout. Burnett came out of the break with two kills, breaking her previous career-high of 11 kills in a match. Boswell, Gray and Parady each added a kill to end the set 25-21.

LMU opened the fourth set with a 6-3 lead. BYU answered with three-straight points to even the set at 6-all. Four errors then increased LMU’s lead to four, but a pair of kills from Robins-Hardy and Parady gave BYU the slight lead 13-12. The Cougars then forced five errors and Gray added two kills to extend BYU’s lead 22-17. LMU made a late surge, but a Howard block ended the set and match, 25-19.

The Cougars next hit the road Friday to take on rival San Diego at 7:30 p.m. PDT. The game will be broadcast on TheW.tv.