Strong serving helps No. 10 Cougars past Missouri in four

BOISE, Idaho – A strong presence at the serving line helped No. 10 BYU women’s volleyball past Missouri in four sets (25-13, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16) Friday night at Bronco Gym as part of the Boise State Invitational.

“I thought we did a good job sticking with our game plan,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “We struggled to get into a rhythm, but we never gave up. Everyone contributed and it was another great team win against a really good opponent.”

The Cougars (5-0) had eight aces on the night with just five service errors. Veronica Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 19 kills, and McKenna Miller was close behind with 14 kills. Mary Lake had 16 digs and Danelle Stetler contributed a career-high 14 digs in the defensive effort. Lyndie Haddock collected 39 assists, and Cosy Burnett added a career-high four aces in the win. 

A trio of kills from Miller helped BYU go on a 7-1 run to take an 8-3 lead early in the first set against Missouri (3-3). A pair of Miller aces helped extend the Cougar advantage to 13-4 and consecutive Jones-Perry kills made it 17-7. A Tiger service error eventually gave BYU the set 25-13.

A Kennedy Redding kill gave the Cougars a 6-4 advantage to start the second set. BYU stayed ahead 11-8 before Missouri scored the next three points to even the score at 11 apiece. A Stetler and Burnett block rallied the Cougars back ahead by three, 17-14, but that was countered with a pair of blocks from the Tigers to tie the set again at 19-all. Missouri then scored six of the next eight points to take the set 25-21.  

The Tigers took a 7-1 lead in the third set, forcing a BYU timeout along the way. The Cougars got back within a point, trailing 10-9 after Burnett’s third ace of the night. Missouri errors gave BYU the lead at 15-14, and a Miller kill extended the Cougars’ advantage to five at 22-17. The Tigers scored the next three-consecutive points to get back within two, 22-20, but BYU closed out the set with a 25-21 win after another Missouri error.

The Cougars took a comfortable 12-4 lead to start the fourth set, following back-to-back kills from Jones-Perry. The Tigers countered with a 4-0 run to get back within four, trailing 12-8. A Miller kill kept BYU up 17-12 and a kill down the middle from Burnett made it 21-14. A Missouri attack error ended the set and match in the Cougars’ favor 25-16.

BYU returns to Bronco Gym one last time Saturday, Sept. 2, at noon MDT, where it will compete against Sacramento State in a neutral-site match. The match will be streamed live by FloVolleyball. A subscription is required to view the stream. Live stats will also be available on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.