Cougars Post Four-Set Win To Open Tourney

MADISON -- The No. 23 BYU women’s volleyball team handed Boise State its seventh loss of the year Friday at the InnTowner Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin. The Cougars improved to 6-1 on the year with the four-set victory (22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22) while the Broncos dropped to 0-7.

“We’re happy to get a win,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “We’re learning a lot about the things we need to work on to get better for this season.”

Senior Bryn Porter led four Cougars in double-digit kills as she tallied 17. Junior Kayla Walker posted 13 kills while junior Ashton Hosford and Rachel Dyer each recorded 10 winners. Porter and Walker also notched double-doubles with 13 and 10 digs, respectively. Junior Morgan Lloyd paced the Cougars with 18 digs.

All four sets were battles from start to finish. An early 5-2 Bronco lead in set one quickly disappeared with three straight Cougar scores. It was not until the set was tied at 20-20 that one team was able to pull away as Boise State scored five of the last seven points to take the 25-22 win. Porter tallied five kills in the set, but three Cougar service errors proved to be the difference.

Set two began with the Broncos again leading early at 11-7 until two kills from Porter and a Dyer service ace got BYU with one point. But Boise State kept the Cougars at bay until BYU was finally able to tie the set at 18-18 on a Bronco hitting error. BYU took its first lead of the second frame on the next point with a block from Porter, but the two squads continued to battle back and forth. Finally, with the score tied at 23-23, the Broncos gave the Cougars the chance they needed with a service error and an attack error to give BYU the 25-23 victory.

The Cougars dominated on both sides of the net in set three, hitting .375 in the frame while holding Boise State to a .135 attack percentage. However, the Broncos still managed to keep it tight, tying the score at 18-18 before BYU scored seven of the final eight points to take the 25-19 win.

With their backs against the wall in set four, Boise State came out firing, scoring the first four points. The Broncos continued to push their advantage to a 10-6 lead until four straight Cougar points knotted the score at 10-10. From there, the lead seesawed back and forth with neither team able to gain more than a two-point advantage. As the set neared its conclusion, the Cougars slowly gained control, using solid play all around to take the 25-22 win.

The Cougars will continue competition at the InnTowner Invitational on Saturday with a 10 a.m. CT (9 a.m. MT) match against Central Michigan before taking on No. 14 Wisconsin Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT (6 p.m. MT).

Fans can join the official BYU Women’s Volleyball Texting Group by texting “WVB” to 83043. Members of the group will get updates about game times and special promotions.