Cougars Dominate Wolverines 3-0

OREM, Utah (Oct. 9. 2010) – In a packed house with standing room only and a record-breaking 2,206 attendance, the BYU women’s volleyball team (5-12, 1-2 MWC) swept Utah Valley (11-9, 2-2 GWC) in straight sets Saturday.

After defeating every University in Utah including Utah, Utah State, Southern Utah and Weber State, Utah Valley found its first loss to the Cougars. The Cougars remain undefeated by UVU in the all-time series at 7-0.

“I am thrilled that we finally pulled through,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “This was a big deal to win in front of a great crowd and I am proud of the team’s resiliency – they handled the pressure well.”

Three Cougars were in double digits led by Stephanie Snow with 13 kills, Jennifer Hamson with 11 and Christina Measom with 10 kills. Senior setter Kiana Rogers had a stellar night with 41 assists – her prior season-high in three sets coming against SDSU Thursday with only 26.

“Kiana had one of the best nights of her career tonight, in part by our better passing in sets one and two,” said Goulding.

Multiple players helped the passing game, led by libero Kendalyn Hartsock and Christie Carpenter with six digs each. Hamson and Brooke Soon also added five apiece.

Set one was powered by Snow tallying six kills on a .714 clip. With back-and-forth play to begin set one, solid play from Snow and company provided a 6-0 run ending at 16-9. Crucial service aces by Hamson proved to propel the Cougars forward, winning set one 25-17.

After the score was knotted at six, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run and maintained the lead until the Wolverines posted three-straight points to knot the score at 18, causing the Cougars to call a timeout. Coming out of the break the Wolverines scored their fourth-straight point and first lead of the match at 19-18. The Cougars pressed forward, showing composure and put away set two 25-22.

Hamson led the squad on the attack in set two with four kills on 1.000 hitting while Carpenter tallied four digs.

Coming out of the break, the Wolverines got out to a 4-0 lead in the third set, the Cougars gradually chipping away at the score to tie it at eight, nine, 10, 15 and 16 before posting a 4-0 run led by Measom, ending at 19-16. BYU maintained the lead the rest of the set, taking it 25-20.

The Cougars will be back in action Tuesday against Weber State in Ogden at 7 p.m. before coming home to host Air Force Thursday and UNLV Saturday.