Three-Match Week For Spikers

PROVO -- With back-to-back road wins, the BYU women’s volleyball team (5-12, 1-3 MWC) will travel to Weber State Tuesday, before coming home to host Air Force Thursday and UNLV in a pink out Saturday. All matches begin at 7 p.m. MT and BYUtv will be broadcasting the UNLV match live.

“We have three solid matches this week and we will take them each one at a time,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “The team has regained much of the confidence that they have lacked lately and I expect it will carry over into this week. The team feels good, and their attitudes are great. They are excited to get out and continue to prove themselves. We feel very fortunate that our two Mountain West opponents will be here at home it puts us in a great spot to continue to press forward.”

Promoting Breast Cancer Awareness month, the team will be planting tulips Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. before having the “pink-out” match against UNLV at 7 p.m. Saturday. Coming off two-straight road sweeps, the Cougars are ready to continue their winning ways.

Up first will be Weber State in Ogden, Utah. BYU leads the all-time series 57-0 with the last meeting being a 3-0 win for the Cougars in Provo. The Wildcats are 2-17 overall, and 0-7 in the Big Sky Conference. They are led by Bethany Wray on the attack with 228 kills at 3.21 kills per set. Weber State is coming off a nine-game losing streak and recent 3-0 losses to Utah Valley and Sacramento State.

The Cougars will return to Provo to jump back into Mountain West Conference play, hosting Air Force Thursday at 7 p.m. The Falcons enter play this week with a 3-15 record and an 0-5 MWC record. AFA is led offensively by Caroline Kurtz who has 236 kills and is averaging 3.58 kills per set. The Falcons have lost their last five matches, all in conference play. BYU leads the all-time series against Air Force 24-1.

Finishing out the week will be UNLV in a pink-out match to promote breast cancer awareness Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The Cougars lead the all-time series 23-6, the last meeting a 3-1 win at home. The Rebels are led by Sara Nehf on the attack with 212 kills, averaging 3.16 per set.

“UNLV has battled well with all of their opponents this year and we expect no less when they come to our court on Saturday,” Goulding said. “Saturday is our ‘Pink-Out’ match. We hope to have a great crowd there to support us as well as to celebrate and honor Breast Cancer Awareness month.”

After this week the Cougars will travel to New Mexico and TCU on Oct. 21 and 23.