Volleyball Ends Spring, Preps For Tour

PROVO, Utah—The BYU women’s volleyball team ended spring play on a high note, downing UVU 4-1 (25-17, 25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 15-12) Friday at the Smith Fieldhouse to keep an undefeated record in offseason competition.

“I thought we made some big strides this spring, especially with some of our younger players,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We had some good competition, not only in our gym but at UVU and Utah. We see spring competition as a great opportunity to get better, not necessarily about winning or losing.”

BYU took an early lead with wins in the first two sets before UVU turned up the pressure in the third. A 6-1 UVU scoring streak put BYU behind 12-7. The Cougars didn’t stage a comeback until the Wolverines were in set-point position. Down 24-15, BYU surged back to tie up the set 24-24, but couldn’t hold on after the 9-0 run and gave the 27-25 set to UVU.

Unfazed after the third set, the Cougars came back to take the next two sets for the victory.

The Cougars launched spring competition with a 4-0 victory against the Wolverines in Orem, Utah, Mar. 9. Following the rout of UVU, BYU welcomed the University of Utah to Elaine Michaelis Court. The Cougars and the Utes took the match to five sets, with BYU eking out a win in the final set after dropping the first two sets for a 3-2 (16-25, 27-29, 25-18, 25-23, 15-11) Cougar victory.

Last weekend, the team traveled to Salt Lake City for a tournament hosted by Utah. The Cougars swept the tournament, defeating the College of Southern Idaho 2-0 (25-18, 25-13) and Weber State 2-0 (25-16, 25-18) before sealing the deal with a 2-0 (26-24, 25-17) victory over the hosting Utes.

BYU now prepares for a foreign tour to Brazil and Argentina. The team embarks May 3 for its two-week tour.