PROVO, Utah--The No. 12 seed BYU women’s volleyball team solidified its undefeated season at home with a 3-0 win (25-17, 25-21, 25-18) against Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA volleyball tournament at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday to make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

The Cougars will play Friday in the region semifinals in Omaha, Neb.

"Overall, this was a great match," BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "I was very impressed with Oklahoma. I think they even played better than last night. Tonight, for some reason, I never felt comfortable always wanting our girls to play better and they pulled through.”

Video Highlights and Interviews

Jennifer Hamson led BYU in kills with 17 and also had five blocks in the win. Nicole Warner produced both defensively and offensively with nine blocks to go along with her eight kills. Tia Withers led the Cougars in digs with 15 and Heather Hannemann finished the night with ­­­34 assists and 14 digs to earn her twelfth double-double of the season.

BYU (28-3, 13-3 WCC) topped Oklahoma (22-11, 10-6 Big 12) in kills (48-36), blocks (11-9) and digs (52-44) in the three-set victory.

Hamson began the first set with a kill down the line, but Oklahoma quickly answered and the two teams fought back and forth early on. However, BYU started to create some separation at the 7-6 mark and continued to push until the Sooners were forced to call a timeout with the score at 12-8. BYU then took advantage of a few Sooner errors and extended its lead to 15-8 before handing the ball back to Oklahoma. BYU took its biggest lead at the 23-15 mark and held on to take the 25-17 win. Hamson had seven kills in the set to lead all hitters and Kimberly Dahl smashed five kills to aid BYU in the victory.

The second set started just as the first did with a kill from Hamson, who added two more kills to win the first three points for the Cougars. Oklahoma stayed right with BYU, though and took its first lead of the night on a block to put them up 5-4. Oklahoma extended its lead on three-straight kills and forced BYU to call a timeout at the 9-6 mark. However, BYU answered after the timeout with a 9-1 run of its own, highlighted by scrappy play and tough defense.  The Cougars had three blocks and five digs during the run. BYU allowed the Sooners to come back within two points at the 23-21 mark, but a kill from Warner and Hamson sealed the 25-21 victory. Withers and Hannemann aided in the defensive effort for BYU with 13 combined digs and Warner grabbed three blocks in the set.

Hamson continued her run into the third set with another kill to start off the match, but Oklahoma remained close to keep the score tied. At 3-3, a kill from Warner and a solo block from Dahl sparked a 4-0 run for the Cougars. BYU extended its lead to seven, but Oklahoma fought back with a 3-0 run to force a BYU timeout at the 10-7 mark. Oklahoma cut the BYU lead to two, but BYU fought back to earn its biggest lead of the set at 19-10. The Cougars had five blocks during the run to add to its total of 11 for the night. Alexa Gray then solidified the win for the Cougars with a kill to give BYU the 25-18 victory.

BYU will play the winner of fifth-seed Oregon and Dayton in the region semifinal matchup Friday. 

Oklahoma vs. BYU Box Score

PROVO, Utah—The No. 12-seeded BYU women’s volleyball team welcomes three teams to the Smith Fieldhouse Friday for the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Arizona State will play against Oklahoma at 5 p.m. MST and New Mexico State will take on the Cougars at 7 p.m. MST.

BYU will also host the second round match Saturday at 7 p.m. MST.

In the neutral-site match between Arizona State and Oklahoma, the Sooners will be the home team.

BYU

The Cougars finished the regular season 26-3, tying with San Diego for West Coast Conference champions with a 13-3 league record. BYU won the tiebreaker to get the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Claiming a share of the conference crown gave BYU four individual all-conference awards, with Jennifer Hamson taking Player of the Year, head coach Shawn Olmstead receiving Coach of the Year, Alexa Gray garnering Freshman of the Year and Nicole Warner winning a share of the Defensive Player of the Year award. All three were named to the all-conference team, while setter Heather Hannemann received All-WCC Honorable Mention honors. Gray and Kimberly Dahl were named to the WCC All-Freshman team.

Hamson leads the Cougars with 4.02 kills per set, 1.80 digs per set and 1.23 blocks per set. Her average points per set, 4.98, is good for No. 22 in Division I volleyball. Hannemann averages 11.25 assists per set and is No. 26 in national stats.

On defense, Warner proves a major threat at the net with 1.75 blocks per set (No. 3 in NCAA stats). She also helps out on offense with a .421 hitting percentage that is No. 8 in the country. Libero Tia Withers records 3.21 digs per set.

Olmstead is in his second year at the helm of the Cougars and has a 47-12 career record.

New Mexico State

New Mexico State is 22-10 on the season and 12-6 in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aggies upset Idaho in the WAC Championship match on Wednesday, becoming conference champions and claiming the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament despite their No. 4 seeding in the conference tournament. They were the lowest seed to ever win the WAC Championship.

Meredith Hays is head of the Aggie offense with 3.97 kills per set and also has 2.31 digs per set. Ciara Brown helps out with 6.05 assists per set. On defense, Desiree Scott leads with a 1.22 blocks average and Stephanie Ziegler controls the back court with 3.06 digs per set. Hays and Scott were named to the All-Western Athletic Conference First Team.

Mike Jordan is in his 15^th season as head coach of New Mexico State.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is 21-10 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12 after knocking off Kansas State in the Sooners’ regular season finale Saturday. They finished fourth in their conference.

Big 12 First Team member Sallie McLaurin recorded 2.86 kills per set and 1.41 blocks per set during the regular season. Julia Doyle, who was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, averages 9.49 assists per set to lead the Sooners. With 4.77 digs per set, Maria Fernanda leads the Oklahoma defense.

Santiago Restrepo has been head coach of the Sooners for nine seasons.

Arizona State

Arizona State ended the regular season 20-13 overall and 9-11 in Pac-12 play. In the Sun Devils’ last match, they defeated in-state rival Arizona 3-1. They finished sixth in their league.

Macey Gardner leads the Sun Devils with 4.46 kills per set and collects 2.38 digs per set. Setter Allison Palmer aids with 11.63 assists per set and Stephanie Preach leads in the digs category with 4.74 per set.

The Sun Devils are coached by Jason Watson, who coached the Cougars from 2005-2007 before becoming head coach at Arizona State in 2008. Watson also played setter for the BYU men’s volleyball team from 1991-1994.

Ticket Info

All session tickets are on sale now at BYUtickets.com until Friday morning. Individual match tickets will go on sale Friday morning at 9 a.m. MST. For more information, visit the BYU Ticket Office website. 

Live Streaming

All matches will be streamed live online at NCAA.com.

Live Stats

Live stats will be available on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.