Cougars fall short against Utes in offseason competition

PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s volleyball fell 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 12-15) in an exhibition match to Utah Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Jennifer Hamson led the Cougars with 15 kills while Alexa Gray added 13 kills of her own. Tambre Haddock was also in double-figure kills with 10. Amy Boswell led the team in blocks with seven while Whitney Young contributed five blocks.

The Utes jumped out to a 6-3 lead early on in the decisive fifth set. That was followed with a 6-1 BYU run to take a 9-7 Cougar advantage. Utah stormed back to tie things up 12-12 before taking the final three points and the match, 15-12.

Hannah Robison got things started for the Cougars with a kill after the first set began with a lengthy rally. The score was tied 6-6 until the Utes went on a 5-0 run to take a 12-7 advantage. With the score 21-14, Gray had three-straight kills to bring BYU back within four points. The rally proved to be too short for the Cougars as Utah took the first set 25-18.

The Utes got out to a 3-1 lead to start the second set before the Cougars went on a scoring run to put them ahead 10-5. BYU remained ahead for the majority of the set until Utah rallied to take a 14-13 lead. Haddock scored five of the Cougars’ next seven points to help her team go ahead 20-17.

The Utes kept things close going down the stretch in the second set, coming within a point at 24-23, but Haddock was able to close set two with another kill, making the final score 25-23.

Utah took an early 6-2 lead in the third set behind a pair of blocks. BYU trailed for much of the set before Hamson had a kill to tie things up at 19-19, helped by a 9-1 run to pull the Cougars ahead 22-19. Hamson had one final kill to end the third set with a 25-22 win.

The fourth set began with both sides trading points. With the score tied 5-5, the Utes went on an 11-3 run to put them ahead 15-8. BYU trailed for the rest of the set, coming within three points at 20-17 and 24-21 before Utah took the fourth set 25-21.

Last weekend BYU split two sets with Utah at its tournament while also notching wins over Salt Lake Community College, Montana State and Utah Valley.

The Cougars hit the road for one more spring exhibition match next Saturday, April 12, at 10 a.m. MDT against Colorado State.