Cougars Fly Over Falcons

COLORADO SPRINGS -- After a scare in the third set, the BYU women’s volleyball team (12-15, 7-6 MWC) defeated Air Force (4-24, 1-14 MWC) 3-1 (25-20, 25-13, 20-25, 25-22) on the road Saturday afternoon.

“The match started off well, but we made a few too many errors in the third,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “Air Force played very well in the third and fourth sets and didn’t give up.”

Powered by the middle blockers, the Cougars came out with another road win. Senior Stephanie Snow tallied 16 kills on .542 hitting while sophomore Nicole Warner earned 12 kills on a .400 clip.

“Nicole and Stephanie each had an exceptional match and finished strong, taking lots of swings,” Goulding said. “Our middles had the same amount of reps as our outsides, which means we are passing well enough to get our balls to the middle."

While dual-sport athlete Jennifer Hamson was on the road with women’s basketball, Kimberli Boswell came into the match to post six kills and six total blocks, including one solo block, all career-highs. Junior Christie Carpenter also finished with double-digit kills at 12 on .385 hitting.

After the score was knotted at four in the first set, the Cougars pulled away with a 4-0 run with a kill from Warner, two Boswell blocks and a kill from Carpenter. Widening the lead, the Cougars held on to finish set one 25-20.

With setter Kiana Rogers behind the service line, the Cougars started set two 5-0 and continued to dominate the rest of the set, the Falcons only able to come out with 13 points. The Cougars up 2-0 in the match with a 25-13 win in the second.

“The second set started off really well and we set the pace for the game with Kiana getting a run of five serves and carried us for the rest of that set,” Goulding said.

The Falcons came out of the break in set three with composure and determination to win. The Cougars made too many errors and fell 25-20 in the third, sending the match to four sets.

In set four, the Falcons continued to play well, taking the lead until two-straight Carpenter kills, a Snow kill, and another kill by Carpenter to finally knot the score at 13. Carrying that momentum, the Cougars finished off the set and match, 25-22, 3-1.

BYU will be back at the Smith Fieldhouse Thursday to take on TCU at 7 p.m. and Saturday to welcome New Mexico at 7:30 p.m. for Senior Night.