BYU Volleyball goes 2-1 in Shocker Volleyball Classic

13th-ranked BYU Women’s Volleyball traveled to Kansas this week to participate in the Shocker Volleyball Classic with Wichita State, No. 3 Texas, and VCU from Thursday through Saturday.

The Cougars played host Wichita State first on Thursday evening. The Cougars opened the first set strong, leading by a score of 9-2. However, they allowed the Shockers back into it, and would tie things up at 22. The Shockers would then take the lead over the Cougars and win the set 25-23.

BYU would reset and dominate the second set, winning by a score of 25-16 in the set. The set would spark the Cougars into the next two sets, which they won 25-19 and 25-20 to win the set 3-1. Whitney Bower had 51 assists in the match, provided passes to McKenna Miller who had 17 kills, and Madelyn Robinson and Kennedy Eschenberg each had 13 kills for the Cougars. BYU had six aces in the match, three of which came from Miller.

On Friday afternoon, the Cougars played #3 Texas in a rematch of last year’s Elite Eight matchup. BYU won last year in a 3-0 sweep at the Smith Fieldhouse, but couldn’t stop the Longhorns this time around. The Cougars took the first set 25-23, but dropped the next three (22-25, 19-25, 18-25). McKenna Miller had 15 kills for the Cougars in the defeat.

BYU would bounce back on Saturday morning, beating VCU 25-8, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21. The Cougars dominated the first set, winning 25-8. The Cougars opened the set up 10-0, and hit .364 to the Rams’ -.240. BYU would lose the second set, but bounce back to finish the match and leave Wichita on a winning note.

BYU returns to Utah to play the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday. On Saturday, the Cougars will travel to Palo Alto to play Stanford, who BYU beat 3-2 at the Smith Fieldhouse in August 2018 before falling to them in the Final Four in Minneapolis in December. Stanford is currently ranked number one, and are the defending national champions.