BYU women's volleyball: #12 Cougars destroy Utes

In front of a raucous crowd of 3,814 at the Smith Fieldhouse, the 12th ranked BYU Cougars swept its instate rival, the University of Utah, in three sets. The crowd was loud early and seemed to intimidate the visiting Utes, never letting them find their stride. Although the Utes came in unranked, they had the better overall record with an undefeated 10-0 mark.  BYU entered the game sitting at 8-2 with their only losses coming to top 10 ranked opponents.

En route to handing Utah its first loss of the year, BYU dominated from start to finish and beat Utah in all aspects of the game.  The most telling stat was the difference in errors as BYU recorded a total of eight errors for the match while Utah ended with 21.  The Utes recorded 10 errors in the third set alone as they ended the set with a hitting percentage of -.194. The first set was won by the Cougars 25-18, the second was 25-16, and the third was a shocking 25-7 dismantling of the shell shocked visitors.

Alexa Gray led the Cougars in the rout as she recorded 17 kills to three errors in the three sets.  Whitney Young led the team in blocks with four to go along with her one kill.  Jennifer Hamson continued to shine for the Cougars, but had less than spectacular stats due to the shortened game.  Hamson recorded 11 kills, three errors, two set assists, six digs and two blocks.  No player from Utah had more than eight kills as Schofield led the team in kills (8) and errors (9).

The Cougars will next take on their first conference foe as they face the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday, September 25th at 7pm MDT in the Smith Fieldhouse.  The game will again be televised on BYUtv.