BOISE, Idaho – Junior outside hitter Veronica Jones-Perry helped No. 10 BYU women’s volleyball rally past Boise State in straight sets (25-19, 26-24, 26-24) Thursday night at Bronco Gym to kick off the Boise State Classic.
“That was a fun match to be a part of,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “I'm proud of how much fight we showed in the second set. We served well and I thought our block was good. Overall, it was a great team win over a really good Boise State team.”
Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 15 kills. Alohi Robins-Hardy and Lyndie Haddock set the team with 15 and 14 assists, respectively, while Mary Lake contributed 13 digs. Cosy Burnett had a match-high eight blocks and McKenna Miller and Kennedy Redding each had eight kills in the win.
BYU (4-0) took a 6-2 lead early in the first set against Boise State (2-2) following a pair of kills from Redding. Fueled by Cougar errors, the Broncos stormed back to get within a point, trailing 8-7. Consecutive Jones-Perry kills then helped cap off an 8-0 BYU run to push her team back ahead by nine, 16-7. The Cougars stayed ahead 22-13 after another Jones-Perry kill, but Boise State rallied with a 5-1 run to make it 23-18, forcing Olmstead to take a timeout. Jones-Perry eventually ended the set 25-19 with a kill.
Four blocks helped the Cougars go up 6-3 to start the second set. The Broncos eventually pulled ahead 11-9 after back-to-back BYU errors. Multiple kills helped Boise State keep in front 17-11, forcing a Cougar timeout. A Burnett and Robins-Hardy block helped BYU get within a point, trailing 21-20, but the Broncos forced set point at 24-22 after a kill. The Cougars were undeterred, however, scoring the next four-straight points to take the close set 26-24.
Two kills from Redding evened the score at 4-all in the third set. A Jones-Perry and Redding block tied the score again at 14 apiece. After a media timeout, BYU scored four-consecutive points, helped by three Boise State errors, to take an 18-15 advantage. The Cougars stayed ahead, getting set point at 24-21 from a Bronco attack error. Boise State scored the next three points to even things up at 24-24, but two more Bronco attack errors gave BYU a 26-24 set and match win.
The Cougars return to Bronco Gym Friday, Sept. 1, at 5:30 p.m. MDT to face Missouri for a neutral-site match. The match will be streamed live by FloVolleyball. A subscription is required to view the stream. Live stats can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.