PROVO, Utah — Team Blue and Team White played to a 2-2 (16-25, 25-21, 25-22, 20-25) tie as No. 17 BYU women’s volleyball kicked off its 2023 campaign with a Blue-White scrimmage at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.
Six freshmen made their debut as Cougars at the scrimmage: Silina Damuni, Addie Benson, Claire Little, Mia Lee, Brielle Miller and Brielle Kemavor, as well as transfers Kamaile Hiapo and Kalia Thunstrom.
The outside hitters and middle blockers remained on the same teams throughout the match, while some of the setters and liberos swapped teams periodically between sets.
BYU White finished with a .278 hitting percentage to BYU Blue’s .243. Both teams recorded 55 kills and three aces apiece on the match, with Blue tallying 48 assists and White 46. BYU Blue sent back nine total blocks compared to BYU White’s eight.
Little led the way with 19 kills on a .310 clip. Erin Livingston added 14 kills, and Eden Bower had 12. Whitney Bower totaled 33 assists, Damuni had 20 and Thunstrom finished with 17.
Livingston recorded a game-high 15 digs, while Aria McComber tallied 12. Damuni and Hiapo posted 10 digs each. Whitney McEwan-Llarenas’ seven blocks were a game-high. Kate Prior also added five blocks of her own.
Set 1
In a back-and-forth opening set that featured eight ties and four lead changes, a 3-0 run by BYU White tied the set at 6-6. Kills by Livingston and Whitney McEwan-Llarenas, as well as a double block by the duo put BYU White ahead 12-10.
A pair of kills each by Livingston and Kemavor, along with two BYU Blue errors then had BYU White in front 18-13. Three Elyse Stowell kills and another by Alyssa Montoya capped off a 6-0 run to close out the opening set, a 25-16 BYU White victory.
Set 2
Evenly matched again, a 3-0 BYU Blue run fueled by a kill and service ace from Lee gave Blue a 9-5 lead. BYU White got kills from Kemavor, Erickson and Livingston to draw within two, at 13-11.
Both teams rallied from there, with BYU Blue holding at least a one-point advantage through 23-21, where kills from Eden Bower and Little knotted the match at one set a piece with a 25-21 BYU Blue set win.
Set 3
BYU Blue’s lead continued into the third set, where it opened up an 11-8 advantage on kills by Lee, Little and Erickson. A Stowell ace and Benson kill for BYU White made it 14-12, BYU Blue.
Kills by Erickson and Little, along with a Kate Prior block, put BYU Blue in front, 19-14. But BYU White rallied with a 3-0 run of its own on kills from Livingston, Stowell and Benson to make it 20-17.
A BYU White rally with kills from Whitney McEwan-Llarenas and Benson, as well as a double block by the pair, cut the BYU Blue lead to one, at 23-22, but kills from Little and Lee wrapped up a 25-23 set victory, putting BYU Blue ahead two sets to one on the match.
Set 4
Prior notched a block and a kill to open the fourth, putting BYU Blue in front 3-1. Another Prior kill ended a 3-0 BYU White run, and it was 5-4. A 5-0 BYU Blue run, fueled by kills from Stowell, Benson and Little then had it ahead 10-5.
BYU White responded with its own 5-0 run, capped off by a McEwan-Llarenas ace and double block from Kemavor and Livingston, to make it 12-11, BYU Blue. Reeling off four-straight points on two separate occasions, BYU White tied the set at 16-all, and then took the lead at 20-18, forcing a timeout.
Leading 20-19, BYU White went on its third 4-0 run of the set to earn set point. After an Eden Bower kill for BYU White, Erickson closed out the match with a kill, earning a 25-20 set win for BYU White, finishing off the match.
Up Next
The Cougars will open the regular season against No. 5 Pitt on Friday, August 25 at the Ellesyn Invitational in Missoula, Montana at 2 p.m. MDT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.