No. 24 Cougars roll past Mountaineers in senior day sweep

PROVO, Utah — No. 24 BYU women's volleyball swept West Virginia (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) in its last regular season contest at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. 

BOX SCORE

The Cougars (17-9, 10-6 Big 12) hit efficiently throughout the afternoon, recording a .367 clip, led by Kate Prior's season-high .727 hitting percentage. BYU was paced in kills by Claire Little (hitting .625), who had 10, followed by Prior and Kjersti Strong, who both recorded eight.

Brielle Kemavor finished with seven kills, and Elli Mortensen tallied six. Alex Bower totaled 33 assists, and Lulu Uluave led the team with six digs. Kemavor carded a game-high seven total blocks and the Cougars out-blocked the Mountaineers, 10-2.

Set 1
The Cougars got off to a hot start with five of the first seven points coming on kills from Little and Kemavor to get them started. BYU continued its run as it stretched the lead to seven 12-5. The Mountaineers were forced into a timeout after the Cougars’ third point in a row.

West Virginia came out of the timeout with purpose and won the next four which subsequently caused BYU to use its first timeout. The Cougars responded out of their timeout adding four more kills, stretching their lead to six. The Mountaineers responded with a run of their own, tying the game 17.

At 18-18, BYU got a kill from Prior that began its run to end the set. They Cougars followed that up with an ace from Hannah Billeter and a Strong kill, forcing a West Virginia timeout. With a three-point lead, they would only drop one more point and finish the set 25-19. The Cougars hit efficiently throughout the first set as they posted a team percentage of .444 with 15 kills. 

Set 2
BYU began the next set trading points back and forth. The teams tied the game up at four before the Cougars picked up six of the next seven points behind solid defense as they had three blocks in that span. They took a five-point lead after four in a row that caused a Mountaineer timeout.

Out of the timeout West Virginia was able to shrink the lead to just three. Mortensen then responded with two blocks in a row to end the run. BYU then went on a 5-1 run that forced another Mountaineer timeout.

The teams began trading points as BYU stayed up at least six for the rest of the set. Neither team was able to grow or shrink the lead as the Cougars ended the set on a service error from West Virginia, 25-17.

Set 3
BYU started the next set with a block from Little. The teams then traded points as the Cougars slightly pulled ahead with a lead of 5-4. BYU rattled off three in a row to take a four-point lead at 8-4.

Both teams struggled to make runs on the lead until Prior and Kemavor each had a block to stretch the advantage to 16-10. The Mountaineers were able to respond with a run of their own as they won five of the next seven points. 

The Cougars ended the run with a kill from Little that put the lead back to four. BYU kept that four-point buffer throughout the end of the set. It ended the match on a 3-0 run, with the final point coming on an ace from Little to give the Cougars a 25-18 win.

Up Next
BYU will finish its season on a road trip to Kansas as it heads to Lawrence to face No. 11 Kansas on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 6:30 p.m. CST, with streaming on ESPN+.