PROVO, Utah — No. 14 BYU women's volleyball dropped its first game of the season to Colorado, 3-1 (14-25, 23-25, 25-23, 21-25) at the Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
In their conference opener, the Cougars (12-1, 0-1 Big 12) were outhit by the Buffaloes, .328 to .177, also committing 28 attack errors to CU's 14.
Sophomore setter Alex Bower notched her second double-double of the year with 37 assists and 10 digs on the night. Outside hitter Suli Davis, middle blocker Brielle Kemavor and outside hitter Claire Little Chambers each had double-digit kills with 15, 13 and 11 respectively.
1st Set
Colorado opened the match with a 5-1 run to make BYU take an early timeout. The Cougars crawled back to make it 8-6 in favor of the Buffaloes after Kemavor contributed three kills in that span.
The Buffaloes went on another run, this time a 6-1 span, to make it 17-13, forcing BYU to call its second timeout.
Colorado extended its lead with a 9-1 run out of the timeout and would take the first set, 25-14. The Buffaloes had an efficient .565 hit percentage through one set, with the Cougars at .000.
2nd Set
Colorado built on its momentum with a 5-2 run to begin the set. BYU and the Buffaloes proceeded to go back-and-forth to an 11-8 score with Colorado keeping its lead at 3.
The Cougars mounted a comeback off of kills from Kemavor, Davis and Little Chambers to take a 14-13 lead.
The Buffaloes countered and went up 21-17. After a 4-0 Cougar run that included sophomore Abby Hoybjerg’s first ace, Colorado finished off the set with a kill on match point, taking it 25-23.
3rd Set
In the third, BYU bounced back to strike first with a service ace by Little Chambers, two kills by junior outside hitter Sophia Callahan and kills by Davis and Kemavor for a 7-3 start. The Cougars maintained their lead and grew it to a 19-12 advantage.
An 11-3 run by the Buffaloes forced BYU to burn two timeouts and helped it storm back to take the lead at 23-22.
After a Colorado timeout, Little Chambers spiked her sixth kill of the game to help the Cougars win their first set of the match, 25-23.
4th Set
An even battle to start the final frame, neither Colorado nor BYU led by more than two as the two teams played to an 8-8 tie.
The Buffaloes would take control and go up 14-11 to force a Cougar timeout. BYU came out of the timeout with a 4-0 run that ended with a Bower block.
Colorado countered back with a 4-0 run of its own to retake the lead, 18-15. From then on, the Buffaloes stood their ground and sealed the match with a service ace, taking the final set, 25-21.
Up Next
The Cougars will host Iowa State at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday, Sept. 27th at 12 p.m. MDT. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.