No. 19 Cougars fall to No. 7 Sun Devils in five-set thriller

PROVO, Utah — No. 19 BYU women’s volleyball dropped a five-set match (22–25, 25–19, 25–17, 23–25, 13–15) to No. 7 Arizona State at the Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday night.

BOX SCORE

A crowd of 4,293 saw BYU face off against its highest-ranked opponent of the season and its third five-set match on the year. The Cougars (15–3, 3–3 Big 12) were out-hit by the Sun Devils, .289 to .250 and out-blocked, 16 to eight.

In its tightest match of the season, BYU held slight advantages in kills (68 to 59), service aces (nine to four), and digs (55 to 54), but the Cougars tallied 10 more total errors than the Sun Devils collectively.

Claire Little Chambers and Suli Davis both recorded double-doubles, their third each, marking the first time this season that both outside hitters achieved the feat in the same match. Davis led the Cougars with 25 kills to go along with 11 digs while Little Chambers added 14 and 10.

Brielle Kemavor finished with nine kills, Sophia Callahan posted eight, Abby Hoybjerg had seven and Alex Bower carded five. Bower tallied 51 assists and was tied for the team lead in aces with Davis and Little Chambers who both had two. Emma Barbero recorded 12 digs and Lulu Uluave had 10. Kemavor totaled five blocks in the contest.

Set 1
The opening set saw 18 consecutive ties before ASU broke it open with a five-point run to make it 22–18. BYU responded with a run of its own, scoring four of the next five points, highlighted by two kills from Kemavor, to pull within one. However, the Sun Devils closed it out with the final two points to take the opening set 25-22.

Despite leading the set in kills (15 to 13), BYU’s eight errors compared to Arizona State’s two proved costly. The Cougars hit .194 in the set, while the Sun Devils posted a .333 hitting percentage.

Set 2
After conceding the first point, the Cougars went on a 6–1 run, with two of those points coming from ASU attacking errors.

With the score at 11–5, Arizona State answered with a 3–0 run, but BYU countered quickly with a 5–0 run of its own. Kills from Bower and Kemavor, along with three more ASU attacking errors, helped BYU regain control.

The Sun Devils tightened the score to 22–19, but a kill by Kemavor, a service ace from Little Chambers, and a seventh ASU error sealed the 25–19 set win for BYU.

Set 3
The Sun Devils came out strong to try and regain the match lead, jumping ahead 6–2 with three kills and two service aces.

After a timeout, BYU found its rhythm, going on a 7–2 run to take a one-point advantage. With the score tied at 13–13, the Cougars went on their most dominant stretch of the night, scoring seven-straight points, fueled by three kills from Davis and two from Callahan.

Leading 24–17, BYU closed out the set with a block from Bower and Kemavor to take a 2–1 match lead.

In what proved to be the most lopsided set of the night, BYU hit .455 compared to ASU’s .130, limiting the Sun Devils to just six kills while recording 19 of their own.

Set 4
Once again, Arizona State took control early, building a 6–3 advantage in a must-win set to stay alive. After a block by Kemavor tied things up at nine apiece, the set stayed tight, with neither team leading by more than two points until BYU went up 22–20.

ASU responded with a 5–1 run, capped by a BYU net violation, to take the set and force a decisive fifth. The Sun Devils bounced back offensively, hitting .333 in the set, while the Cougars struggled with consistency, finishing at .182.

Set 5
For the first time of the night, BYU scored first, but the lead was quickly erased when a block and a pair of kills gave ASU a 3–1 advantage. With the score 6–3 in favor of the Sun Devils, a BYU timeout sparked the Cougar offense, leading to back-to-back kills from Callahan and a block she assisted on with Kemavor.

Arizona State rallied to regain control at 12–9, forcing another BYU timeout. The Cougars responded once again, trimming the deficit to 13–12, but their comeback fell short when an attempted block went out of bounds, sealing the 15–13 set and a 3–2 match victory for Arizona State.

Up Next
BYU will head to Texas for three-straight road matches starting in Lubbock on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. CDT against Texas Tech. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.