PROVO, Utah — Led by freshman outside hitter Suli Davis, No. 25 BYU women's volleyball beat Arizona in four sets (25-18, 25-23, 19-25, 25-18) at the Smith Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
The Cougars (19-8, 7-8 Big 12) saw Davis tie her career high in kills (28) while breaking the program's rally-scoring era freshman kill record of 447. She now has 466 on the year, and also posted her team-leading seventh double-double on the year with 14 digs.
Claire Little Chambers followed with 22 kills of her own, hitting .450 on the night. Alex Bower led the team in assists with 57, just one shy of her career high of 58.
Lulu Uluave set a career high with four aces and joined Davis in double figures with 12 digs, while Elli Mortensen added 10. Brielle Kemavor, Sophia Callahan and Elena Wallace each has two blocks.
BYU out-hit Arizona, .369 to .339, had 17 more kills (71-54) and 12 more digs (57-45). The Wildcats outblocked the Cougars, 10 to four and had two less service errors (7-5), but BYU had four more aces (7-3).
Set 1
After the Wildcats scored the opening two points of the match, the Cougars answered with a 3-0 run, moving the score to 3-2. Both teams engaged in back-and-forth play, with the Cougars going on a 4-0 run and moving their lead to 15-11 before a media timeout. Davis led the start of the match with four kills, alongside Little Chambers, who tallied three kills of her own.
BYU then kicked off a 4-1 run, forcing an Arizona timeout with the score 19-13 in favor of the Cougars. Both teams put up three points each before another Wildcats timeout at 22-16. The teams traded points before a Davis kill off an assist from Bower secured the first set for the Cougars.
Set 2
The first points for the Cougars came courtesy of three kills from Davis off assists from Bower. Kills from Little Chambers and Callahan added to BYU’s score before the Wildcats tied the contest at 9-9. A 4-1 run then propelled the Cougars ahead 13-10.
Each team alternated points before a 3-0 BYU run, resulting in an Arizona timeout with the Cougars leading 21-17. The Wildcats answered back with a 5-2 run of their own, prompting a BYU timeout at 23-22.
Two kills from Little Chambers ended the second set at 25-23 after seven total ties and one lead change in the set.
Set 3
BYU opened the third set with a 4-0 run accompanied by three Davis kills. Arizona returned with an 8-2 run, compelling BYU to call timeout at 8-6. After the timeout, the Wildcats put up three more unanswered points before a kill from Little Chambers.
Another 7-3 run moved Arizona ahead 15-9. The teams traded points after 3-0 runs from both the Cougars and Wildcats. Arizona eventually took the set 25-19 off a BYU attack error, moving the match to 2-1.
Set 4
Arizona outscored the Cougars 7-5 to open the set, but a 4-0 run put BYU back on top 9-7. After trading scores, the Wildcats put up a 4-0 run, moving the score to 16-15 for Arizona.
Kemavor then had her fourth kill of the set, tying it at 17-17. Following the tie, BYU closed out the set with an 8-1 run off kills from Davis and Bower, taking the set and the match, 25-18.
Up Next
The Cougars continue their three-game home stretch against No. 13 Kansas on Friday, Nov. 21, at 6 p.m. MST, with streaming available on ESPN+.