No. 24 Cougars fall to the No. 2 Panthers in four sets

PROVO, Utah — No. 24 BYU women's volleyball hung around with No. 2 Pittsburgh, but ultimately fell in four sets (25-23, 24-26, 25-15, 25-20) at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday night.

BOX SCORE

The Cougars (3-1, 0-0 Big 12) hit .240 to Panthers' .323 in the match and also has four less kills (59-55). BYU kept its advantage in blocks, 19-16, while Pitt led in digs, 43-41.

Claire Little Chambers finished with a double-double of 17 kills and 11 digs, her first of the season and 15th of her career. Kate Prior had nine kills and four blocks and Lulu Po’uha contributed 16 digs. Setters Kaylie Kofe and Alex Bower posted 23 and 22 assists, respectively.

Set 1
The Cougars and Panthers traded opening points before a 4-0 Pitt run gave the Panthers a 6-3 lead. BYU responded with a kill from Little Chambers and then a 4-1 run to tie the match at 9-9, with the teams then going back and forth before a kill from Kelli Jo Burgess tied the score again at 13-13.

Out of the media timeout, BYU used a 2-0 run to force a Pitt timeout, with a kill from Prior extending the Cougar lead to 19-17. The teams then exchanged points before a 2-0 Pitt run tied the set at 20-20. BYU and Pitt continued to go back and forth, with the Panthers taking a 24-23 lead before a BYU timeout, then closing out the set for Pitt with a kill from Ayanna Watson.

Set 2
Pitt opened the second set with the serve, but BYU took the first point before a 2-0 Panther run. The Cougars tied the score at 3-3 before going on a 3-0 run that included an ace from Po’uha. After Pitt tied it at 6-6, back-to-back BYU blocks forced a Pitt timeout. The teams traded points out of the timeout before the media timeout, with the score at 15-12 BYU.

Out of the media timeout, two kills from Prior followed by an ace from Elli Mortensen started a BYU run, putting the Cougars ahead 20-15 and forcing a Pitt timeout. After Pitt cut the lead to 21-18, BYU answered with a kill from Little Chambers, but a 4-1 Panther run brought the score to 23-22 before a BYU timeout.

Pitt tied the set at 23-23 after a timeout, then challenged a service error called on Olivia Babcock, but the challenge was unsuccessful. BYU took a 24-23 lead before Pitt tied it again at 24-24, but two more kills from Prior gave the Cougars the set, 26-24.

Set 3
With the match tied 1-1, Pitt took the opening point and had back-to-back aces from Watson to build a 3-0 run before BYU answered with a kill from Little Chambers. The teams exchanged points before a 3-0 Pitt run forced a BYU timeout at 7-2. Pitt extended its run to 4-0. The teams then exchanged points until Pitt had a 3-0 run to take a 15-7 lead heading into the media timeout.

BYU took the first point out of the media timeout before the teams exchanged service errors and Pitt built a 20-11 lead. A 3-0 Cougar run forced a Pitt timeout at 20-14, but the Panthers answered with two points before a kill from Little Chambers ended the run. Pitt extended its lead to 24-15 before a Babcock kill gave the Panthers the set, 25-15.

Set 4
Pitt opened the fourth set with a point before BYU responded with three straight, but the Panthers quickly tied the score at 3-3. The teams continued to exchange points before a 4-0 Pitt run forced a BYU timeout at 12-8. BYU stopped the run out of the timeout, but Pitt maintained its advantage and took a 15-11 lead heading into the media timeout.

The teams traded points out of the media timeout, with Pitt maintaining its lead at 21-17. The Panthers then took two straight before continuing to exchange points, reaching match point at 24-18. BYU answered with two points to cut the lead to 24-20 and force a Pitt timeout, but Babcock closed out the match with a kill.

Up Next
The Cougars travel to Boise, Idaho, to face Boise State at ExtraMile Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 8, with the opening set starting at 6 p.m. MDT.