PROVO, Utah — The No. 13 seeded BYU women’s volleyball team swept American University (25-11, 25-17, 25-16) in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.
"I'm really pleased with the way we came out ready to play," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "We served tough and that really helped our defense. We were scrappy all night and Mary was great leading the back row. Lyndie did a great job distributing the ball around. Overall, it was a great team win. We are looking forward to tomorrow."
Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 13 kills, three digs and two aces. McKenna Miller tallied 11 kills, while Cosy Burnett added 10. Lyndie Haddock recorded 37 assists and 10 digs for a double-double while Mary Lake contributed 20 digs in the win.
A Jones-Perry kill gave the Cougars the first point of the match, but the Eagles answered by taking an early 6-3 lead. A kill by Miller started a 6-0 run, forcing American to take a timeout. Two-consecutive errors by the Eagles gave the Cougars an 11-6 advantage. BYU then only gave up five more points as Cosy Burnett finished off the first set, 25-11, with a kill.
The second set started with a 5-0 BYU run, including kills by three different players. Back-to-back kills by Jones-Perry extended the Cougar lead to seven at 9-2. Two kills by Burnett and one by Miller gave BYU a 24-13 advantage. With the Cougars at set point, the Eagles scored four-straight points, their largest run of the set, before an attack error closed the set 25-17.
Jones-Perry opened the third set with three-consecutive kills, helping the Cougars earn an early 6-1 lead. Two kills by Miller and an attack error by American increased BYU’s lead to 10-3. The Eagles were unable to score more than two points in a row throughout most of the set. The Cougars later went on a 5-0 run, increasing their lead to 24-11. With BYU needing one point to close out the match, American went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead back down to eight points. A kill by Miller gave the Cougars the set and match 25-16, ending the Eagles’ 18-straight win streak.
The Cougars host 24th-ranked Oregon in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday, December 2, at 7 p.m. MST. Live coverage will be available on BYUtv and ESPN3 and an audio broadcast can be heard on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143).
Students with ROC passes will be admitted to Saturday's match for free.
Kennesaw State vs. Oregon
No. 24 Oregon defeated Kennesaw State in three sets (28-26, 25-19, 25-18) to earn a first-round victory to begin its NCAA playoff run. Taylor Agost led the Ducks with 11 kills and Sydni Shelton delivered 10 kills for the Owls. Kennesaw State’s Kristi Piedimonte had 39 assists to help her teammates and August Raskie added 21 for Oregon.
In the first set, the Owls started off hot and took an early 11-4 lead over the Ducks. However, Oregon fought its way back and took the game to extra points, coming away with a 28-26 victory. The Ducks carried the momentum gained from the first set into the second. Oregon led throughout the set and defeated Kennesaw State 25-19. In the final set, the Owls tried to extend their season to another set but were defeated 25-18. Oregon advanced to play BYU.