WICHITA, Kan. – No. 13 BYU women’s volleyball bounced back at the Shocker Volleyball Classic to defeat VCU 3-1 (25-8, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21) on Saturday at Charles Koch Arena.
Freshman Kate Grimmer hit double-digit kills for the first time in her young career with 11 on .611 hitting with no errors. Fellow frosh Whitney Bower registered five aces for the second time this season, adding 42 assists, 15 digs and four kills for the Cougars. She is the first BYU player in the rally era (2001-present) to record at least four kills, three aces, 10 assists and 15 digs in a single match.
"I like the way we problem solved throughout the match," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "Kate did a great job scoring on the right and her energy was a huge positive for us."
Senior McKenna Miller led BYU (7-2) with 13 kills to go with six digs, three blocks and an ace while junior Kennedy Eschenberg had 11 kills and four blocks. Senior Mary Lake added 11 digs, four assists and an ace.
Set 1
BYU raced out to a 10-0 lead to begin the match, then cruised to a 25-8 win. The Cougars out-hit the Rams .364 to -.240 and Bower had four of her aces in the set. BYU closed things out on a 7-2 run capped off by a Grimmer kill.
Set 2
VCU answered back, taking a 14-10 lead in set two. Two blocks and then two kills by Madelyn Robinson tied the set back up, But the Rams again reeled off four-straight points to take a 20-16 lead, eventually winning 25-22.
Set 3
The third go-around for BYU and VCU was much closer than the previous two sets, with no team going ahead by more than three points. The Cougars spread the ball around well on offense, winning 25-22 on a Ram attack error.
Set 4
Another close set led to VCU taking a 19-18 lead before BYU scored three straight on back-to-back kills by Miller and a third by Grimmer to finally take a two-point lead at 21-19. The Cougars maintained the lead throughout the remainder of the set, finishing the set and match off 25-21.
BYU will go on the road twice next week, first traveling north to take on No. 16 Utah on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 6 p.m. MT before going on the road at No. 1 Stanford on Saturday, Sept. 21, at noon PT.