PROVO -- At the conclusion of the Mountain West Conference season, the BYU women’s volleyball team (15-13, 9-7 MWC) will travel to Moraga, Calif. to take on No. 21 St. Mary’s (21-4, 13-1 WCC) Saturday at 3 p.m. PT.
“We are looking forward to finishing our season with a very competitive match in California,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “St. Mary's is currently ranked in the top 25 and has had a great season with some very good wins.”
As a result of not having a Mountain West Conference tournament, Goulding decided to schedule one last solid match before the NCAA tournament.
“Unfortunately, our season did not go as planned and so most likely this will be our final match of the season,” said Goulding. “It is unfortunate that there is no MWC Tournament because I think with everyone basically healthy now we could do pretty well.”
The Cougars’ last time out they swept the Air Force Falcons in three, (25-11, 26-24, 25-16) on Nov. 19. The kills that night were evenly dispersed among all players with senior Kayla Walker leading the pack with 10 kills. Christina Measom posted eight kills at .583 while freshman Nicole Warner hit at .545 percent with six kills. Senior Marisa Boaz had three kills on four attempts and no errors while Heather Hannemann had 22 assists in two sets.
In the last Mountain West Conference match of the season, the team defeated the San Diego State Aztecs 3-1 (25-23, 13-25, 25-22, 25-23). Walker led the Cougars with 11 kills on the afternoon; also adding nine digs and two solo blocks. Freshman Nicole Warner tallied nine kills at .333 hitting percentage while junior Christina Measom chalked up eight kills at .353 percent. Junior setter Kiana Rogers had 39 assists while senior libero Morgan Lloyd Sorensen held up the back row with 17 digs.
In talking about the upcoming game against SMC Goulding said, “They are not a very big team, but they run one of the fastest offenses in the country and certainly the fastest offense we have seen. Our highest priority will be to serve them in such a manner that they cannot run their offense as quickly as they would like. From that point we just need to play our best volleyball and cap off our season with a great last match.”