Game Notes - Varney's Invitational at Kansas State
PROVO, Utah—After recording its first victory of the season Saturday, the BYU women’s volleyball team gears up to take on four more teams starting with Weber State at home Tuesday. On Friday and Saturday the Cougars will participate in the Kansas State Invitational against Idaho, Georgia Southern and host Kansas State.
"We are always excited to play against in-state competition," head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "Tuesday and this coming weekend in Kansas will be another opportunity for us to see our team progress and make changes. This entire week is filled with good competition that will help us move our group forward. Going on the road will be a valuable experience for the kids on our team, both young and old."
The Cougars (1-2) begin the week with their fourth-straight home match against the Wildcats (0-3) at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The match is the 60th face-off between in the teams, with BYU holding a 59-0 record. Both teams boast new head coaches, with former BYU men’s volleyball head coach Tom Peterson leading the Wildcats and former BYU men’s volleyball player Olmstead leading the Cougars. The match will be televised on BYUtv.
Over the weekend, BYU launched its season with a 3-0 loss to No. 8 Illinois, a 3-1 victory against UC Santa Barbara and a 3-0 loss to WCC foe Saint Mary’s. Despite the losses, opposite hitter Jennifer Hamson, setter Heather Hannemann and outside hitter Jessica Jardine recorded career highs in all three matches, including 20 kills by Hamson against Saint Mary’s.
The Wildcats opened their season with a 3-0 loss to in-state opponent Utah, a 3-0 loss to Northwestern and a 3-2 loss to Cal State Northridge. Briana Wilms leads the Wildcats with 39 kills and contributed nine digs and seven blocks. She’s joined by Michele Arave with 22 digs and Caitlin Penrod with 12 blocks, 16 digs and eight kills.
Friday, the Cougars take on Idaho in the first match of the Kansas State Invitational at 10 a.m. CT. Idaho shut down Butler 3-2 in its first match of the season, but couldn’t hold on against Eastern Michigan, losing 3-0. After falling behind one set to Notre Dame, Idaho snuck in a second-set victory but wasn’t able to shut down the Irish in the 3-1 defeat.
Next on the tournament schedule at 5 p.m. Friday, the Cougars face Georgia Southern, which has the best record of the tournament teams so far. The Eagles participated in the Spring Hill Suites Invitational last weekend, posting 3-0 wins against Jacksonville and Montana State and losing 3-2 to Stephen F. Austin and South Dakota State.
The Cougars close the tournament facing host Kansas State Saturday at 1 p.m. Kansas State went 1-2 in last weekend’s Georgia Tech Courtyard Classic, falling to Georgia Tech and Louisville and sweeping Tennessee Tech.
Links to live stats are available here.