The Bearcats would look to finish off the night where they took on BYU in the final game of Day one of the Utah Tournament.
Set 1- The Bearcats would find themselves in a hole from the jump, after getting behind 0-3 to start the match, where the Cougars would make that a 7-2 lead, and never looked back from their as teh Cougars had everything clicking on offense, as they would go on to record 16 kills in Set 1 en route to a 25-12 victory.
Set 2- The Bearcats would be looking to come out and flip the script from Set 1, but the Cougars would jump out to a 5-1 lead over the Bearcats. The Bearcats would look to chip away at the Cougars lead where they trailed 10-6 following kills from Carly Glendinning, and a service ace from Caroline Endres, the Bearcats were starting to gain momentum. The Bearcats found some more momentum after a huge solo block from Ligia Williams, followed by a Glendinning kill, The Bearcats would sneak back and tie this one at 10 following a 7-1 scoring run. After exchanging point for point the Bearcats would sneak off a 3-point run to take a 20-17 lead following a kill from Kailea Carrier and consecutive attacking errors from the Cougars. The Bearcats got their momentum at the right team following consecutive kills from Kailea Carrier, the Bearcats would tie this one at 1 set apiece after taking Set 2, 25-21.
Set 3- The Cougars would jump out to a 4-0 lead and the Bearcats would look to find themselves in a tough spot early. The Cougars would rattle off runs that spanned 5 points, 4 and, 4 more, after the final 4-point swing of things gave the Cougars a 20-11 lead over the Bearcats late in Set 3, as the Cougars offense was starting to click here late in the match. The Cougars dominated from start to finish though after that early 4-0 start, they would keep their foot on the gas and take set 3, 25-14 to take a 2 set to 1 lead over the Bearcats.
Set 4- The Bearcats would look to rally back and make this one go to a fifth set, but the Cougars showed why they are one of the top teams in the country after taking an 11-5 lead, the Bearcats knew they had to find some momentum on offense or the Cougars could put this one away, but the Bearcats were showing that resiliency and grit coach Alvey preaches, as the Bearcats would look to bring this one to a 4 point swing after trailing by as much as 7, the Bearcats would look to flip the script. However the Cougars were just too dominant where they held on to take Set 4 25-19 and win the match 3 sets to 1.
Overall, The Bearcats showed so much fight and grit through these first five games, especially today versus two top ten teams in BYU and Pittsburgh, the Bearcats saw a lot of positive impacts from their younger core between woman like Abby Walker, who finished with 34 kills in the teams two matches, Ligia Williams, Shaye Eggleston, Caroline Endres, Avry Tatum, also had very big days as they kick off the season with arguably the toughest non-conference schedule in college volleyball. The Bearcats have nothing to hang their head about as they head into tomorrow’s match up versus Utah State, where they sit 1-4 on the season, however those four teams will be perennial powerhouses within college volleyball and should see another NCAA Tournament appearance come December.
The Bearcats will be back in action for another quick turn around when they finish the weekend in Utah with contest versus host Utah State tomorrow at 6 pm in Provo, Utah.
