alt=Brandon GurneyPROVO — What a difference one year makes, or even a few months, for that matter.
One year after the BYU women’s volleyball team swept Utah out of the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Utes returned the favor, annihilating the Cougars in somewhat shocking straight set fashion (25-15, 25-15, 25-15) on Saturday. Stalwart and focused throughout, the Utes finally let loose at the end, celebrating the win earnestly after putting a clinic on the Cougars’ home court.
“Tonight we proved that we are better than we were last year and that we’ve grown so much, and we’re just excited to move forward,” said Utah senior Dani Drews.
Drews’ words, while accurate, may have undersold just how thoroughly improved Utah looked on Saturday, going against a BYU team that has dominated them in recent years. Consider the Cougars sweeping the Utes on two occasions last season, leading up to a 4-set win over the Utes in Salt Lake City earlier this season.
But all that history was done away with in spectacular fashion on Saturday.
As the score would indicate, the Utes flat out dominated play throughout, starting out immediately in the first set where it took a quick 9-2 lead, putting the Cougars squarely on their heels.
“For us we know it’s important to start strong and stay strong throughout the match,” said Utah senior Berkeley Oblad.
BYU managed some production in response, but never seriously challenged throughout the first set, with Utah stunning the home crowd with a 25-15 set win.
The inclination after the first set would be for the Cougars to settle in and square up to Utah’s play. But as the score would indicate, it didn’t happen.
The Utes simply kept their foot on the pedal, excelling at every aspect to blow BYU away with the exact same 10-point margin in both the second and third sets.
“After the first set we all got into the huddle, and had a talk that we weren’t going to let up,” said Utah sophomore setter Saige Torres. “The mindset doesn’t change, even though we won, we know they’re going to come back firing but we’re going to do the same.”
Utah took whatever fire BYU threw at it in stride, making practical carbon copies of the first set in keeping the Cougars out of it. In fact, the Cougars never led throughout the evening, a truly shocking fact given the program’s typical dominance at home.
Standing out for the Utes was again Drews, who scored 17 kills on a .457 hitting percentage. Kenzie Koerber contributed 11 kills on a .400 clip with Oblad adding another eight.
Oblad was a big part of a dominant Utah block that frustrated BYU’s attack throughout, teaming primarily with Phoebe Grace to outblock BYU 12-5.
“We came out ready to go and never looked back,” said Utah coach Beth Launiere. “That is for sure the most complete match we’ve played and we were just on the offense all night and played aggressively ... I just couldn’t be prouder of the effort that happened out there on the court.”
As for BYU, it wasn’t the type of end all-time greats Mary Lake and McKenna Miller were anticipating, although both took time to reflect upon their great careers after, along with Cougar coach Heather Olmstead.
“They mean a lot to me, personally, and we’ve been through a lot together,” Olmstead said while fighting through a lot of emotions. “I’m just grateful for them and all they’ve given to this program and to BYU.”
As for Utah, it moves on to meet up with Pac-12 conference foe Stanford in the round of 16, a team it lost twice to in the regular season, although both matches proved competitive. It will provide the Utes an opportunity to achieve new heights in hopes of continuing to show the strides they’ve made.
“We’ve had big goals all season, and this was one of them ... We’re just really pleased to be moving on,” Launiere said.