Weber State University’s women’s volleyball team welcomed the Brigham Young University Cougars to Swenson Gym for an in-state showdown on Sept. 20 and lost 3–0. The last time these two teams faced off was last year in the first round of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament when BYU beat Weber 3–0 in a best-of-five match.
Set one was a back-and-forth battle, with BYU taking a 4–1 lead. Weber then answered back with a 3–0 run of their own to tie it up and then take their first lead at 6–5. The Wildcats then rode that momentum to achieve an 11–9 lead, prompting the Cougars to call a timeout.
BYU head coach Heather Olmstead rallied her troops during the timeout to motivate them to bring the game back. Weber then scored two more points to put the lead at 13–9, but the Cougars rallied and took set one 25–20.
Set two had the same story as both teams gave their all and went back and forth. The Wildcats caught the Cougars off guard with their ability to serve. Weber won the aces category 3–2.
“We knew that we could serve tough, and we did,” head coach Jeremiah Larsen said.
Set three was where the Cougars’ No. 19 ranking was shown. BYU dominated the third set with outside hitter Elli Mortensen’s 15 kills on the day and Claire Little’s 10. BYU won set three 25–18 and obtained the sweep on the Wildcats.
“Northern Colorado is at the top in our league right now, and they are out there beating teams like this every single night, so we are going to have to play teams like this, so it’s a good experience for our kids, and hopefully we can learn something from it.” Larsen said.
The Cougars led in kills 49–27, assists 48–26, and blocks 9–4. The Wildcats’ record got pushed to 3–7 on the year.
The Wildcats then took on the Utah State University Aggies in a five-set thriller, losing 3–2 on Sept. 21.
Weber managed to take sets one and two with the help of Ashley Gneiting, who had 19 kills.
“Having the confidence that my teammates are there for me and being able to rely on them and go have fun out there, I think we played together as a team for the most part, so it was fun,” Gneiting said.
The Aggies rallied back after having one foot over the edge of defeat and won the next three sets to crush the Wildcats’ hopes.
The Wildcats are now 3–8 on the year and will face Northern Arizona University on Sept. 25 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The women’s volleyball team will return to the Swenson Gym on Sept. 28 for a Big Sky Conference game against the University of Idaho.
