BYU volleyball rallies, falls in five sets to Texas in NCAA regional semi


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AUSTIN, Texas — The BYU women’s volleyball team nearly rallied from a two-set deficit in the NCAA Tournament’s Austin regional semifinal Friday, but the Cougars couldn’t withstand one last rally.

McKenna Miller had 16 kills and Whitney Young Howard added 15 kills to rally 13th-seeded BYU from a two-set deficit before a 23-25, 14-25, 26-24, 25-22, 14-16 loss to fourth-seeded Texas in BYU’s fifth straight Sweet 16 appearance.

Amy Boswell added 14 kills, eight blocks and seven digs. Freshman Mary Lake had an eye-popping 30 digs and six assists, and Lyndie Haddock had 48 assists and 20 digs for the Cougars (29-4).

“We were fighting the entire game,” Boswell told media in the post-match press conference. “Texas is obviously a fantastic team and volleyball is a game of runs. We just came up a little short and their run was a little longer than ours.”

But BYU couldn’t put away Texas (25-4) in the fifth set, and Micaya White had a match-high 24 kills to lift the host Longhorns through to the regional final.

“I can honestly and without any regret say that we fought the entire time and that … we didn’t give anything to Texas,” Boswell said. “They had to take it.”

Chloe Collins had 70 assists and 19 digs, and Texas advanced to face Creighton in the Austin regional final Saturday. The Longhorns were playing in their 11th straight regional semifinal but lost the last NCAA Tournament game to BYU 3-1 in the 2014 national semifinals.

BYU freshman libero Mary Lake. (Photo: Nick Wagner, Deseret News)
BYU freshman libero Mary Lake. (Photo: Nick Wagner, Deseret News)

Veronica Jones-Perry notched one of her 12 kills and one of her six blocks paced BYU to a 10-5 start in the fifth set.

Paulina Prieto Cerame had back-to-back kills as the Longhorns rallied with a 7-1 run to tie the set at 12. Boswell forced match point 14-12, but Texas scored four straight to secure the 16-14 victory.

“Even though we were down, I think our team did a really good job at staying in the present and being really calm, and just trusting that if we do the things that we do, eventually the ball will drop our way,” Lake said, “because sometimes the ball just doesn’t drop your way.

“I think it showed a level of maturity from all our players that we stayed really consistent, even when we were down.”

Texas used the first-set momentum to jump out to an 8-3 advantage on Collins’ setter’s dump in the second set. White gave the Longhorns a 16-8 advantage, and Texas cruised to the 25-14 win while BYU struggled to a .125 hitting percentage with 10 kills and six errors on 32 attempts.

BYU took its first 0-2 deficit into the break since the regular-season finale Nov. 22 at Loyola-Marymount. The Cougars rallied to win that match, 16-25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-13 to clinch its third straight West Coast Conference title.

It nearly happened again.

“There’s no doubt that we weren't going to lose that,” Howard said. “You see the rally — there’s no doubt.”

White capped a 4-0 run to give Texas a 21-18 advantage in the third set, and the Longhorns looked to close out the match with a 24-22 advantage on one of Morgan Johnson’s 11 kills.

But Boswell flipped the match with a block, and Haddock’s ace paced four straight points to rally the Cougars to the 26-24 victory and open the furious comeback that fell just four points short of the regional final.

“I don’t think I could be more proud of the match that our team played,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “I thought except for a lapse in the second set, that was phenomenal volleyball, and I’m very proud of the team and the courage and the fight that they showed in this match.”

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