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PROVO — One year ago to the day, the BYU women’s volleyball team stunned No. 1 Stanford in the Smith Fieldhouse, taking the Cardinal top ranking and embarking on a 31-2 season that ended only in the NCAA national semifinals.
It was a magical journey, one that few — if any — on that squad will never forget.
But that was last year. And those kinds of seasons — the No. 1 ranking, the national powers, the AVCA accolades — don’t just happen.
Magical seasons like that take work, preparation, sweat, tears, and long hours in the gym, both for practice, matches and off-court tributes to build team chemistry.
BYU may get there.
Saturday night may end up being a stepping stone. But for now, it’s a setback.
Big East preseason player of the year Allie Barber poured in 19 kills, and Kaitlyn Lines added 17 kills and five digs to help No. 16 Marquette end BYU’s 26-match home winning streak in the final match of the BYU Nike Invitational with a 22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-12 in front of 4,075 fans Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.
“They hit .344. Offensively, we couldn’t stop them and they were exposing us on the block,” said BYU coach Heather Olmstead, who lost for just the third time at home in her tenure as head coach at BYU. “They did a good job, taking good high swings. They’re a really good serve and pass team, and they were in system a bunch.”
MATCH POINT.
— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) September 1, 2019
No. 16 @MarquetteVB upsets No. 9 @BYUwvolleyball 3-1 in Provo.#BYUWVB#muvb#NCAAVBpic.twitter.com/zxKznNcFX2
Madelyn Robinson had a career-high 18 kills for BYU (2-1), which hit just .200 on the match and a negative-.040 in the decisive fourth set. McKenna Miller, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, added 10 kills and Heather Gneiting supplied six blocks for a team that served five service errors with just two aces.
Whitney Bower, the freshman tasked with replacing starting setter Lyndie Haddock-Epich, dished out 26 assists and six digs, and All-American libero Mary Lake had nine digs for the Cougars.
“Madie did a good job, swinging high. That’s her job, to get kills, and I thought she brought great energy,” Olmstead said. “I thought she played well.”
BYU ended the first set on a 6-1 run, capped by back-to-back points off a kill and a block by Taylen Ballard-Nixon to take the early advantage, 25-22.
But that was the Cougars’ largest lead of the opening set.
Marquette held a 3-point lead through much of the early set before BYU came back.
Down just 21-20 after three-straight points by the Golden Eagles — including an uncharacteristic bad set by the Cougars — Olmstead called timeout.
Whatever she said in the moment, it worked. Ballard-Nixon had a touch on four of the final seven points of the set, and BYU took the opener, 25-22.
But Marquette figured something out in the second set.
Eagles hitter Kaitlyn Lines took over the match, pacing a 9-2 run midway through the set to take a 19-10 lead. Even as Robinson attempted to salvage the draw, with four of the Cougars’ final 5 points of the set, the deficit was too big to overcome and Marquette tied up the match, 1-1.
The rest was history.
“I didn’t notice anything. We were playing well, and then we weren’t,” Olmstead said. “I thought their game plan stayed the same the whole time.”
BYU stays home next week, hosting the BYU Doterra Classic against LIU Brooklyn, Sam Houston State and Weber State. The Cougars open with the Blackbirds Thursday at 7 p.m. MDT.
