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Press ReleaseCOLUMBIA, Mo. -- Continuing on its 10-year streak, the BYU (1-0) women's volleyball team won its season opener against Ole Miss (1-1) in the Tiger Invitational Friday 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-22).
"I thought the girls did a good job of being mentally tough," said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. "Ole Miss was great at defense, but we muscled our way through and earned that win."
Starting out the season on the floor for the Cougars included Nicole Warner, Casey Speredon Thurston, Kayla Walker, Christina Measom, Kiana Rogers, Christie Carpenter and libero Morgan Lloyd Sorensen.
Walker led the team in kills with 13, hitting .211 while Carpenter added six kills at .312. Rogers assisted 27 out of 39 kills and also posted five kills hitting at .833 and six digs. Warner posted five kills while Thurston and Measom each tallied four. Sorensen led with 11 digs on the night with Melissa Lake Wright and Carpenter posting seven and six digs, respectively.
"Kayla took a lot of swings and did a great job," said Goulding. "Once we got going everyone started to get in their groove and you can see that reflected in our statistics."
In the first set, four-straight points early on gave the Cougars a four-point lead at 7-3. Ole Miss battled back to knot the score at 13, the Rebels holding the lead until BYU took the lead scoring six-straight points to take back the lead at 21-18. Trading points and tying the score at 23 and 24, the Cougars pulled away with an error on the Rebels and a block by Christina Measom and Kiana Rogers, settling the score at 26-24 for set one.
The second set started like the first with Ole Miss earning the first point, but BYU scored three quickly to take the lead at 3-2 and keep it until finishing the set at 25-20.
To finish off the match in set three, the Cougars and the Rebels tied the score nine times before BYU pulled away to win it 25-22.
BYU now leads the BYU vs. Ole Miss all-time series 3-0.
The Cougars will be in action again on Saturday to take on Texas State at 9 a.m. MT and Missouri at 5:30 p.m. MT to finish off their play in the Tiger Invitational.
(Courtesy BYU Athletic Department)
