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News releaseCOLUMBIA, Mo. -- BYU women's volleyball suffered its first loss of the 2009 season, falling 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 20-25, 12-25) to host Missouri in the finale of the Tiger Classic. The Cougars are 2-1 to start the year while the Tigers are 3-0.
"It's never easy to lose but I have a lot of confidence in our team and where we're going," BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. "We're going to pick ourselves up, learn from this experience and be a better team because of it."
Kayla Walker paced BYU with 11 kills while Christina Measom added 10 kills on .389 hitting. Kiana Rogers dished out 36 assists and dug eight balls while Nicole Warner had a team-best eight blocks. Christie Carpenter chipped in nine kills, three service aces and five digs.
Walker and Measom earned all-tournament honors. Walker averaged 3.70 kills and 1.9 digs per game while Measom 1.90 kills and 0.90 blocks while hitting .350.
Rosa Medrano led Missouri with a match-high 14 kills and Caitlyn Van posted a match-best 18 digs to lead the Tiger defensive effort.
Missouri jumped out to a 4-0 lead in set one before the Cougars got kills from Walker and Carpenter for their first two points of the game. A Walker kill pulled the Cougars within one at 11-10 and BYU tied the score on the next play. The score was tied again at 16-all on a Tiger hitting error but Missouri scored the next three points and went on to win the set 25-21.
Walker opened set two with a kill to give the Cougars their first lead of the match. Missouri posted the next two points but BYU reeled off the next five points — including kills by Walker, Measom and Rogers — to force a Tiger timeout. The Cougars led the rest of the way and with the score 16-14, BYU blew the set open with an 6-0 run. The run started with a Missouri hitting error and Thurston followed with a kill and a bock. Warner sandwiched another Thurston kill with two of her own to make it 22-14.
The Tigers got a kill from Weiwen Wang to end the run but BYU finished the set with kills by Warner and Thurston and an ace by Christie Carpenter to win 25-15.
The momentum quickly shifted to Missouri in game three as the Tigers scored the first three points and held the lead throughout the set. An ace by Carpenter pulled BYU within two at 14-12 but the Tigers responded with a 4-1 run and went on to win set three 25-20.
Missouri carried the momentum into set four, scoring the first three points and going on to win 25-12.
BYU plays at Utah State on Tuesday, Sept. 1, before hosting the Nike Classic on Sept. 4 and 5 in the Smith Fieldhouse.
(Courtesy BYU)
