BYU Women’s Volleyball: Can the Cougars do it again?

In 2014, the Women’s Volleyball team at BYU made its first-ever trip to the national finals of the NCAA tournament.  They were defeated by the Penn State Nittany Lions in the title game to end a run that not too many people except the Cougars saw coming.

It marked the first time that an unseeded team had ever advanced to the title game and after defeating No. 2 Texas to advance the magic finally ran out as the Cougars lost in three sets in the championship game.

The Cougars finished the season ranked No. 3 in the final AVCA Coaches’ Poll which is the highest ever for the program.

Head coach Shawn Olmstead, who phrased the slogan “Why not us” during the amazing run, was named the 2014 WCC Co-Coach of the Year, All-Pacific South Region Coach of the Year, and the AVCA Division I National Coach of the Year.  He led the Cougars to a 30-5 overall mark and finished first place in the WCC with a 16-2 mark.

He also coached two All-Americans as Jennifer Hamson was named to the first team for the second season in a row and Alexa Gray was named to the second team.  Amy Boswell was named as an honorable mention to the team.  Gray was also named the 2014 WCC Player of the Year and along with Hamson was named to the All-WCC First Team.

More from BYU Cougars

• BYU Football: Comparing the new and old schedules
• BYU Football: Have the Cougars hit an all time low?
• BYU Football needs to fix issues before Notre Dame
• BYU Football: Why fans shouldn’t be so worried about USF
• BYU Sports: Is a Big 12 announcement finally coming?

Both players also collected WCC Player of the Week honors during conference play and made the NCAA Oklahoma City All-Tournament Team.  Gray was added to the NCAA Seattle Region All-Tournament Team as well.

Boswell finished the season as the No. 2 blocker in the nation with 203 total blocks.  She had 17 against San Diego which tied a BYU block per set record and she set the BYU solo blocking record with six against New Mexico State.

Whitney Young, who was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year set two NCAA rally-scoring era records in 2014, averaging 1.89 blocks per set while collecting 229 total blocks.  She made the All-WCC First Team as well.

All in all, BYU lost four seniors to graduation including Hamson and Tambre Nobles.  They return seven freshmen, three sophomores, and three juniors to go along with three recruits including Lacy Haddock out of Timpview High School who was named the 2014 Daily Herald Utah Valley Player of the Year.

They will miss the 6-7 Hamson in the middle but with the return of Gray and other key components the table is set for the Cougars to have another special season.