BYU Cougars: Women’s volleyball carrying banner for fall sports

For fans of the BYU Cougars, the fall sports have not been kind. The premier men’s and women’s sports, football and soccer, are mired in down years, barely scraping out a win each. Which sport is continuing to excel? Women’s volleyball.

If you been watching any sports at the Y this fall, you know that the BYU Cougars are not riding high.

Naturally, certain sports carry a higher balance of popularity. Among women’s sports, BYU soccer has been the best at putting butts in seats, and everyone knows that football is king. It doesn’t hurt that both sports have spoiled their fans with plenty of success historically.

Just not this year.

Soccer struggles

Ranked to begin the year, BYU women’s soccer has managed only one win in eight matches. Last year’s team was an exciting, offensive juggernaut led by Ashley Hatch, Elena Medeiros, and Michelle “Murph” Vasconcelos that won three straight conference titles.

Those players are gone, and head coach Jennifer Rockwood is still looking for strikers to put the ball in the back of the net. There have been excellent scoring opportunities created in every game, even against the likes of No. 1 UCLA or a ranked Utah team at home, but mostly, those opportunities went begging.

As problematic, the Cougars’ aren’t connected on passing and maintaining possession well. They look flustered and out of sync even eight games into the season. Mix it all together, and you get a whole lot of ties and a fair share of losses.

Football follies

BYU football in one word: Woof.

After providing little more than target practice for the Wisconsin Badgers Saturday, BYU football has an identical record to last year’s start. 1-3.

But unlike 2016, where every game was balanced on a razor in a windstorm and losses came by inches,  in 2017 the Cougars have been routinely carved in twain. Most of the problem stems from one of the worst offensive outputs by a BYU team in the modern era.

In only brief glimpses do the Cougars look like a football team worth watching. For a moment or two, passes are completed, chains are moved, and running plays get first downs.

But then Wisconsin linemen stuff Ula Tolutau for no gain, Jonny Linehan seems to be getting almost as many snaps as the QB, and Beau Hoge coughs up a turnover.

A play that will live in infamy

Remember that Jake Heaps play some years ago? The one where a bad snap got worse when Heaps tracked it down, and instead of just falling on the thing, made the most inept pass attempt you’ll see in college football.

Well, Beau Hoge must have been thinking of that play, and told someone the sideline to hold his chocolate milk.

Deep in BYU’s own territory, on first down, Hoge abandoned a perfectly nice pocket, rolled to his right, and retreated deep into the endzone, looking for an opening that never came. And then he was stripped, fell on the ball, and Safety’d by the Wisconsin defense.

That was BYU’s last offensive possession.

Now, the play wasn’t against the hated rival, and gave up two points instead of six. But this felt like the final straw. The clap of doom. The M.E.’s signature on the BYU offensive’s death certificate.

In two weeks, BYU football travels north to Logan to face the Utah State. It shows you just how deep a hole they are in that where once that was a penciled in as a win, now facing the Aggies looks downright scary.

If BYU doesn’t stop adding two and two and getting 1.5 offensively, a nightmare season could ensue.

The one team worth watching? Women’s volleyball.

Now, volleyball excellence at BYU is nothing new. Heather Olmstead is in her third year as head coach, and has a staggering record of 68-9 with conference play starting next week.

The Cougars are back to back to back WCC champs, and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for FIVE STRAIGHT YEARS, including a 2014 run to the national title match. In that time, they have lost a grand total of 2 matches at home.

And the 2017 team might be one of their best.

A loss to Baylor on a neutral court is their only blemish on this season. The balanced and versatile Cougars sit at 11-1, with wins that include a ranked Ohio State team, Hawaii at Hawaii, and the crown jewel: taking down No. 16 Utah in the Huntsman Center in a five set barn burner.

Yes, only volleyball has taken apart the U, and left them with just a pair of Ls.

Volleyball is good for a reason: balance

Roni Jones-Perry and McKenna Miller lead the Cougars on offense, with converted opposite Cosy Burnett making a surprisingly excellent middle blocker. Jones-Perry as a junior now has savvy to add to her dominating power, and Miller is coming off a freshman year that showcased a high-flying attack and a deadly cut shot.

The Cougars have two excellent upperclassman setters in Alohi Robins-Hardy and Lyndie Haddock. If one isn’t up to par for a particular set or match, coach Olmstead freely subs the other in, and more often than not gets a boost in offensive production.

And for all that, the Cougars are probably better on the defensive side.

Led by sophomore libero Mary Lake, this volleyball team is incredibly stingy on kills. Lake’s propensity for diving, one-handed flippers and fantastic reaction digs give the Cougars a ton of second chance offense. Defensive specialists Tristyn Moser and Sydnie Martindale form a back line that excels in not letting balls get away.

It doesn’t hurt that Lake, Miller, Burnett, and Jones-Perry can all eat you up from service line. Lake leads the team with 12 aces, and the rest have nine apiece.

Fans just gotta fan

So, am I suggesting you jettison the popular men’s and women’s sports? No.

Part of being a fan is holding on when your team isn’t meeting expectations. Soccer has time to turn things around in conference play. Football will finally face an opponent that experts favor them to beat. Hopefully.

They will improve, they will be back.

But if you want to throw in some extra support to the one fall team that’s continuing to excel, then might I suggest you give women’s volleyball a try.

As therapy, if nothing else.