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BYU Women’s Volleyball sinks the Gators, Elite Eight bound

By Shaun Gordon

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: Confetti is seen on the NCAA logo after the Kentucky Wildcats defeat the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 in the National Championship Game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on April 2, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: Confetti is seen on the NCAA logo after the Kentucky Wildcats defeat the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 in the National Championship Game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on April 2, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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BYU Women’s Volleyball is one step closer to a title, taking down Florida in four sets to advance to an Elite Eight showdown with Texas.

Only eight teams are left standing in college women’s volleyball, and BYU is one of them.

The No. 4 seeded Cougars took down Florida in four sets (23-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-19) in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

With the win, BYU advances to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2014, where they’ll take on No. 5 seed Texas on Saturday night.

The Cougars have had a tendency to start of slow in matches, and Friday’s contest was no exception. Florida jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and BYU played catch-up the entire set. They managed to take an 18-17 lead, but the Gators regained the lead and held on to win it 25-23.

Both teams looked completely different in the second set. The Cougars came out firing on all cylinders, hitting .448, while the Gators had eight hitting errors.

Sets three and four weren’t much different, as BYU adjusted their offense against Florida’s height.

In a battle between two of the top defensive teams in the country, BYU’s superior offense won out.

Veronica Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 17 kills and added two service aces. Kennedy Eschenberg and Heather Gneiting split the team lead with seven blocks, and three Cougars finished with 10 digs (Mary Lake, Lyndie Haddock-Eppich, and Sydnie Martindale).

There’s not too much time for the Cougars to celebrate, though. They’ll be back in action Saturday evening against a Longhorn team that took down Michigan in four sets on Friday.

While Friday’s match pitted two of the best defensive teams, Saturday’s will feature the top two offensive ones.

BYU leads the country in hitting percentage (.319) and Texas right behind them (.312).

Whichever team wins that slugfest will advance to the Final Four in Minneapolis next weekend.

Next. Getting to know the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. dark

NCAA Regional Final

No. 5 Texas vs. No. 4 BYU – Saturday, December 8th at 6:00pm MT (ESPNU)

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