BYU Women’s Volleyball took care of business again at home, downing Texas to punch their ticket to the Final Four in Minneapolis next week.
No. 4 seed BYU Women’s Volleyball is Final Four bound again.
It’s been five years since they found themselves in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament, and they’re one win away from a return to that match. This will be their third trip to the Final Four since the NCAA Tournament began in 1981.
The Cougars had to get past No. 5 seed Texas to punch their ticket to Minneapolis, and they did it in straight sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-21).
While the Longhorns kept every set close and held leads in all three, BYU seemed in control of the match throughout.
Surprisingly, the two best offensive teams in the country struggled to hit the ball on Saturday night. Texas only managed a .222 hitting percentage, while BYU wasn’t a whole lot better at .241.
But the Cougars kept the ball alive better, out-digging the Longhorns 38-23. As a result BYU got 22 more hitting attempts than Texas did.
Veronica Jones-Perry shined again, finishing with 25 kills on .367 hitting. Mary Lake led the match with 17 digs, and Heather Gneiting paced the Cougars with four blocks.
BYU now heads to Minneapolis for the Final Four, where they’ll get a rematch with No. 1 seed Stanford on Thursday night. The Cougars handed the Cardinal their only loss of the season back on August 31st.
But that was in the Smith Fieldhouse, and this will be on a neutral court. It will be interesting to see how much that plays into the outcome of Thursday’s semifinal.
If BYU can get past Stanford, they’ll take on the winner of No. 3 seed Illinois and No.7 seed Nebraska, who both punched their Final Four tickets on Saturday as well.
NCAA Tournament National Semifinal
No. 4 BYU vs. No. 1 Stanford – Thursday, December 13th at 5:00pm MT (ESPN)