BYU bucks trend, beats Utah in five sets

No. 24 BYU gutted out a tough 3-2 victory over No. 20 Utah Saturday night at Smith Fieldhouse, extending its win streak over the Utes to five straight contests.

The Cougars win came on set scores of 25-21, 25-27, 23-25, 25-23 and 15-12.

“They were so gritty, and they just showed so much resilience and just mental fortitude to … stick with it,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “It was one good play after another.”

Entering the match, BYU was 1-5 in fifth sets. It didn’t seem so Saturday.

“Every single point matters from the start to the finish,” said BYU sophomore outside hitter Claire Little, who led her team in kills with 18. “We’re just doing one point at a time. That helped us a ton.”

The match marked the first time the rival schools had met as ranked opponents since their 2021 NCAA tournament contest at Smith Fieldhouse that saw the Cougars end the Utes’ season.

Saturday, the teams met in a conference contest for the first time since 2010 (Utah got the best of BYU in both contests that year). Despite the Cougars’ more recent success against the Utes, the Provo school lost its final six contests to its rival the last time they shared a conference.

Much has changed since that time, and BYU proved that on the court Saturday. The Cougars never trailed in the initial set, pushing their advantage to as many as five points.

Despite the Cougars remaining in control, Utah stayed close, tying things up on five different occasions. However, each time the Utes threatened to take the lead, BYU had a response, ultimately scoring five of the last six points after Utah knotted the score at 20 apiece.

The Utes were dominant to start the next set, throttling the Cougars to go ahead by eight while needing just four points to close it out. But BYU didn’t go down easy, storming back to match the score at 23, 24, and 25.

Utah did just enough from there, earning a hard-fought point before a service ace from senior outside hitter Lauren Jardine finished the job.

After leading much of the third set, the Utes allowed the Cougars to again make a comeback to tie the game at 23, as BYU scored three straight points late to make things equal.

Utah cut the comeback short though, scoring the next two points to secure the 2-1 set lead.

“We had a little tough spell of passing in the second and third sets,” Olmstead said. “In the fourth set, we started to get better passing.”

Along with better passing, the Cougars became the aggressors in the fourth set, slowly distancing themselves from the Utes as the set wore on.

The lead wasn’t safe though, as Utah tightened the game this time, inching to within one point of BYU before the home team slammed the door shut to force a decisive fifth set.

The Cougars made the most of the final set, getting four service aces and this time finishing a comeback to take the match. After falling behind early, BYU outscored Utah 6-1 to close the night and hand the Utes just their third loss of the season.

After so many close losses this season, Olmstead feels her team has begun to turn a corner.

“They’re just learning from previous experiences,” she said. “We’re just asking them to just lean into those moments and draw on that experience. … They’re just getting better every day.”

Both teams will resume Big 12 play on the road next week, when Utah faces Kansas State Thursday and BYU takes on Colorado Friday.