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Provo • There wasn't much difference between the BYU women's soccer victory and the eight consecutive that came before it.

Between banging shots off the woodwork or just misfiring, Thursday's final score doesn't come to approaching how dominant the No. 9-ranked Cougars were in winning 1-0 against nonconference opponent Utah Valley at South Field.

"I thought we played really well tonight," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "I would have liked a couple more goals, but we got the win.

"This preseason we've done everything we possibly could to prepare for conference play."

The Cougars open West Coast Conference play at home Oct. 5 against Santa Clara.

In the first-ever meeting between BYU and UVU, the Cougars' Jessica Ringwood scored the game's long goal with less than a minute remaining in the first half. After nearly 45 minutes of coming close, the senior forward finally put a ball on target.

"I made a run and Dana [Cusick] played a perfect free ball, and the keeper came out," Ringwood said. "I thought we played well, kept the ball most of the time we just couldn't get our shots in, a lot of cross fires."

UVU, which has now lost four games in overtime and four more by one goal, had two clear chances from Natalie Baker.

BYU (11-1) outshot the Wolverines (1-8-1) 21-2, forcing UVU goalkeeper Lauren Sack into eight saves.

BYU also became friendly with the crossbar as a handful of shots rang off the woodwork.

Martin Renzhofer

Volleyball

BYU 3, San Francisco 1 • In San Francisco, Alexa Gray had a match-high 19 kills as the No. 11 Cougars won their 15th straight game, 25-17, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19 to improve to 3-0 in the West Coast Conference.

Kimberly Dahl tallied 18 kills and Heather Hannemann had 55 assists for the Cougars (15-0, 3-0), who, before Thursday, hadn't lost a set in eight matches.

Utah State 3, Louisiana Tech 1 • Shay Sorensen had a match-high 14 kills and Rachel Orr tallied 13 as the Aggies improved to 4-1 in Western Athletic Conference play with a 25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 25-23 victory. Paige Neves tallied 48 assists and Josselyn White had 10 kills for Utah State (9-5, 4-1).

Westminster 3, Dickinson State 1 • Ashley Marchant had 14 kills, 15 digs and five blocks to lead the Griffins to a 25-13, 22-25, 25-17, 25-15 victory in Frontier Conference action.

Alexis Aalona and Stephanie Jones each tallied 12 kills, and Emily Atkinson had 49 assists for Westminster (11-6, 4-2 FC).

Southern Utah 3, Eastern Washington 2 • In Cheney, Wash., Analaine Mailoto fired a match-high 25 kills as the Thunderbirds prevailed 25-18, 16-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-11 in Big Sky Conference play.

SUU improves to 7-9 and 3-2 in Big Sky play. Eastern Washington is 0-16.