No. 14 BYU edges No. 16 Utah in five-set thriller

BYU senior setter Alohi Robins-Hardy recorded just two kills on Thursday night in the annual rivalry match against Utah. The last one was the only one that really mattered as Robins-Hardy’s spike found the hardwood to give her team the win in a five-set thriller in Salt Lake City.

The 14th-ranked Cougars edged the 16th-ranked Utes, 3-2, in front of an announced crowd of 4,637 in the 100th meeting all time between the programs at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. That crowd figure marks a program record for the Utes (8-2), who rallied to force a fifth set. The loss snapped a seven-match win streak for the Utes.

“I thought we played great,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “I thought we were doing exactly what we wanted, and that’s volleyball. It’s going to go either way. I love the way we played. It’s awesome. I’m so proud of our group.”

Robins-Hardy’s kill gave the Cougars (9-1) an 18-16 victory in the fifth set, which extended past 15 points because neither team could get a two-point advantage.

“Senior year playing Utah at Utah, it’s a beautiful thing, and to go out with this win for this team is just amazing,” Robins-Hardy said.

Robins-Hardy tallied 28 assists and 10 digs, while junior outside hitter Veronica Jones-Perry recorded 25 kills and sophomore outside hitter McKenna Miller added 15 kills.

The Utes came out on fire and won the opening set 25-16, but the Cougars hit their hosts with a barrage in the second and third sets.

The Utes pulled even in the third set, 4-4, for the first time since early in the second. However, that tie was short-lived and the Cougars never trailed in the third set. The Cougars’ duo of Jones-Perry and Miller shouldered the scoring burden. Utes freshman Camryn Machado’s served into the net to give the visitors the final point of the third, a 25-17 set win for the Cougars.

The Cougars led 2-1 going into the fourth set with a chance to clinch the match. Utah’s senior star outside hitter Adora Anae had to sit out part of the third set to get her ankle retaped by the training staff after coming down on someone’s foot earlier in the match. Things looked to have lined up for the Cougars. Except the Utes adjusted the way they were playing things at the net with their blockers.

Coming into the match, the Utes had 10 blocks or more in each of their previous four matches. Through three sets, they’d had just 4.5, but that changed quickly as Berkeley Oblad and Tawnee Luafalemana became forces in the fourth set.

The Utes never led in the second or third sets, but Carly Trueman’s kill to give them a 5-4 lead in the fourth marked a turning point. The Utes took control of the set with a run of five straight points to turn a 7-7 tie into a 12-7 edge. The Utes made three blocks in a stretch of 11 points to swing momentum in their favor. They had seven blocks in the fourth set. Luafalemana (nine kills) rose up for a vicious overhead jack-knife spike to end the set and give the Utes a 25-20 victory.

“I liked how we came back in sets four and five, a lot,” Utes coach Beth Launiere said. “I think different people were able to come up for us, which I think is a sign of our team as we are continuing to grow — that we have different people that can come up in different situations for us.”

Neither team led by more than three points in the third set. The scored tied at 14, 15 and 16 before Robins-Hardy sealed the victory 18-16 one point after an Oblad block attempt on a Jones-Perry kill landed several feet out of bounds.

Freshman hitter Dani Barton finished with a team-high 15 kills, which matched her season high. Anae (13 kills), Oblad (10 kills) and Trueman (12 kills) were the big offensive contributors. Barton added seven blocks while Oblad and Luafalemana had six apiece.