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Provo • BYU beat UNLV in straight sets, 25-23, 25-21, 25-12 and advanced to a regional semifinal in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament.

BYU entered its second-round NCAA tournament match with seemingly all the advantages against underdog UNLV Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Ranked 10th in the nation, playing in front of their home crowd, the Cougars were also taking on a team they had already swept once this season.

That doesn't mean adjustments were unnecessary.

But the Cougars made the tweaks they needed to and advanced to a semifinal. Texas defeated SMU in three straight as well and the Longhorns will host the Cougars on Friday.

"It's awesome," said Cougars' senior Whitney Young Howard, who had eight kills. "It's what our team is used to every year. I'm excited — we're going to Texas, I know that."

Against UNLV (24-8), BYU (29-3) intially stumbled and fell behind 9-1 in the opening set. But the Cougars inserted junior setter Alohi Robins-Hardy into the lineup and, later in the set, put in sophomore outside Danelle Parady-Stetler for a some extra punch.

"We just brought her in to see if we could give them a different look for their block," BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. "She brought some good energy and I was just super proud that she stayed focused on her task at hand."

UNLV struggled with its own strong-side hitting attack and BYU concentrated defensively on standout right side hitter Bree Hammels and the Rebels' middle duo of Elsa Descamps and Ashley Owens.

"I think you've got to give BYU a lot of credit for the adjustments they made," UNLV coach Cindy Fredrick said. "They ran away from Bree and their answer was to set the right side and set the middle and they did a really nice job of that.

"You have to give BYU kudos for that," she said. "Darn it."

With the game tied at 19 in the first set, Parady-Stetler scored kills on two of the next three points — sandwiched around a Rebels' hitting error — to give the Cougars a three-point lead.

UNLV drew within one, at 24-23, before a kill by Veronica Jones-Perry gave BYU the opening game.

The second set was also close; BYU pulled away from a 20-19 advantage. Two kills by Amy Boswell and one by Parady-Stetler pushed the Cougars to set point — which was converted on another putaway by Parady-Stetler.

Jones-Perry led BYU with 17 kills. Boswell added 14. Lacy Haddock added nine, Howard scored eight and Parady-Stetler came off the bench to contribute.

UNLV was led by Hammel's 12 putaways. The Rebels' next biggest contributer was Caitlin Wernentin, who had five.

In contrast to the first two sets, the third was never in doubt; the Cougars reeled off a 6-1 spurt to start the game and never looked back.

"It was a good opportunity for us to play them earlier in the season," Olmstead said. "I followed their season closely and they have a fantastic team.

"Good things started to happen for us," said the BYU coach after the initial stumble to start the match. "We got the momentum and started to make some great plays. Credit to [her players] intensity and never wanting to give up — that's how they've been all season." —

Storylines

R BYU overcame a 9-1 deficit to win the first set and esacped with a victory in a closely contested second set before skating through the third over the deflated Rebels.

• The Cougars, who had beaten UNLV in a sweep earlier this season, were led by Veronica Jones-Perry's 17 kills and Amy Boswell's 14 kills.

• Texas will play host to BYU on Friday in the third round of the NCAA tourney after the Longhorns won 3-0 over SMU.