PROVO, Utah — No. 16 BYU women’s volleyball opened the 2024 season with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-15) victory over Southern Louisiana in a mid-day dōTERRA Classic matchup at the Smith Fieldhouse.
The BYU starting lineup featured five first-time starters, including four true freshmen. The Cougars were led by sophomore Claire Little, making her sixth career start. She had 12 kills and one error, hitting a career-high .550 in the match. True freshman Elli Mortensen and graduate middle Kjersti Strong had 10 and seven kills, respectively, in their Cougar debuts.
Strong also led BYU with four blocks. Sophomore Brielle Kemavor, in her first career start, had a career-high seven blocks. The lone upperclassman starter was Hannah Billeter at libero. She led the Cougars with seven digs. True freshman setter Alex Bower had 30 assists in her BYU debut.
“I thought that everybody that came on the court showed up today,” Little said. “It was cool to see our young players contributing. It has been such a switch having our seniors graduate. Now it’s our turn to show up and do it.”
BYU hit .390 in the match. The percentage would have been the third best for the Cougars in all of last season’s contests. Defensively, BYU kept SLU to a .012 percentage. BYU had 41 kills to SLU’s 26.
Set 1
The Cougars opened up the 2024 season with a kill from Brielle Kemavor to start things off. After the teams got out to a 2-2 start, BYU went on a 7-0 run that included a kill and a block from Kjersti Strong back-to-back. The Cougars went up 15-8 after a long rally where both teams had desperation digs to keep play alive. Strong finished the set with a solo block to give the Cougars a 25-15 first-set victory. Claire Little led the Cougars with six kills and a perfect hitting percentage of 1.000.
Set 2
BYU rattled off five-straight points after going down 1-0 to start the second set. During that stretch Kemavor hit her fourth kill of the match, a new career high. After trading points, BYU won a long rally to make it 10-6 and propelled the Cougars to three straight points, forcing an SLU timeout.
After the timeout, BYU won five more points, including back-to-back blocks by Kemavor and an ace by Bower before SLU was forced into another timeout. The run ended at 21-6 after BYU had scored 11 straight, that same mark was only achieved three times by the Cougars last year. BYU finished the set trading points and winning it 25-13. The defense of BYU was able to hold SLU to a -0.200 hitting percentage in the set.
Set 3
Set three began with an error on serve for the Lady Lions. Following that it was back and forth between the teams until a rally at 12-12 ended in a Mortensen kill. Alyssa Erickson then subbed in and made an immediate impact, serving for four Cougar points, including an ace. BYU then traded points until the 19-15 mark, when they took back control. Behind kills from Little, Kemavor and Prior, the Cougars were able to end the set on a 6-0 run, winning it 25-15.
Next up, the Cougars face Fairfield tonight in their second match of the dōTERRA Classic.