BYU vs Utah | Women Volleyball Sep 16,2021

when you talk about how familiar both these teams are with each other there's not any like hey let's fill each other out try to make decisions on what's going to happen they know each other very well so from the beginning from the first serve it's going to be important for who's going to set the tempo and who's going to control this amazing energy byu's first loss of the season came last week at number four pit no taylon ballard nixon in that one she's back tonight utah had the shocker of the week in women's volleyball at number three nebraska in five sets in a reverse sweep and then on monday played at boise state a tough tough uh travel situation lost in four to the broncos and they're now back number 10 versus number 15. it's utah it's byu and we are underway in provo in this one which we have circled on the calendar for a while and heather knighting is stuffed by madeline robinson her former teammate and there's that interesting play right byu trying to establish the middle early but utah being all over it maddie robinson with a terrific move diving back into that angle taking away the seam heather knighting does not get stopped on the slide very much second in the country hit percentage and kenzie kerber goes long you talk about coming into hostile environments right utah not afraid of that at nebraska they're playing in front of 8 000 or more fans so it was not a friendly place to play and this energy they know what they can expect nna says reinert can't handle the jankowitz serve three-nothing utah jankowitz the transfer from illinois state played four years there missouri valley setter of the year 20-21 spring in 2018 now at utah right at reinert again nighting off the block and out and just some of the tension released right there just a lot of juice in the building byu has been amped for this for a while specifically kerber who we heard from and uh last time they met it was the loss heather knighting's last match right so there's a lot going into this there is a tension in the building as well which is palpable right and and you can't you can't replicate that in a practice right you can't replicate this you try you talk about it but there's no way until you're in it we get a good look at the swing of zoe weatherington just going out and she is a player to watch you want an arm to look at weatherington hits the ball hard into the net on ali olsen's offering 3-3 so 3-0 runs for each team and we will be pushing high four thousands tonight maybe five thousand in the building this is going to be an a top ten number for byu ever maddie robinson dug up by knighting on the back row kerber kenzie kerber gets the kill she has dreamed of for the past who knows how many months as she has thought about this match she told us on by sportsnation a couple weeks ago i dream of that match against utah but the focus was on the match that day when we were talking but now we finally arrived at this one when you see her being very active down in the back row she wasn't too she didn't hit much out of the back row at utah so that's kind of a new aspect of her game nearly a kill there here's bauer livingston goes long so the tension is palpable in the four hitting errors on six swings from these games yeah you and we kind of talked about it before watching them you know standing there it looks like very tense you know a lot on the mind you try to calm yourself but where that tense and that adrenaline is gonna manifest itself is in the passing lanes right because you're a little tight and also hitting you're going to hit a lot of balls out look up by the cougars kerber again goes long and deep and gets it this time off of jankowitz we have yet to see danny drewes take a swing in the first nine points that's huge right danny drewes [Applause] not involved in the offense at all yet because utah has been really unable to get those digs yeah byu's made a lot of hitting errors but as far as digging the ball utah hasn't got to stop yet jenkins high for drew's first offering dug up on the off speed kerber again three kills for kenzie kerber feeling it early very smart swing high using those hands out of bounds she's doing a nice job to get off and make herself available she already has taken you know five attempts she's got three kills a lot of cover early which he probably is hoping for deep corner from danny drewes and you will see many of those tonight well danny drews is great because a lot of times if you're lefty people will just stick you in the opposite position but she's one of those left-handed outsides and that is rare and so as a blocker as a defender it's tough to get in front and really line up properly 6'5 that one goes long from vanessa ramirez danny drewes so many things to say about danny drew first off for family so paul played soccer in baseball utah mickey her mom played basketball volleyball at utah brothers jackson and cody barton play the utah play in the nfl for the giants and my seahawks respectively so i'm now a cody barton fan uh that family just ridiculously athletic man kerber off the block since sky high here's ramirez and then off of the antenna two errors for weatherington to begin the junior from charlotte north carolina whose ball is so heavy the first day in the gym she was knocking people out yeah she hits the ball so hard and in practice coach lanier told me when she came in like that live arm the defense had no answer for she just they're missiles her arm actually had to be registered in the state of utah as she gets the kill there finally settles in she'll sub out one weatherington struggling with a a knee injury last season spring so she has been out for a bit and kind of working her way back in and and really was instrumental in their win at nebraska where they were down 0-2 and fought their way back to winning five just an incredible gutsy performance with the kill and that's big to get megan yet off the line because yet had five aces against nebraska she was really good from the service line this play right here is what byu needs more of the past couple weeks i think that connection for whatever reason you know just not quite working for eshenberg and bauer and they've been working and working and working to try to figure out how to solidify that drew's goes long you mentioned it the first first team all-american twice at utah against nebraska 27 kills 16 digs abca player of the week nationally she is legit well if you watch drew's it's not just one shot she has everything her off speed her decision making her leadership her passing she just is a complete package and look at this byu on a run here up 11-6 and taylor ballard nixon that was missing last week by he started uh sophia callahan the freshman who held their own was not afraid by ended up going down though one two of the three they played popped up by mccomber and knighting sets it over and double contact asking a middle to set always a fun task no offense yeah excuse me i'm like waving people off i get and he would go sky high 11-7 i just defended every middle i'm so sorry do you know actually because you know jeff nygaard yeah usc coach they either on the national team or or in college they would he took if the setter took it he said so more evidence that middles can set it's just not the most ideal thing that's all i'm saying yeah perfect pass kerber went real soft on that one ballard nixon into the net utah says we didn't touch it and the units get three in a row i think that's a smart play from kerber right it's recycling the ball you don't have the swing you want hit it into the block allow your team to play it again and get a good swing nixon just mishit that but as far as creating that play that's exactly what byu wanted kerber knighting nice dig by yet blocked by byu cougars one of the best in the country blocking drew's out of the back row with some pepper ballard nixon robinson with the dig bumps set off the net and then scrapes it again and goes over knighting 12-9 okay look at heather 90 not only did she hammer that ball but she played it she dug it then got off the net watch how she's gonna get off in transition after passing the ball that takes speed quickness and effort here's kerber from the service line takes a deep breath close the eyes and fires away low offering for drew's in a three meter attack violation he's back row she's got a jump from behind the 10 meter line we are in the states 13-9 drews has not been super involved lately yes she has six attacks just the one kill there's not been a real in-system flow to her sets yet i think yeah flow definitely the key word there both these teams want to find that rhythm and it starts with the past but both these teams serving so tough that most the swings these teams are taking are out of system that more in system madeline robinson flying from the left side the former by cougar who played on the 2018 final four team for byu played in 2019 against utah in the ncaa tournament here and then transferred so she set the tone for this particular match she just didn't know it in 2021 where kerber is on the other side too one switch for each good pass whitney bauer touched by yet but too hot to handle 14-10 byu right now winning that surf surf receive battle you see in system plays that one bauer obviously took advantage of on her own but she's been able to get the middles involved she's been able to run quick and that opens up the pins fewer hitting a lofty 105 utah negative zero six seven this has been a defensive game robinson cuts it hard but out and robinson is one for four time out on the court we will step aside byu up 15 to 10 in this one the combined fitter of byu fans everywhere thursday night volleyball baby byu and utah inside here outside byu women's soccer taking on idaho state and it's three nothing byu that's on the bui tv app if you want to have two devices going let's go madeline robinson kerber and it goes down bauer didn't get to it quick enough tried to pop it up goes down and robinson gets killed how much needed kill for utah only their fourth of this first set just really struggling to find any sort of group and we talked about it right you're tense things are tight there's a lot on the line there's a lot of emotion and that is going to express itself in hitting errors knighting had to just swipe it away as drew's dug up by kerber out of the back row with some heat 16 11. four for eight for kerberos herbert very active showing just what an all-around player she is it's one thing to try to hit well out of the back row but to do that you got to be able to pass and play defense and she does that knighting about 10 weeks off her mission to seattle and then a big block by ashenburg and by's running away with it now up 17-11. the sixth year senior a redshirt year in a covered year she's working on multiple doctorate degrees i'm kidding but ashenberg do you could see there just what a smart blocker she is her eye work her hand position she's tough to stop get past both these teams really good defensively the utes are 12th in the country in blocks per set with evans and olsen third and fourth in the pac-12 and then byu 12th an opponent hitting percentage just 126. here's robinson from highland lone peak high school eshenberg oh still alive what a play and then the reset for utah danny drew is like give me a shot here at a system dug up by kerber livingston off the block the story of danny drew's inability to get in now drew's who this won't stay you know one kill three errors ten swings this is as tough of a start to a match as she's probably ever had in her life i think both these teams were ready for each other and you know why you prepped for danny drewes and they've done a nice job at sticking to the game plan uh at least in this first set 1912. drews gets to kill just her second in the match and out of the timeout able to get her the ball let's bring in kiki solano lot of that time out by with byu was spent a lot about talking about their defense heather talked to the team got their input and that's something they felt like they needed to focus on but that's how either heather olmstead works she likes to hear the player's input she trusts them a lot jeremy and that's interesting because things are going really well it'd be easy to say what you think but to get as kenzie kerber gets her fifth kill in the first set having the kind of set i think she was hoping for uh is hey what do you see what do you think i think and that speaks to just how important defense is going to be for this byu team an offense in as hippo saves it oh and eshenberg can't get to it and that offense for utah that can come alive and is just so powerful byu wants to shut it down whether that be in the blocking lanes or that defensive effort now utah is coming off the loss its first loss of the season two boise state a bit of a shocker after the win at nebraska and now playing and there's the ace at byu 2015. utah back into it there's megan yet remember the five aces at nebraska she can serve it up and megan yeah senior who has just been so fantastic for the scene she struggled her entire career with injuries to her lower leg and that's prevented her from really finding that front row niche that they were hoping for but what she has developed is this incredible back row availability she passes nails she's a great defender great server so they need her on the court and utah has cut this to four with the kerber error her third of the set yeah it has 57 career aces not bad off the bench in fact it's good yeah yeah a player also that played with the bowers for idaho there you go eshenberg with the kale 21-16 [Applause] caldwell and nampa hanging out right that's how they roll maddie allen the liberal nice dump by jenkiwicz from farmington hills michigan and if you're watching your center that one was pretty slow to develop i think everyone could see that that was going to be a dump but that just shows that byu their team wasn't focused on their setter their eye work wasn't where it should be bauer from the 10-foot line ballard nixon dug up by yet jankowitz oh crushed maddie robinson timeout byu 21-18 the utes have cut it down to three and the offense for utah starting to get going starting to find their group for sure byu wants a time out to try to stop country is just amazing so many incredible players that we thought would be graduating and now we get another year to watch them and enjoy that talent so in the new big 12 which would be why you'll join in two years if you've been under a rock last week you would be the second highest ranked team if you don't include texas which will leave two years after that 25 unless they buy it out that one's good knighting sends it over she's not going to set that one [Music] kerber oh ramirez and then blocked and still alive double touched nope by knighting that was the third hit utah gets the point and it is 21-19 what a run look at that the best rally incredible defensive effort from balor but then again you know it's gonna have to be great to win kerber from the front row through the block coming back to kerber yes on the overpass from drewes and that was the big one because it was a 7-2 utah run to get it to two 22-19 as best lanier looks on and here come the youths right this is what we expected and here it is at the end of the first set with only two kills from danny drewes 22-19 you can hear a pin drop in here yet tipped by robinson that's good four kills a team high on eight swings from maddie robinson that's that off speed again and a smart time to do it because kerber serving a little slower to get into a base position because you have to run into the court great choice from robinson kylie mcmurtry bauer pulled to the 10 meter line kerber no problem seven kills in the first set for the former u 23-20 ah there's a valuable swing right there you're out of system and you have a player that can go from out of system to in system just like that [Applause] taylon ballard nixon senior from clovis california back for another senior year into the net second service error from byu only one for utah it's a completely different match right now from the beginning of the set yeah you feel now the urgency but it's not an urgency of tightness it's an urgency of like okay we found our groove now let's go brad making some noise i'm telling you this might be 5 000 here tonight this is a good one livingston dug up by drew's push to robinson off the block maddie robinson four kills 23-22 the youths have come back from down 19-12 to cut this to one maddie robinson five kills she gives it everything she's got she has such a powerful approach and she is hitting lights out she's only five foot ten there on the outside hitting 370 flight let's go then utah is awaiting washington and colorado next week hitting the road and home to oregon state and oregon at usc pac-12 play begins so this will be fun in a couple years this won't be a uh big 12 west coast conference mat or excuse me pac 12 west coast conference big 12 from byu although in football men's basketball it will certainly make a difference and the west coast conference has been awesome for byu in all the sports but in certain sports it will it will be a little more elevated in women's volleyball it's a good conference what's your opinion of the big 12 women's volleyball and what kind of impact that could have for boys i think both uh you know the wcc is just getting better and growing they have three teams ranked uh right now but obviously the big 12 just across the board week in and week out you're gonna have to prep and that's that's tough to play it makes you a good player to always have to bring it much more on that coming up heather nighting on the slide set point and the fans rise [Applause] timeout utah heather knighting three for seven and now byu has the first of a couple of set points here in person here a couple weeks ago my goodness jeremiah larson and that crew took byu to five and it was really interesting utah state's got former cougar rob nielsen uh coaching it saw southern utah in here a couple weeks ago in dixie state volleyball's in a good place here utah valley thank you did i miss anybody westminster what's up there's some good ball in this state set point now come the sharks [Applause] other nighting nearly an ace wetherington keeps it in this one's tight and then hit to the back row the overpass cost byu ali olsen said thank you very much [Applause] [Applause] robinson down the line and allen catches her kerber high and hittable for livingston utah for the tie the tip bauer there swing from kerber nope just sets it [Applause] over to drew's bauer and then tip down from wetherington eschenberg tipped back over barely touched by livingston down oh it got weird but it worked and byu takes set one 25-23 kerber is screaming at everybody on the side i don't think anybody swung in that ball the entire play but a smart shot from rushenburg just shove it to the corner because all the defenders were sucked inside the 10-foot line because of all the off-speed shots it looked like a family reunion our first a little more offensive in the middle of that set to the end low numbers but hey this was this was grinded out volleyball defensive i agree i think you saw both teams kind of come alive a little bit especially utah to end that first set to work their way and fight their way back in did it give them although they didn't win did it give them that confidence and momentum that they could take it to the second set it'll be interesting to see how they start kiki solano has more on the lady of the hour kenzie kerber kenzie knew coming into this game she wasn't gonna have to worry about being bringing the fire that's already a part of her play but she has been so competitive here tonight really coming into this she's just been thinking about compartmentalizing things so she doesn't have too much energy but so far that energy really working for her jerem thanks kiki can you over invest emotionally oh of course because that could easily happen here for her definitely i think as an athlete you're always trying to manage your emotion and because there are real chemicals that flow through your body you know you have got uh you know you if you watch the olympics at all uh i did because you called some of that it was awesome so a few of the brazilian beach teams have like a mouth guard that they use to control the amount of cortisol or you know endorphins that are released into their system just to deal with that by you dominating at the net right now echenberg to utah zero tell me more about that it's pretty fantastic so like if they would bite down you know that would that would release you know it's really something to keep them in check emotionally interesting like a liquid or something no no it's it's controlling how your body releases chemicals interesting you know into how do you deal with the amount of adrenaline that comes into your body when you're in this environment you can't coach that so you've got to learn to try to to deal with it interesting like what kinky was talking about nearly an ace there from nightingale up three nothing cougars were down three nothing to start the match bauer livingston block reinert eschenberg ramirez all over it danny drewes down the line there's danny drewes where was she in the first set just two kills on 14 swings take a picture of that if you're a byu fan because that ain't that ain't lasting danny cheers is way better than that [Applause] and i think she really didn't find a groove we saw so many of her shots being these off speed out of system plays and so look for her to find some sort of rhythm she's going to be unstoppable livingston off the block livingston's husband hayden had an interception in byu's win over arizona a couple of weeks ago the only turnover in that game and then of course hey we didn't even talk about it in set one byu ended the streak against utah as you all know in football but it continues here tonight women's soccer by the way scoreless draw last thursday men's soccer five-nothing win for byu so this is the fourth boy utah game in the last week as livingston gets another one and byu jumps out 5-1 i think hockey is playing each other this weekend also let's go i got my own byu hockey jersey i'm all in excuse me sweater [Applause] as byu starts strong in set number two you look at bauer she is the one driving this train for byu she's making decisions really putting the ball in a good position for her team to hit oh weatherton there's some of that speed you were talking about oh my goodness the junior had 17 kills in the big win at number three nebraska if it gets past the block it's over man 5-2 bauer the conductor kerber hits it out and they think there was touch so much yeah and david height and johnny neely jump off the bench yeah challenge this first challenge mike ferriss will look at it mike ferris did touch me that uh tell me that this uh year they said in out touch and net are bundled together in a challenge oh so it's just one call hi here's my challenge uh and then you have all you can look at all three so he said okay is there a touch here from this you know from our angle on this side oh yeah huge touch but are you seeing it yes the uh right pointer finger oh it goes way back watch look how far it goes back oh that hurts tape that thing up yeah that one's obvious and uh yeah good thing steph jankowitz doesn't have to use her hand since the center so yeah this is this is going to be a a touch so byu's going to uh be up 6-2 here in a moment les callus the upref and mike ferris the down rafter tonight was that ball touched yes or no you can weigh in via opine you download the app scan the qr code just open your camera it'll go right to a browser and open it up for you it was pretty obvious it was indeed touched good to see the officials can see what we see they can actually see a little more of a few other camera angles that we don't have even in the gym 6-2 so he keeps the challenge you get three misses and more importantly they keep in this rotation right with people serving that front line that's so big it is a good scoring rotation for byu throws it off 7-2 what has changed offensively for byu to go 5 for 10 to start thinking i think that's a great point i think they have really found a way to attack ashenberg obviously going off speed but she's still being aggressive and i think byu is using the block of utah to score points kept alive what a diving effort from whitney bauer the slide dug up by hifo bauer ballard nixon sky high in the dig eschenberg right there maddie robinson and then ramirez with the save heapho has to come in eshenberg ramirez again eshenberg again what a rally 8-2 cougars know we've been waiting for kennedy ashenberg to really come alive this season that play really solidified an incredible defense from alan and bauer who is arguably the best setter defender in the country that's saying a lot 8-2 and what a play by bauer my goodness nca volleyball better be tweeting that out nice tip 8-3 for the utes kennedy evans one of those middles not really used thus far as utah wants a little moppage well i think it takes so long for middles and setters to get comfortable with each other and you've got jankowicz you know she is a senior obviously but she's still new to this utah program and so that's going to take time to get comfortable the faster the offense the more you have to be in sync with your setter maria mccomber former pac-12 libero at washington state and stalin ballard nixon uae really in sync right now up 9-3 after winning the first set 25-23 bauer again it's not only location it's getting great swings and you see all the court that nixon has to hit into that is a direct result of how bauer is running this offense just the second kill for ballard nixon that one's cut extremely wide by maddie robinson and again 10-3 and danny drewes 3 for 18. just uninvolved well involved to the tune of 18 swings but just right not connected not a rhythm there danny drewes digs it out of bounds fury's up 11-3 just rolling in this set right now i think it's very surprising considering how that first set ended i thought this second one at least at the beginning would be a lot more balanced but b-y-u came out with more emotion b-y-u on 16 swings yet to have a hitting error hitting 500 in utah triple zero byu all over it really been bringing it this whole season saturday night what a display and what an energy at the boy utah football game oh my gosh it was top five top ten i've ever seen in that stadium i mean it was incredible and uh byu stormed the field and it was like everybody just went on to defeat it was crazy it was it wasn't just the field it was like the whole field which was insane 11-4 kerber with eight kills in this one knighting smacks it off the block 12-4 danny drews has got to get more involved for utah the utes are going to get into this match byu rolling in every facet right now including heather nighting scott four kills second in the country in hitting percentage ten weeks off of a mission not bad yeah pretty good in shape well you look at kerber she only has one in the second set but you had so many different people really step up and be big in this one specifically the middles right ashenberg has three kills already in the second set as we see kerber a little anxious to serve didn't wait for the whistle one of the uh ball people wasn't uh off the court quite yet 12-4 big lead for by didn't i didn't think we'd see a seven or eight point lead in this match at all good tip in the middle by ali olsen the sophomore from great falls montana and just really you know the amount of off-speed shots that utah is bringing the byu is picking up i'd love to see utah find that offensive brethren rhythm and hit it get after it hit the ball 12-5 kerber down the line they're expecting the dig to happen just leaving line open kerberos going after it successfully 13-5 it's really tough to defend the back row swing yeah scorebox sponsors brady industries a provider of commercial cleaning supplies and equip taylor ballard nixon livingston dumps it down on the overpass kill 14-5 this is this is frankly odd how big of a lead boy has right here you can see on january's face just the frustration as a setter you can't set you can't find a rhythm because the pass is too tight or off the net or over and you you want to set an offense but the passing is struggling wetherington through the block just powers it through on the all freshman team in 2019 in the pac-12 got heard after nine games has ten plus skills and four of the last five had 17 against nebraska on saturday in that big win 14-6 robinson the former cougar mishandled by reinert and then the ace by maddie robinson her 11th of the year [Applause] we've talked about it by has three liberos on the team one wears white the other two wear blue as defensive specialists as knighting is dug up boy up a touchdown drew's dug up kerber through the block at a system that's a heck of a set in swing to get that point 15-7 nine kills for kerber after an incredible dig and then great play obviously from bauer to pop that up and get to it but then kerber to turn around and be able to transition so quickly from defense to offense will you up oh kept alive what a play and then eschenberg pounds it over overpass kill again 16-7 look at those two middles celebrating nighting setting up teen up that with an incredible serve and eshenberg taking care of the overpass this crowd has been incredible a bullet out of bounds from knighting [Applause] [Music] it would have been understandable if knighting had just redshirted this entire season when the year started she was six weeks off of her mission physically that's a big ask but she has been incredible even if she had been never gone on a mission physically let's look at this play right here a poor pass wendy bauer has to jump and bump set it and yet locates the ball so well that livingston's able to pull out the sharpest cross court we've seen on the night that is incredible 17 to eight deathrich utah trying to avoid back to back losses after winning at number three nebraska whoa hide your kids hide your wife 17 to nine oh my gosh that was amazing feed zoe weatherington [Applause] she's ready someone to hit the ball that's [Applause] she is awesome bauer over to kerber dug up by robinson here's danny drewes the tip whitney power underneath it right side off the block ramirez popped up by bauer swingable for kerber easy dig for ramirez backroad of robinson oh a bullet but out and byu wins the rally up nine and those defensive stops again from whitney bauer saving that ball diving in to keep that play alive and then robinson that is just inches out of bounds nine digs for whitney bauer and you're right she has made a massive difference defensively it feels like every game she's gotta dig that we're like hey is that sc top ten type stuff it's crazy it's taylor heatho who had two critical aces against weber state she goes long on that one that really changed the momentum of that game halftime at soccer you only have five nothing against idaho state we're up four nothing after what 24 minutes or something my goodness all the starters were basically pulled the bench came in oh look at that bring some marshmallows and graham crackers because whitney bauer just uh put it in the campfire there in right i think she's happy that one fell because it wasn't just executed pretty high that ball should be popped up but once again that just shows where's your eye work what are you watching fall too long maybe switching to your hitters you got to keep an eye on that setter in system swing is dug up by bauer taylon ballard nixon whitney bauer the real mvp right now she's been amazing and you think about her emotional journey with this match too she's the freshman setter that lost a home game in the ncaa tournament to utah she's probably been thinking about this game for a long time as well i think she's such a competitor working every aspect of her game always trying to get better certainly a team loss but when you're the setter you probably feel like you can control the game more than anyone else 21-10 on the error byu right now in this set dominating utah up a set already let's get this save the cougar for you uh went to the final four that year so many sellouts oh yeah that's a good one that's the winner right there [Applause] lacy haddock in the house [Music] eddie robinson is blocked henry drewes pops it up robinson again tonight again heather is smiling looking at kenzie kerber like hey should i challenge that i don't think you're up twice no you're up 11. it's a momentum thing keep it rolling you know we looked at the stats coming out of this byu has 16 kills zero errors they are signing out at 90 percent i think you can just say hey we're sliding out pretty well right now let's get back right at it yeah and who knows what happened since that's set three and perhaps four the comer gets caught deep ballard nixon popped up by oh look at maddie allen doing matty allen's stuff [Applause] ballard knicks in off hands oh garrett again making an impact off the bench as a passer oh maddie robinson [Applause] her swing reminds me of the pitcher tim linscombe for the giants but when he pitched it looked like he literally gave every ounce of energy he had she just goes after it with so much passion and uh good good to see maddie here again one player from each side have switched since they last played in 2019 maddie robinson from boy to utah kenzie kerber from utah to byu will stanley from byu men to utah coaching staff heather olmsted oh six to ten was a utah assistant came to byu after that that's the fun part of this you're in what color heather knighting deep corner 22-13 now we talked about sort of the hey it felt a little tight in here one the exact opposite for buying said who's very loose and i think it's easy to play loose if you're up 22-13 you know this i mean from the first couple points just maybe getting that first set yeah good point yes i think they took the energy instead of making it tight just allowed it to feed them robinson with another kill because utah did make a comeback down 1912 to get it 21-19 so we talk about momentum even if you win sometimes you've lost momentum in a set you tied gained momentum in set one but that did not affect the beginning of set two four b-y they came out even more fired up maybe in that second set but i think what helps is it's always nice to come out on fire speaking of fire robinson with the stuff it's nice to come out on fire and take control early because then you can't afford to play loose but what a block from robinson you want to get a momentum shift block that's the way to do it three blocks for utah 22-15 that lead down to seven with three to go kerber goes long 22-16 win will byu use a timeout if utah keeps this going kerber fourth error on 22 swings match high 10 kills emily smith the backup setter got most of the boise state again oh another ace as bauer goes into this the scorers table 22-17 utah's doing it again homestead saying let's go all three coaches off the bench from byu coach laner talks about emily smith just how good she was off the bench she is able to come in off the bench at a high level and make an impact right away smith's second ace of the year the dump from bauer initially blocked by ali olsen and smith stays in and robinson gets the kill 22-18 expected timeout now from heather olmsted yep there it is the lead is the time byu looked like they were just unbeatable utah has some weird emotions going because they had one of the best wins in program history at number three nebraska on saturday and then go to boise state a tough ask on them on monday and lose and then hey byu on thursday and oh by the way weber state was last thursday so they're playing their fourth match in eight days bouncing all over the country here ace 22-19 oh my utah on a 9-1 run has cut this down to three and emily smith has served up her second and third aces of the year in a timely manner mccomber here's bauer way off the net oh utah into the net wetherington with a big mistake late in this set oh just pressing a little too much that happens all the time blocking really wanting to score and an unforced error cuts that huge run by utah but do they still have that momentum they've got to come up big running out of room with byu at 23. ballard nixon robinson smith stays in there popped up livingston goes out 23-20 on the unforced air from byu now but utah can't afford to sign out here they've got to go on a run and maddie robinson will have it from the service line where she is extremely familiar in this gym having played two years at byu [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it may not be going on offense but it's going on defense 23-21 that's that a little tight tonighting and drew's all over that play floating out getting right in front of her hitter byu was up 21-10 [Music] bauer has to go low set point as livingston gets the kerber hug and here comes the crowd what will 5k do for the cougars here [Applause] much needed side out and now nighting back to church she's been so good can she finish it off [Applause] danny drewes there she is four kills on 21 swings and ramirez will serve set point number two good pass from utah and now they have another chance but they're playing backs against the wall right here here's ramirez at kerber livingston long and utah's one point away from extending this thing beyond one point away from going up 2-0 this is a tough rotation for byu to score from if it's up at the net it's ramirez again at kerber better pass this time back row to kerber ramirez overpass eschenberg tips but weatherington was right there and then sent over oh and there's an injury oh no aaron livingston is in some serious pain she went down they stopped the play so it'll stay 24-23 and aaron livingston the sophomore is is in some visible pain we've been here before in this gym with mckenna miller we'll see if it's ankle or near and what we think is a sprained ankle so it's overpass plays yeah just landed on emily smith's foot there and turned it really good yep went down right away so aaron livingston will be taken off and here comes sophia callahan and we will replay set point number two hard to go from that back up to this and here we go you need a first ball kill finish it off right here i've said eshenberg if i had the chance vanessa ramirez has a chance to push this to ot right at kerber again eshenberg robinson free ball from drewes here's echenberg again yes and byu escapes that set after being up 21-10 utah drove all the way back to make it a two-point set at 21-19 and then byu gets two due set regulation wins to go up two nothing right those first two games they seem like completely different but they were the same right utah making a run i think they're gonna talk about how can we kenzie kerber mentioning the 2019 trip to japan with the usa collegiate national team coached by one heather olmstead heather knighting was on that trip kerber was at utah that had an influence on her and uh sampson mccoolett yep caught a touchdown pass against utes we believe he's just the second player ever to score a touchdown on both sides against the other in the rivalry francis bernard being the other set three underway that one air mailed by sophia callahan probably feeling some juice maybe needs that mouthpiece from the brazilians exactly i think callahan this is big but she has seen a pretty significant time you know for a freshman coming in she's worked hard to get to this point and she's been very good for the cougars started against number four pit last week with taylon ballard nixon out ace as robinson goes right at kerber two nothing utah so if you're thinking about kind of callahan's yeah is she playing a big game yes last week at number four pit so this is similar but different now you're at home supportive crowd but they'd be crowd up two nothing feeling good but still gotta close out the deal and that was just out utah thinks that was in they might challenge this well i love the adjustment from knighting because she'd been blocked a couple times trying to go down the line so this time she goes a lot sharper and uses that block out of bounds no challenge 2-1 you're just joining us byu won the first two sets 25-23 wetherington this one's close ramirez keeps it in danny drewes blocked it out danny drewes five kills now if danny drewes heats up utah's got a shot here and they've had a shot involved in both without her so what does that mean and coming digging out of a huge hole to come back what does it do if they can play tough from the beginning have drew's back and be able to play a little looser obviously you've got a different center in now emily smith coming in and being that second setter to come off the bench they feel like they've got maybe a few more opportunities with her setting the offense they did this against boise state to try and mix it up after they were down a set didn't work as smith gets that to work 4-1 utah so a new look perhaps trying to find a connection with everyone but specifically with drew's we'll see nice dump 4-1 each team has led by three early in each set three nothing for byu excuse me utah then byu and now 4-1 for utah echenberg smashes it 4-2 and that's the first time we've seen that play that back one trying to find a shot for ashenberg she executes that perfectly look at the small seam but attacking the corners no defender no errors on 17 swings for eshenberg nine kills so not blocked soft blocked meaning a touch that you can dig drew's deep corner into the hula hoop drew's heating up six kills now two in the set right you would think you're saying heating up after two kills right but that's only because she only had three in the first two combined so we haven't seen what danny drewes can do if you're byu you're hoping that doesn't happen tonight because if she gets going that's crazy time smith good cover robinson reiner bauer kerber soft blocked nicely done drew's tip bauer underneath it she's been all over it kerber again oh kenzie kerber 5-3 kerber's 11th kill a match high after seven in the first set and what's great about high level volleyball yes the first two sets you know kind of ugly not a great offensive performance but you still have to grind it out and it's good to watch but when you have players playing at their top offensive and you just are fighting and have to just really work for every single point that's just a blessing to the fans so fun to watch emily smith into the net couple in a row lanier has taken off the glasses so now it's serious cougars up two nothing on two 25-23 set wins slide is open dig by allen kerber yes we're tied at five kerberos 12th that's a good play maddie allen creating opportunities a great day and then a terrific choice from bauer as we look at that dick watch how is going to put it push it away from motion everyone on the court for utah was stuck on that other side that opened up the whole thing good vision tough set there from smith some unforced errors into the net double contact there from smith byu six five lead here because the youth trying to find a better connection on offense you see how it starts with the serve right and heapo of course back there putting that pressure on i'll be wife that one goes down and byu rolling now after utah started strong to start the set aces are brought to you by proshae bridal utah's luxury bridal boutique featuring a full-service hair and makeup salon the one-stop shop for full bridal styling learn more at crochet bridal dot com fifo with another ace tickles the tape smith drew stop block nothing soft about that though kerber kenzie kerber doing stuff scoring out of transition wow b-y-u coming back have already come over they've talked to her the players immediately huddled together and prayed for her everyone wishing her a speedy recovery absolutely because it's not just about uh you know this match there are other matches to be played and soon for byu and conference play getting ready next week so speedy recovery indeed 8-5 b-y-u on a 7-1 run hifo ballard nixon oh robinson keeps it alive what a play and then they find danny drewes for the bump bauer ballard nixon you know can we talk a little bit about the defensive players for byu coming into this season obviously maddie allen fantastic in the libro position but then byu bringing in transfers you know reiner coming in she has been so fantastic mccomber as well from western state i think that's something that byu really wanted to just be better at passing be better defensively and both mccomber reiner allen all these players have just upped the game and you see their impact because byu has so many more opportunities to swing and score and that's because you've got defenders behind keeping the ball alive you always on a 9-1 run make it 10-1 and another ace from heapo what happened to up and utah these streaks are incredible and betlanier can only uh smile here like what's going on i think it's more out of yeah smile to keep from crying yeah if you're a utah fan you're like what what happened the end of the sets were great and we're 4-1 [Applause] 11-5 locked butt out everything going by his way 12-5 i am uh flabbergasted by this result here i thought we were going we're going maybe deep five here right now by up seven suddenly after being down for one but who knows utah's gonna climb back later like that the crests and valleys of this entire match have just been huge it's been way more wide swinging than i thought i thought we'd be tight all the way given how close these two teams are on paper in the rankings as kerber goes along and finally taylor hefos off the line what a run that was [Applause] man and here's danny drew team high 12 kills coming in bauer one-handed and bauer's back row so robinson nice job to touch that ball making uh bauer an attacker suddenly and this is a tricky one because this is where nixon being in the front row this is really the only rotation where she has to be in the passing lanes and they are going to pick on her the entire time berber that's high 14 kills she's not going to be able to sleep tonight either way right i mean she literally said she's dreamed about this match and and you don't want to circle one match in particular and do too much with it but it seems like she's handled it pretty well emotionally to where she's been able to play effectively and lead the team and she'll support and and yeah [Applause] up a touchdown i think bauer though she's running this show so well she's showing so much poise she is a a setter who just exudes calm and control but intensity and i talking to coach olmstead she said this year in particular bauer just has that leadership on the floor robinson look at bauer bump set ramirez with the dig robinson goes long and you talk about whitney bauer she's a 19 year old junior because she reclassified and skipped her senior year so she could come in with her sister morgan 19 years old been there done that for byu she's been in these big moments and of course dad danny and mom caroline basketball and volleyball players here at byu she's wanted to be here for a minute and now she's leading this this team the last couple years from freshman on in an incredible way drew's knighting [Applause] just set it to the back row robinson blocked back over to robinson bauer touches it but the wrong direction utah feels like they're just climbing a hill that they constantly slide down because touching everything like you've said and is is bowers flying around digging every ball if it's not bauer it's allen or reinert or mccomber i mean it's tough to find the court right now and danny drew still six for 31. incredible [Music] one of the best in the country is kerber cuts it out sixth error for kerber and now she takes the second [Applause] kenzie kerber looks like she strained her calf kenzie kerber is limping towards the bench and timeout byu so aaron livingston already out with what looked like a sprained ankle and kiki reporting on that and now kenzie kerber has walked over to the bench and her face tells you there's some trouble there we'll step aside and then came back out okay now you don't know if she was cramping up or if she pulled something but i guess it would take a lot to get her to come out knighting 16-9 the attendance tonight i told you it was around 5k right 5140 the fourth most in the smithfield house ever amazing there's three in the top ten from this year that we've seen oh man this year has just been incredible amazing and the top two the top uh one was 2018 against utah by the way and maddie robinson 6-0 byu women's soccer against idaho state if you were hoping to watch that one on demand sorry spoiler alert 16 to 10. will utah make another run here knighting airmail's that said there was touch though on ali olsen the crowd swears their stutch too we'll see if there's a challenge heather olmstead does have three and she would challenge this great pass from mccomber but that looked like a bit of a mishit but you could see that okay the crowd just saw it and react and freaked out so we're about to see didn't see it on that one out of frame but we'll see it here [Applause] and yep pretty clear got multiple fingers so there you go it'll be reversed nothing incites a crowd more like a bad call or a t-shirt when you see how hard it is man these officials you have to make the split-second decisions and it that's a tricky one you know it looked like knighting way missed that ball but she was adamant right she actually i i think heather knighting is pretty lucky there was a touch there i think that's sailing out guys continues to uh get stretched out here by the way i think that's when you argue no i'm going for fingers there's nothing lucky about coach it's going for hands on the extreme cutty there yeah was that touched 50 50 despite the blatant video evidence we just presented download the alpine app you can weigh in and interact with the broadcast as ali olsen was there now now utah is one of the best in the country at blocking there's a four blocks [Applause] kind of not enough for that number well you look at how bauer's been able to move the ball around she really has gotten pinned to pin utilize the middles that put so much pressure in the blocking lanes because you can't get up in time it's too fast it's hard to close there's a lot of seams and so you've credited obviously the passing lanes for keeping bauer and system allowing her to craft but it is so loud in here sometimes i'm having a hard time even hearing you and you're right next to me on a headset i mean it is it is great to have this crowd in here the fourth most attended women's volleyball match in this building ever [Applause] enjoying a little miley cyrus and who doesn't speaking of someone who probably likes miley cyrus geeky salon do you like miley cyrus i do like miley cyrus i think i love this crowd more though and the team loves it too i was told that leading up to this match they talked about hopefully we have a pack smith field house heather said okay well you guys know it's on a thursday but the team didn't waver they they knew that the rock that cougar nation would come in full strength they posted them about it asking them to come and they're here tonight absolutely if we're gonna find some sort of uh rhyme or reason to this crazy up and down match it is that at this point usually utah makes a run right at 17-11 they're down a ton this is the point that utah has started to come alive in the first two sets via callahan inside of the block gets the kill first kill for the freshman coming in for aaron livingston prepared to sprain her ankle and kerber is okay which is good news still on the floor does have a few of her fingers taped up smith there's weatherington more weatherington six for 13. you're saying you want more she's so fun to watch yeah this is great 18-12. [Applause] mrs ramirez fear had 21 digs at nebraska she was awesome it was cross court at kerber bauer at the 10-foot line pushed by ashenburg ramirez with the dig coming up from the set drew's off the block oh yeah there's a first team all-american in the house and they really haven't utilized i think that passing hasn't been there whitney bauer a great blocker very smart but obviously a little undersized and you've got danny drewes there on the outside so if i'm you times we can get drew's the ball as much as possible in these rotations oh and eshenberg is blocked by drew's the 2020 pac-12 player of the year married to christian drewes she's a barton as we mentioned her brothers cody and jackson played at utah nfl players for the giants and seahawks what a family parents paul and mickey both played at uh utah rather excuse me they used what as kerber gets dug oh and kerber is hurt kerber is down on the ground and that calf is in some pain she is down on the ground and now it's serious she's pulling off that wrap and it is uh looks like it's cramping yep it's cramping and she trimmer here soon well i thought we'd see her earlier but we didn't so who knows yeah and i think abby dayton obviously has got to be ready she's going to get the serve right away byu wants to come right back look for them to run eschenberg on the slide if they get a pass there it is it's like you know what you're talking about kiki has more from behind the byu bench kenzie kerberg coming off of the floor she's behind the bench she's getting stretched out right now but the first thing she said walking off looking at her teammates was finish this game still so emotionally involved even if she can't be out there on the floor right now jeremy thanks kiki good stuff kate grimmer into the match playing opposite now as bauer goes into the fby's seventh error utah made that run as you called it a 4-0 run there before that exchange and has cut this down to four late in this but some of that runway running out here [Applause] it's a tough one for byu to score they feed the freshman callahan yes the freshman rises up sophia callahan 20 to 15. look at that bench [Applause] everyone cheering for the freshman they know how big that swing was a lot on the line utah making a huge run they want to finish this off callahan coming up big from encinitas california had 10 kills against number four pitt in four sets and today's from heapho 21-16 to back points when this was getting tight and now byu up five with four to go for a sweep smith double contact again nope that's just out but that came off her hands kind of weird [Applause] 22-16 three in a row and perhaps the end of the line i don't know you know don't ever they've been making last second runs this entire match allen digs up the first team all-american drews [Applause] 23-16 and the 51-40 going crazy time-out listen to this crowd and i think you recognize how much of a team sport volleyball is we've seen two different players two starters for byu go down and the depth that they've been able to come in rise play together and be able to pull out a win i mean let's go over again utah number 10 in the country right byu at 15. this is a top 15 matchup two incredible teams and i think it speaks to pre-season one thing you haven't figured out even who you are as a team you know get who's playing next to each other you learn so much from these different environments and what type of team will we see in november yeah in both of these clubs and it's september that's a great point as we see kenzie kerber still being stretched out we'll see what availability she has going into west coast conference play next week [Applause] and kerber wins that match point listen to this crowd man fourth largest crowd in smithfield house women's volleyball history [Applause] byu sweeps utah for the players that lost the 2019 ncaa tournament game there's a lot of juice going into this one and for kenzie kerber who didn't finish the game injured who limps her way over to her teammates this meant a lot i think coming out of this one going into it there was a lot on the line emotionally

Channel: CoNsIsTeNt

Views: 16,648

Rating: 4.757576 out of 5

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Id: qBl-IEttrPY

Length: 72min 39sec (4359 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021