No. 9 Cougars upset by No. 14 Colorado State on neutral court

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- No. 9 BYU women's volleyball fell 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 28-26) to No. 14 Colorado State in Las Cruces Friday morning.

Senior Jennifer Hamson had 24 kills and a .438 clip to go along with seven blocks to lead the Cougars. Camry Godfrey Willardson contributed 44 assists and 10 digs while Ciara Parker added a team-high 12 digs. Whitney Young helped out on the block, collecting six. Senior Hannah Robison also had double-digit kills with 19 to go along with 11 digs.

"We made too many errors to compete against a good team like Colorado State," BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "Hats off to them for the win."

Back-to-back kills from the left side by Hamson and Tambre Nobles gave the Cougars (5-2) an early 3-1 lead in the first set. Two kills from Robison continued to give momentum for BYU as it jumped out to a 9-4 advantage. Following an 8-2 run, the Cougars found themselves up 12-5 which forced a Colorado State (7-1) timeout. From there both teams traded points with BYU keeping its momentum, up 17-11. The Rams narrowed the gap to 22-20 following a Cougar error, but Hamson finished off the set for BYU 25-23 with a kill.  

In set two Colorado State took its first lead of the match, 3-2, from a Marlee Reynolds kill. With a pair of consecutive blocks, though, the Cougars went back up 9-7. The action went back-and-forth from there with neither team taking control of the match as the score was tied at 16. With the set knotted up at 22-all, the Rams went on a 3-1 rally to take the second set 25-23. Set two featured 11 ties and five lead changes.

BYU struggled from the service line early in the third set but quickly overcame it to take a 6-3 advantage with help from three Ram attack errors. A trio of kills from Colorado State's Adrianna Culbert helped the Rams to go on a 5-0 run and take a 9-8 lead. Colorado State continued to outscore the Cougars as it took a six-point lead at 18-12. BYU then regrouped to cut the Ram advantage to just two at 21-19, forcing a Colorado State timeout. The late Cougar rally fell short, however, as the Rams took set three 25-20 after four-straight points from Kelsey Snider.

Colorado State looked to be in control early on in the fourth set, taking a quick 4-1 lead out of the gate. BYU was able to cut the lead to just a point at 10-9 after back-to-back kills from Robison. An Amy Boswell service ace followed to give the Cougars their first lead of the set at 11-10. BYU kept a slight lead from there until the Rams' Jasmine Hanna tied things up at 19-19 with a kill. Two consecutive blocks from Hamson and Young quickly put the Cougars back on top 22-19. Colorado State inched its way back in the set, though, forcing extra points and winning the set and match 28-26.

BYU continues action Friday at 7 p.m. MDT when they head to El Paso, Texas, to take on UTEP in BYU's second match of the New Mexico State/UTEP Invitational. A link to a live video feed and stats can be found on the BYU women's volleyball schedule page.