No. 12 Cougars head to Oklahoma City for Final Four

PROVO, Utah – No. 12 BYU women’s volleyball travels to Oklahoma City this week to play in the national semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

The Cougars will first face off against No. 2-seed Texas. With a win, BYU would advance to play either No. 1-seed Stanford or No. 5-seed Penn State.

Last week, the Cougars won a four-set thriller against No. 6-seed Florida State before sweeping No. 14-seed Nebraska to advance out of the Seattle regional.

No. 2 Texas

• BYU faces off against the Longhorns Thursday at 6 p.m. CST at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.
• The Cougars lead the overall series 9-6, but Texas won the last matchup in a sweep during the 2008 season.
• The Longhorns are led by 3.28 kills per set from Haley Echerman, a 5.95 assist average from Chloe Collins, Cat McCoy’s 3.76 dig average and 1.58 blocks per set from Sara Hattis.

No. 1 Stanford

• Should BYU advance to the championship match, the Cougars would face either Stanford or Penn State Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CST.
• The Cardinal lead the overall series 8-4, including a four-set win in the last matchup in 2007.
• Stanford is led by Inky Ajanaku’s 3.52 kill average, 12.11 assists per set from Madi Bugg, Kyle Gilbert’s 4.75 digs per set and a 1.21 block average from Merete Lutz.

No. 5 Penn State

• Penn State and BYU have faced each other 10 previous times. The Nittany Lions hold a 6-4 edge in the overall series history.
• The Cougars fell to Penn State in the last meeting during the regional finals of the NCAA tournament in the 2007 season.
• The Nittany Lions are paced by 3.21 kills per set from Ali Frantti, 11.53 assists from Micha Hancock, a 3.66 dig average from Dominique Gonzalez and Haleigh Washington’s 1.24 blocks per set.

VIDEO/STATS

Thursday’s match against Texas will be broadcast live on ESPN2. The national finals on Saturday will also be broadcast on ESPN2. Links to live stats and a video feed can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page when they become available.

TICKET INFO

Tickets for both matches can be purchased on the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship page. Fans can purchase all-session, single match and group tickets.