BYU’s Historic Season Comes To An End With 3-0 Loss To Stanford In Final Four

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – BYU’s historic season comes to an end as they lost to Stanford in the Final Four of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament 3-0.

The Cougars had a good stretch in the first set but ultimately couldn’t overcome the multiple runs from Stanford.

Ronni Jones-Perry led BYU with 8 kills while Heather Gneiting added 6 kills and Kennedy Eschenberg had 5 kills.

Kathryn Plummer had 12 kills to lead Stanford and Audriana Fitzmorris chipped in 11 kills.

Cardinal Take First Set

Stanford jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead before BYU battled back with six unanswered to take a 7-4 lead, forcing the Cardinal to call a timeout. Jones-Perry had two kills in that run and BYU was able to get points from three attack errors by Stanford.

The Cardinal trailed 10-6 when they outscored the Cougars 6-2 to tie the set at 12. They took the lead back by scoring 10 unanswered points and led 22-13 before BYU scored.

BYU attempted the comeback but Stanford outscored the Cougars 3-2 to take the first set 25-15.

Jones-Perry finished with four kills with Heather Gneiting adding two kills for BYU.

Audriana Fitzmorris and Kathryn Plummer had four kills apiece to lead the Cardinal.

BYU falls to Stanford in the first set. Let’s get the next one!

SET ONE: BYU 15 | STANFORD 25#BYUWVB #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/nhleruDIzR

— BYU Women’s Volleyball (@BYUwvolleyball) December 14, 2018

Stanford Controls Second Set

Another fast start saw Stanford with a 5-3 lead. BYU scored once before the Cardinal went on a 4-1 run to take a 9-5 lead. The Cougars countered with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the game at 9.

Stanford rattled off three straight points to take a 12-9 advantage. After BYU scored just one point, the Cardinal went on another 4-0 run with a block, service ace and two kills to stretch the lead to 16-10.

BYU added another point before the Cardinal scored three straight to lead 19-11. The Cougars received a point on a service error to attempt their comeback.

Lacy Haddock-Eppich had a block to trim the lead to six but Stanford picked up three more points on an attack error, a kill by Meghan McClure and a block by Holly Campbell. Stanford approached set point with a 22-13 lead.

The Cougars had two points added to the scoreboard but Stanford ended the set with three straight to win the second set 25-15.

Heather Gneiting had five kills to go with Jones-Perry adding one kill in the second set to go with her five total.

Plummer had four more kills for Stanford to go with eight total kills.

Dig deep!

SET TWO: BYU 15 | STANFORD 25#BYUWVB #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/wrj4fWW1Af

— BYU Women’s Volleyball (@BYUwvolleyball) December 14, 2018

Stanford Advances With Third Set Victory

BYU had a nice start to the third set as they showed they didn’t want to get eliminated, they took a 6-4 lead early in the third set. Jones-Perry, Kennedy Eschenberg and Lynd Haddock-Eppich kept the Cougars ahead by a narrow margin, 12-11.

Stanford started their run as they outscored the Cougars 7-1 to take the lead back 18-13. The lead jumped out to 20-15 as the Cardinal started to approach match point. Each school would exchange points as Stanford held a 21-17 lead. The Cardinal put the match away on a 4-2 run to win the third set and match 25-18.