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A BYU women's volleyball record crowd of 5,528 filled. the Smith Fieldhouse for a BYU-Utah women's volleyball match on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU freshman Claire Little take a swing against Utah during a women's college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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The BYU women's volleyball team celebrates a point during a match with Utah at the Smith Fieldhouse on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Brielle Miller dives for a big defensive play during a women's college volleyball match against Utah at the Smith Fieldhouse on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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The BYU women's volleyball team salutes the record crowd of 5,528 at the Smith Fieldhouse after beating Utah on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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There’s an old adage used on t-shirts and signs that declares, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

The beatings BYU has been handing out to the University of Utah lately are continuing, much to the delight of Cougar fans’ morale, anyway.

Last Saturday, the top-ranked BYU women’s soccer team went up to Salt Lake and drilled the Utes 6-1. On Wednesday, the No. 12 Cougar women’s volleyball team hammered Utah 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-19, 25-16) in front of a standing-room only record crowd of 5,528 at the Smith Fieldhouse.

The previous record for women’s volleyball at the Fieldhouse was 5,507 against Duke last August.

“It just means so much that people want to come support us and it means so much for women’s sports and volleyball,” BYU’s Kate Prior said. “It’s just amazing that we that the support here and we love it. And we love rivalry week. It’s so much fun. There’s so much energy, so much excitement. We love playing against our Utah friends. We want to be good over time and playing against our rivals with all this energy gives us a good chance to show that.”

BYU destroyed the Utes in Set 1 but Utah played much better in Set 2 to even the match. After the Cougars won Set 3 25-19, the home team roared to a 10-1 lead in the fourth set on its way to the four-set victory.

Erin Livingston led BYU with 16 kills and hit .375. Freshman Claire Little was fantastic with 14 kills (.393) and Prior contributed 10 kills and five block assists. Whitney Bower dished out 37 assists and added five kills, eight digs and two block assists. Mia Lee fished with seven kills and eight block assists. The Cougars hit .345 for the match, including .556 in the fourth set, and held Utah to .145 on the strength of 12 team blocks.

Rianne Vos led the Utes (4-5) with 10 kills.

The BYU defense ruled the first set, holding Utah to a -.185 hitting percentage (27 swings, five kills, 10 errors). Most of that damage was done at the net with four block assists each for Prior and Lee.

The Cougars led 5-3 after two kills from Livingston and a service ace by Bower, and the lead simply kept growing. Prior’s kills kept the run going and BYU took a 17-5 lead after a Bower solo block and a Utah hitting error. Prior and Lee teamed up for tandem blocks for points 24 and 25, finishing off a 25-13 blowout.

“We were pretty fired up to get back after it quickly after that loss last Friday (to Washington State),” Cougar coach Heather Olmstead said. “So we were able to play another Pac-12 team right away and test ourselves at home. We were stoked to just get back in the gym, practice for two days, re-center ourselves and refocus. I thought we came out with great energy and we were really dialed into the game plan. The players executed it well.”

Utah played much better in Set 2 and kept the Cougars off-balance by mixing up their shots, taking a 14-11 lead after a Lauren Jardine kill and an ace from Allie Olsen. BYU rallied back to tie the score at 15 and the two teams traded points most of the rest of the way. Lee and Little teamed up for a block to tie it at 23-all but Utah scored the next two points, Voss tooling the block to get to set point and the Cougars hit long to end the set in favor of the Utes.

BYU got out to an 8-2 lead in Set 3 on a Bower ace, but Utah got back in it and the score was tied at 17 when the Cougars got control. Prior had a kill, followed by a Ute hitting error for 19-17 lead. Libero Kamaile Hiapo made terrific defensive plays on consecutive serves and Little scored on a tip and a kill for a 21-17 BYU advantage. Utah close to 22-19 but Little blasted kills on back-to-back possessions to get to set point. The Utes swung long and the Cougars took the 25-19 victory for a 2-1 lead in the match. Little had six kills in the third set.

The Cougars dominated the fourth set to send the big crowd home happy.

“What a great environment,” Olmstead said. “That’s to Cougar Nation for coming out. We set a record and we’re excited that everyone wants to come and see our team play. I think there was energy in the gym and we’re comfortable playing here. We’re trying to bring along some new players and some freshmen that just need time with our team.”

The Cougars ( 9-1) will continue their in-state slate later this week, playing at Utah Valley and Utah State on Friday and Saturday.