No. 16 BYU women’s volleyball took down High Point in four sets (26-28, 25-12, 25-18, 25-22) with three Cougars earning double-digit kills in the win at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo.

Freshman Ellie Mortensen and sophomore Claire Little led the Cougars (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) with 17 kills each. Mortensen saw a pair of career highs on the night with her 17 kills and also a .444 hitting percentage. Kjersti Strong was the third Cougar in double digits, contributing with 10 kills, seven blocks and two aces.

Freshman setter Alex Bower earned her second career double-double with 42 assists and 10 digs. Little was a dig off from joining Bower, tallying nine digs, a block and a service ace to go along with her 17 kills. BYU hit .361 through the match, while holding High Point to a hitting percentage of .186 on the evening.

Going 3-0 to win the dōTERRA Classic, the Cougars had Bower and Mortensen named to the all-tournament team, with Little being honored as tournament MVP.

After losing the first set, the Cougars responded, beginning the second set on a 7-1 run highlighted by freshman libero Lulu Uluave’s first career service ace. Bower saw a block at the net followed by an ace to move BYU up 12-6.

The Panthers followed up the attack with a 3-0 run but BYU maintained the lead with kills from Mortensen and Strong, which prompted a High Point timeout at 17-11. BYU closed out the second set on an 8-1 run to knot the match at one set apiece, 25-12.

The Cougars again seized control in Set 3 to move in front, but High Point stayed close in the fourth frame and had it tied at 20-20. But BYU staved off the attack to secure the match 25-22 on a kill from Kate Prior.

The Cougars will host the BYU Nike Invitational next week, with the tournament opener against Lipscomb set for Thursday, Sept. 5. The match will be streamed at 7 p.m. MDT on ESPN+.

BYU men’s cross country wins Utah State Alumni Challenge

The BYU men’s cross country program bested the field for the overall team win at the Utah State Alumni Challenge on the Steve and Dona Reeder Cross Country Course in Logan Saturday morning.

The Cougars aqquired 20 points in the meet, besting Weber State, Utah State and Westminster.

Davin Thompson led BYU across the line, finishing second overall. Thompson finished the 7k course in 20:52. It’s the first race in uniform for the distance runner from Lehi, Utah since the 2022 Boston University Season Opener in December of 2022.

BYU swept the next four spots to get the top-five Cougars all within the first six places overall. Caleb Johnson crossed at 21:00. Luke Grundvig, Jacob Stanford and Garrett Stanford all finished within four seconds of Johnson.

BYU will host the program’s annual Autumn Classic on Friday Sept. 13 on a new course at the Lakeside Sports Complex in Orem, UT. The start of the women’s race is set for 9 a.m. MDT and with the men’s at 9:45 a.m. MDT. Admission is free.

Cougar women’s soccer loses to Utah State

The No. 16 BYU women’s soccer team fell short against Utah State, falling to the Aggies 2-1 on Saturday evening at South Field.

The first two goals of the match came quickly in the first ten minutes of the match for a 1-1 tie, but an unanswered goal in the 57th minute would secure the victory for Utah State.

BYU’s lone goal came from junior transfer Mackenzee Vance for her first goal as a Cougar. Mattyn Summers and Vance fired off a teaee shots apiece.

Sierra Pennock had her first career start tonight.

Both teams collected 13 shots, but Utah State held eight shots on goal over BYU’s two.

The Cougars will remain in Provo to face Boise State next week at South Field on Wednesday, September 4 at 7 p.m. MDT, with live coverage on ESPN+.

Three BYU athletes compete at U20 World Championships

BYU track and field was represented by Alysa Keller, Carter Cutting and Wyatt Haughton at the 2024 U20 World Championships in Lima, Peru.

Alyssa Keller placed 12th overall in the final of the women’s javelin with her toss of 45.84m/150-4.5 Friday evening. Keller qualified for the final after throwing 48.83m/160-2.25 Wednesday morning to earn the 12th and final spot in the final.

“This experience to compete at the U20 World Championships in Peru has been amazing,” said Keller. “Not only has it been incredible to compete, but it has been crazy and so interesting to see and meet athletes from different countries. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who has led me to this wonderful opportunity and I am excited for more like this one in the future” said Keller.

Carter Cutting placed fifth overall in the men’s 1500-meters crossing the line in 3:43.36, while Wyatt Haughton placed sixth overall in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase finishing in 8:38.34.

UVU women’s volleyball beats CSU Bakersfield

Utah Valley University defeated CSU Bakersfield 3-1 (25-27, 25-21, 25-18, 25-15) on Saturday afternoon inside Lockhart Arena.

UVU (3-0) was led by Avery Shewell, who finished with 18 kills, and Bella Wooden, who added 13 kills. CSUB (1-2) took the first set before the Wolverines rallied.

Utah Valley finishes the weekend 3-0 and is off to its best start since 2009 when it won its first three matches of the year. Chism finished with 43 assists and is the first since Kristi Lindley in 2007 to have 40 or more assists in a match.

Following the match, Shewell was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player with Chism, Matavao, and Wooden also earning spots on the All-Tournament Team.

The Wolverines will travel to Montana next week for three games. They will take on Montana on Thursday, Sept. 5, at 6:00 p.m. MT, face Southern Miss on Friday, Sept. 6, at 1:00 p.m. MT, and close out the weekend against Boise State on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 2:00 p.m. MT.

Wolverine women’s soccer loses to Long Beach State

The Utah Valley women’s soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to Long Beach State in the team’s home opener on Saturday afternoon at Clyde Field.

The loss is just the seventh at home over the past six seasons for the Wolverines, who fall to 2-2-1 overall this season. Long Beach State improves to 2-2-1 on the year.

“Obviously, we’re very disappointed in the performance,” said Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay. “You would think that the group would have been excited for the home opener. Our performance was lethargic. We still created a number of chances and probably could have scored a couple of goals, but overall, I don’t think the effort that we put out today deserved a win. So, it’s probably fair how it ended.”

Long Beach State struck first in the 20th minute as Liz Worden made a move to free herself up at the top of the box and then sent a shot into the goal to give the Beach a 1-0 lead.

Utah Valley scored the equalizer in the 34th minute after Cortney Cobabe stole the ball away from a defender near midfield. Quincy Bonds then dribbled the ball down the right side toward the end line and dropped off a pass to the middle of the box to Faith Webber. Webber then fired the shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

The Beach sent a free kick into the box where Bella Ternero headed the ball across the goal line to give Long Beach State a 2-1 lead with just 10 seconds remaining in the first half.

Utah Valley outshot Long Beach State 19-10 on the day with an 8-6 advantage on frame. The Wolverines had 10 corner kicks to Long Beach State’s two.

Utah Valley will continue play at home against in-state rival No. 19 Utah State on Thursday, Sept. 5. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

BYU’s Mackey-Williams to suit up for New Zealand in FIBA U23 3X3 World Cup

BYU guard Arielle Mackey Williams has been named to the New Zealand 2degrees 3X3 Tall Ferns roster for the FIBA U23 World Cup in Mongolia, Sep. 11-15.

“We are super proud and excited for Ari to represent New Zealand on the global stage,” said BYU head coach Amber Whiting. “For athletes, representing their home country in international competition is one of the greatest honors and we look forward to supporting Ari as she competes for the Tall Ferns at the World Cup next month.”

This will be Mackey-Williams’ second stint with the Tall Ferns 3X3 team as she competed for New Zealand in the FIBA 3X3 Edmonton Stop last summer. At the Edmonton Stop, Mackey-Williams led the Tall Ferns in scoring at 5.5 points per contest and was the leading scorer in three of their four games.

Mackey-Williams missed the 2023-24 season with a knee injury but was a key player for the Cougars during their run to the WCC Tournament semifinal in 2023.

The New Zealand native was the third-leading scorer for BYU in 2022-23 at 8.8 points per game. Mackey-Williams impacted the game in other ways as she recorded 2.3 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 0.8 steals per contest during her sophomore season.

The U23 3X3 World Cup will include a 20-team field competing for the World Cup Title. New Zealand will take on a field comprised of (in order of seeding) China, the United States, Germany, France, Egypt, Mongolia, Japan, Hungary, Ukraine, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Chile, Israel, Italy, Austria, Benin, Kenya and Uganda. The group play and tournament schedule will be released closer to the opening of the 2024 World Cup according to the FIBA website.