In conjunction with the Big 12, BYU women’s volleyball announced its 18-game 2024 conference slate on Thursday.

With 15 schools in the league sponsoring volleyball, teams will play every school once, and four teams twice.

The Cougars, now in year two as members of the league, will face each of the four new additions to the Big 12 twice this fall, once at home and once on the road: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

BYU will welcome Colorado, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Utah, Arizona State, Arizona, Cincinnati and West Virginia to the Smith Fieldhouse in 2024.

It will face Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State, Colorado, Utah, UCF, Houston, Kansas and Kansas State on the road.

The Cougars will begin conference play at home again this year, hosting Colorado on Thursday, Sept. 26 and Texas Tech on Saturday, Sept. 28.

BYU’s second year in the league will culminate with a Kansas road trip, visiting the Jayhawks on Wednesday, Nov. 27 and the Wildcats on Friday  Nov. 29.

Finishing third in the Big 12 behind Kansas and eventual national champion Texas last season, the Cougars look to build upon their first year in the conference where they earned a hosting bid in the NCAA Tournament and a No. 18 final ranking.

View the full Big 12 schedule release at the conference’s website: https://big12sports.com.

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BYU softball loses opener at UCF

BYU fell at UCF in game one of its three-game series, 3-2 at UCF Softball Complex on Thursday night.

The Cougars (21-14, 4-9 Big 12) held a 1-0 lead through the first three innings, but tallied just three hits to the Knight’s 10, ultimately the difference in the game.

BYU struck first in the top of the first as Ailana Agbayani led off with a walk. She moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a groundout, scoring as Huntyr Ava singled on the first pitch she saw for a 1-0 Cougar lead.

After scoreless second and third innings, UCF tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth after a leadoff single and double to center field. The Knights had two runners in scoring position with one out, but starting pitcher Kate Dahle got out of the jam with a strikeout and pop out.

In the top of the fifth, Agbayani earned a two-out single before stealing second and going to third on a UCF throwing error. After a Maddie Bejarano walk, BYU attempted a double steal, with Agbayani coming home to score and give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.

The Knights answered back to take their first lead of the game in the home half of the fifth, stringing together a single and consecutive doubles to go along with a BYU error for a 3-2 advantage.

Turing a double play to get out of the sixth inning, the Cougars looked to tie or retake the lead, but went down in order to close out the game.

The Cougars and Knights will play game two of their series on Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. EDT, with streaming through Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

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