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BYU's Mia Lee serves against Wichita State in a women's college volleyball match at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Alex Bower (7) and Claire Little Chambers celebrate a point during a women's college volleyball match against Wichita State at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Like most seasons, the No. 18 BYU women’s volleyball team has opened in the comfy confines of the Smith Fieldhouse hosting a pair of tournaments.

The Cougars have faced some adversity against talented teams, which is a good thing.

It’s all part of building a winning team and living up to the expectations that come with playing for the Big 12 preseason favorites.

On Thursday, BYU was pushed to five sets by Northern Colorado before coming out on top and on Friday, Wichita State’s talented duo of Brooklyn Leggett and Sydney Dunning made life miserable for the Cougar defense.

BYU found some momentum in the second set and built tremendous service pressure with 12 aces in a 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-11) victory in front of 3,390 fans at the Fieldhouse, moving to 5-0.

“Having to put back-to-back nights together and bring our best game is a challenge,” Cougar head coach Heather Olmstead said. “We’re learning about ourselves. Our serving was excellent. Our passing ebbs and flows. I’d like to see if we can stabilize our passing. I thought Alex (Bower) did a good job with our offense.”

Leggett, who prepped at Corner Canyon in Draper, and Dunning consistently used the Cougars block to keep the Shockers humming on offense. The pair combined for 16 kills on 24 swings with no errors into the second set.

Despite the heroics of Leggett and Dunning, BYU swung Set 1 with a great performance behind the service line, firing off six aces, three from junior Mia Lee. That effort led to a 25-19 win for the Cougars.

Set 2 was tied ten times but BYU took control behind libero Emma Barbero and pin hitter Sophie Callahan. At 15-15, Callahan fired off a pair of kills and Barbero notched two aces. Callahan added two more kills as the Cougars finished the set on a 10-2 run and a 25-17 victory for a 2-0 lead in the match.

BYU struggled on offense in Set 3, hitting just .103 and Wichita State went on a 7-1 run to take control, eventually winning 25-21.

The fourth set belonged to the Cougars and Claire Little Chambers, who finally broke out of a match-long funk and found some rhythm on offense. The preseason Big 12 MVP had six kills and an ace as BYU raced to a a 14-4 lead and cruised to a 25-11 victory, Alex Bower and Abby Hoybjerg teaming up for a block at match point.

“We don’t ever give up,” said Barbero, a transfer from Washington State. “We played against two very good teams. Every single team we play is tough to beat and stop. We’re just building every single day. We believe in ourselves and we believe in our team.”

The Cougars finished with 12 aces, their third double-digit serving performance of the young season. Little Chambers paced BYU with 14 kills and had seven digs. Callahan contributed 13 kills (with just one error) on 23 swings, hitting .522, and adding three digs and three blocks. Freshman Suli Davis contributed 12 kills and three blocks. Bower finished with 37 assists, an ace, seven digs and three blocks. Lee ended up with a career-high five aces for the Cougars.

Dunning led Wichita State with 14 kills and Leggett had 10, but 11 of their 12 hitting errors came in the final two sets.