BYU women's volleyball falls to 4th-seeded Nebraska in NCAA regional semifinal


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LEXINGTON, Ky. — It was hard to doubt BYU's confidence that it could make a run to its fourth-straight NCAA women's volleyball regional semifinal.

The Cougars were coming off last year's run to the national championship match, where they finished runner-up to Penn State, and boasted two-time West Coast Conference player of the year Alexa Gray, as well as the top blocking tandem in the nation in Amy Boswell and Whitney Young Howard.

But Friday's match against fourth-seeded Nebraska proved too much.

Amber Rolfzen had 12 kills and five blocks, and twin sister Kadie Rolfzen added 12 kills and 12 digs to help the Huskers sweep 13th-seeded BYU, 26-24, 25-17, 25-23 in a regional semifinal in Lexington, Kentucky.

Gray finished with a match-high 19 kills on 55 attempts, as well as 15 digs to lead the Cougars. Fellow senior Ciara Parker added 18 digs, and Boswell had five of BYU's 15 blocks to go along with eight kills.

Camry Godfrey Willardson dished out 20 assists for the Cougars (28-4).

Nebraska (29-4) led by as many as four points early in the first set, but BYU clawed back and tied the set at 20-20 on back-to-back kills from Gray.

Howard tied the set at 24-24 with a block, but the Huskers ended the opener with back-to-back points on Fien's kill and a double-block by Cecilia Hall and Kelly Hunter to take the 26-24 win.

Amber Rolfzen laid down back-to-back blocks during an 8-2 run to start the second set for the Huskers, and BYU never got closer than four points in the second-set defeat. The Cougars pulled within 11-7 on Cosy Burnett's kill, but hit just .067 in the set as Nebraska followed with a 6-2 run at that point to take a match-high lead, 17-9 on Amber Rolfzen's block and cruised to the 2-0 advantage.

BYU appeared headed to take the third set with a 6-2 run capped by back-to-back kills from Gray out of the gate. But the Huskers roared back and took an 8-7 lead on Amber Rolfzen's ninth kill of the match. From there, neither team led by more than three points until Kadie Rolfzen gave the Huskers a 19-15 lead to cap a 5-0 run.

Howard pulled the Cougars within three, 23-20 with a double-block assisted by Cosy Burnett. Gray followed with her match-high 17th kill to pull within 23-21, then gave the Cougars a shot at 24-23 before the Calgarian's 55th attempt of the match swerved wide and Nebraska advanced with its 13th-straight win, including nine sweeps.

BYU loses three seniors from this year's squad in Gray, the Cougars' leading scorer in the rally scoring era; all-time digs leader Parker; and Willardson.

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Sean Walker

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