No. 13 BYU earns home draw for NCAA women's volleyball tournament


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PROVO — The BYU women's volleyball team fought through an unseeded, road-heavy path to last year's NCAA Championship match in Oklahoma City before falling to perennial power Penn State.

If they are to repeat the feat, the path looks a little easier — or at least with fewer flights to book.

The 11th-ranked Cougars drew the No. 13 seed and will host Mid-American Conference champion Ohio in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at the Smith Fieldhouse, the selection committee announced Sunday.

The Cougars (26-3, 16-2 West Coast Conference) drew the No. 13 seed after winning the WCC, which earned four tourney berths in BYU, Loyola-Marymount, San Diego and Santa Clara. The Cougars played a regular-season schedule that included six tourney teams, including North Carolina, Purdue and Southern California.

"We're excited for the opportunity to continue playing at the Smith Fieldhouse," BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. "Our team's excited to play a very good Ohio team. We're looking forward to hosting them and getting in some practices at home this week in preparation for our match on Friday."

The Bobcats were 25-7 on the season and earned their ninth NCAA Tournament bid after finishing 13-3 in conference play. Ohio is led by Jamie Kosiorek, who averages, 3.0 kills per set, and Shelby Walker, who averages 2.43 kills per set.

The winner will face the winner of Arizona and Western Kentucky on Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Wildcats (19-13) earned an at-large bid despite finishing under .500 in Pac 12 play, becoming one of seven Pac 12 teams to make the tourney behind top-seeded USC.

Arizona and Western Kentucky will tip off Friday at 5 p.m. MST, with BYU and Ohio to follow around 7 p.m. MST.

Winner of the Provo subregional will advance to the regional semifinals Dec. 11 in Lexington, Kentucky. The Cougars have made at least the regional semifinals in each of the past three seasons, including last year's national title match appearance.

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