Houston volleyball falls to No. 17 BYU in straight sets

Houston volleyball appeared poised to take the opening set against No. 17 BYU before a challenge overturned the apparent winning point, tying the score at 24. 

A Houston error and a kill from senior outside hitter Claire Little Chambers secured the set for the visitors.

“It was an opportunity for us to steal one, and maybe it would have given us a little bit more confidence, but we didn’t do anything that would help win the game,” coach David Rehr said after Houston fell in straight sets (24-26, 14-25, 20-25) on Thursday. “We needed to make a lot of changes.”

After a competitive opening set, Houston never held the lead in the second. The Cougars struggled to slow BYU’s attack at the net, failing to record a block through the first two sets and finishing with just two in the match compared to BYU’s 12.

Houston trailed 21-20 in the third set after a BYU attack error from Little Chambers, who led all players with 13 kills. 

BYU powered through the final stretch, claiming the match with four consecutive points as Houston junior outside hitter Sydney Jones committed two errors during the run.

“We made it a little bit better in the third, but BYU got a lot of confidence,” Rehr said. “Bad things happen when you get confidence.”

Freshman setter Shannon Dworaczyk earned her third consecutive start as junior setter Kalei Edson remains day-to-day with an illness. Earlier in the week, Dworaczyk was named to the Big 12 Starting Seven after helping Houston secure two consecutive wins before the Cougars fell to BYU for their second conference loss of the season.

Houston returns to action Friday, Oct. 16, against UCF at 6:30 p.m. at Fertitta Center. The week off will give Edson additional time to recover and allow the Cougars to identify areas for improvement.

“It just gives us a week to get ready, to find our flaws and find the things we can work on,” Rehr said. “Sometimes when you win matches, it’s harder to fix things, so we need events like this to get back on track.”