PROVO — The upset-minded Cougars were only playing for pride. And they came away with plenty of pride and with a whole lot more when they proved exactly what they've been saying all year long: When they play well, they can play with anybody.
The 25-19, 25-19, 16-25, 23-25, 22-20 victory the Cougars' posted over No. 15 Colorado State in their second to last match of the season gave the Cougar volleyball team plenty of vindication after a rough conference run.
And the way they came away with the victory was by throwing a block party against the nation's third best blocking squad. The Cougars finished with 18 team blocks in the game, and in the process outblocked the highly touted Rams, who only finished with 16.
The Cougars are making a blocking habit in their final few matches of the season as not only did they sneak away with an exciting victory over CSU by putting up a solid wall at the net, but they did it on the heels of a similar performance against the No. 22 Utah Utes, who happen to be the country's second best blocking team.
A pair of five-game performances against two teams ranked in the top 25 have given the BYU underclassmen plenty of hope and confidence heading into next season, but the seniors are just hoping to light things up on their way out.
"That was just pure joy and excitement out there. When the final point went down, my muscles finally relaxed, and I wanted to just fall on the floor," said BYU senior Rachel Dyer, who threw down her first double double of the season with 14 kills and a season-high 10 blocks.
"We just wanted to prove that we're not going to roll over and die on almost our last match of the year, the last match of my career. I've got a lot of emotions going into that Wyoming match on Saturday, and I just want us to go in and play well so that I can end my career on a high note," Dyer added.
Rachel was lined up against one of the nation's top players in Makena Barnes and was able to hold her down through three of the match's five games. Barnes did come away with 22 impressive kills, but she only had six kills after the first two games when the Cougars took charge.
Kayla Walker led BYU with 16 kills in the match and was lighted up with energy even long after the match had ended. The Cougars don't have a post season to look forward to this year, so these final two matches at home are where they're hoping to build a little momentum for next season in addition to showing people that they really can play good ball and play strong against tough competition.
"We came out fighting the whole time. We had nothing to lose. This was an awesome match. This is what volleyball is all about," said Walker, who added seven blocks to the Cougars' efforts.
"Our front line was huge tonight. We're reading really well, and we stuck to the game plan," she added about the supreme blocking effort.
The back and forth battle in Game 5 was deep into overtime before the Cougars finally took over. They battled back from five match points down and finished things off on a kill by Bryn Porter on the second match point of their own.
"We can battle and beat any team. We never say die. This has been a tough season, but the girls really wanted to win. We're home for the last couple of games, and we really wanted to shine," added BYU coach Shay Goulding.
The Cougars improved their conference record to 6-9, and the Rams dropped to 12-3 in the MWC with a match against the Utes on Saturday for the conference title.
E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com