2022 BYU Cougars women's volleyball team

The 2022 BYU Cougars women's volleyball team represented Brigham Young University in the 2022 NCAA Division I women's volleyball season. The Cougars were led by eighth year head coach Heather Olmstead and played their home games at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars were competing as members of the WCC for the final season, as they'll join the Big 12 Conference for 2023.

BYU comes off a season where they finished first and won the WCC regular season championship. The Cougars received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament falling to Purdue in the Sweet 16. The Cougars came in as favorites to win the 2022 conference title.

Season

Pre-season honors Four Cougars were selected to the Pre-season All-WCC team: Senior setter Whitney Bower, senior middle blocker Heather Gneiting, senior opposite hitter Kate Grimmer and junior outside hitter Erin Livingston. The four selections tied BYU with San Diego for the most 2022 Preseason All-WCC team selections.

Alleged Duke incident The 5,507 fans that attended the Duke game set a record for the most fans attending a BYU Women's Volleyball game at the Smith Fieldhouse. More than 1,000 fans were turned away as the only seats empty were some student season ticket seats.

During the Duke-BYU game, with BYU leading 6-3, Duke sophomore Rachel Richardson came up to serve and later recounted that in that moment, she "very distinctly...heard a very strong and negative racial slur." Once the set was over, Richardson informed the Duke coaching staff, who informed the game officials, who informed BYU staffers, who assigned a campus officer to monitor the student section. The officer later wrote an official report outlining his actions, including that he didn't hear any abusive comments during the fourth set. After the game was complete, a Duke assistant coach confronted the officer, pointing to a particular person in the student section and questioned why the person had not been ejected during the game. The officer and BYU officials reviewed game footage to find evidence that the fan shouted a racial slur, found none, but decided to ban the fan from attending BYU events indefinitely until further investigation was completed.

The following day, Richardson’s godmother brought the situation widespread attention when she tweeted that Richardson was called the slur "every time she served." The Duke vs. Rider match was moved from BYU to a local high school where only family and friends of the schools were allowed admittance.

Two days after the incident, having flown back to North Carolina, Richardson tweeted out a statement saying "my fellow African American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match. The slurs and comments grew into threats which caused us to feel unsafe." In response, BYU Athletics sent out a general press release outlining the school's official stance on all racism. Duke released a statement supporting the allegations of Richardson. Richardson was interviewed on ESPN where she repeated the allegations.

On September 9, BYU announced it had concluded its investigation into the incident and that it could not corroborate the claims of racism at the match and reinstated the fan who had been banned.

Roster  Defensive Specialist/Libero 3 Morgan Clinger - Senior 4 Hannah Billeter - Freshman 11 Abbey Dayton - Senior 14 Aria McComber - Graduate 16 Kelsey Knudsen - Graduate

Opposite hitters 12 Kate Grimmer - Senior Outside hitters 8 Eden Bower- Freshman 9 Alyssa Montoya - Sophomore 10 Erin Livingston - Junior 15 Elyse Stowell - Sophomore 19 Nataly Moravec - Freshman 22 Sophia Callahan - Sophomore Setters 6 Abby Taylor - Senior 7 Whitney Bower - Senior 13 Briley Decker - Freshman

Middle blockers 1 Kate Prior - Freshman 2 Heather Gneiting - Senior 5 Bri Albright - Sophomore 21 Whitney Llarenas - Graduate 

Schedule DateTimeOpponentRank(Tournament Seed)ArenaCity(Tournament)TelevisionResultAttendanceRecord(WCC Record)08/2612 p.m.Rider#10Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(dōTERRA Classic)byutv.orgW 3–0 (25–10, 25–17, 25–16) 1,018 1—008/267 p.m.Duke#10Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(dōTERRA Classic)BYUtvW 3–1 (25–14, 25–19, 19–25, 25–19)5,507 2—008/277 p.m.Washington State#10Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(dōTERRA Classic)BYUtvW 3–0 (25–18, 25–21, 25–15) 3,678 3—009/017 p.m.Utah State#7Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(BYU Nike Invitational)BYUtvW 3–0 (25–9, 25–17, 25–14)3,419 4—009/027 p.m.Cincinnati#7Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(BYU Nike Invitational)BYUtvW 3–1 (25–13, 21–25, 25–14, 25–19) 3,343 5—009/037 p.m.#10 Pitt#7Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(BYU Nike Invitational)BYUtvL 1–3 (19–25, 22–25, 25–19, 21–25)3,3425—109/086 p.m.@ #5 Georgia Tech#10O'Keefe GymnasiumAtlanta, GA(Georgia Tech Challenge)ACCNXL 0–3 (20–25, 21–25, 14–25)1,2005–209/096 p.m.vs. #8 Ohio State#10O'Keefe GymnasiumAtlanta, GA(Georgia Tech Challenge)L 0–3 (19–25, 16–25, 25–27)9195–309/157 p.m.@ Utah#15Huntsman CenterSalt Lake City, UT(Deseret First Duel)P12W 3–1(25–20, 22–25, 28–26, 27–25)1,9056–309/176 p.m.Utah Valley#15Smith FieldhouseProvo, UT(UCCU Crosstown Clash)byutv.orgW 3–0(25–16, 25–15, 25–20)3,0187–309/227 p.m.Loyola Marymount*#16Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–0 (25–23, 25–18, 25–21)2,6158–3(1–0)09/241 p.m.#17 Pepperdine*#16Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–1 (25–12, 18–25, 25–21, 25–22)3,0049–3(2–0)09/297 p.m.@ Portland*#15Chiles CenterPortland, ORSCS CentralW 3–0 (25–12, 25–20, 26–24)33910–3(3–0)10/011 p.m.@ Gonzaga*#15Charlotte Y. Martin CentreSpokane, WASCS AtlanticW 3–1 (23–25, 25–18, 25–22, 25–22)58111–3(4–0)10/067 p.m.Santa Clara*#14Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–0 (25–13, 25–13, 25–12)3,12012–3(5–0)10/081 p.m.San Francisco*#14Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–0 (25–20, 25–14, 25–17)2,65613–3(6–0)10/137 p.m.@ Saint Mary's*#12University Credit Union PavilionMoraga, CASCS PacificW 3–0(25–18, 25–13, 25–14)29614–3(7–0)10/151 p.m.@ Pacific*#12Alex G. Spanos CenterStockton, CAWCC NetworkL 2–3(21–25, 25–17, 22–25, 25–10, 10–15)82714–4(7–1)10/217 p.m.@ #4 San Diego*#17Jenny Craig PavilionSan Diego, CASCS AtlanticL 0–3(20–25, 21–25, 18–25)3,34014–5(7–2)10/277 p.m.Gonzaga*#17Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–0(25–10, 25–14, 25–21)2,89115–5(8–2)10/291 p.m.Portland*#17Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–0(25–23, 25–19, 25–10)3,13416–5(9–2)11/038 p.m.@ San Francisco*#18The Sobrato CenterSan Francisco, CASCS PacificW 3–1(20–25, 25–20, 25–20, 25–16)35017–5(10–2)11/052 p.m.@ Santa Clara*#18Leavey CenterSanta Clara, CAWCC NetworkW 3–0(25–15, 25–17, 25–17)30918–5(11–2)11/107 p.m.Pacific*#18Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtv 18–5(11–2)11/121 p.m.Saint Mary's*#18Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTBYUtvW 3–0(25–18, 30–28, 25–19)2,85519–5(12–2)11/178 p.m.@ Pepperdine*#17Firestone FieldhouseMalibu, CAWCC NetworkW 3–0(25–22, 25-21, 25–22)60520–5(13–2)11/192 p.m.@ Loyola Marymount*#17Gersten PavilionLos Angeles, CASCS CentralW 3–1(25–20, 25–20, 14–25, 25–23)62921–5(14–2)11/228 p.m.#2 San Diego*#18Smith FieldhouseProvo, UTESPNUL 1–3(25–21, 19-25, 22–25, 22–25)4,67721–6(14–3)12/022 p.m.y- James Madison#18 (7)Petersen Events CenterPittsburgh, PA(NCAA Tournament 1st Round1)ESPN+W 3–0(25–20, 25-10, 25–15)2,05522–612/035 p.m.y- #6 Pitt (2)#18 (7)Petersen Events CenterPittsburgh, PA(NCAA Tournament 2nd Round)ESPN+L 0–3(21-25, 22–25, 18–25)2,81422–7 *-Indicates Conference Opponent y-Indicates NCAA Playoffs Times listed are Mountain Time Zone.

Announcers for televised games All home games will be on BYUtv or the BYUtv App with the exception of San Diego, which will be on ESPNU. Most road games will also be televised or streamed on WCC Network with ACC Network Extra picking up the Georgia Tech game and Pac-12 Network picking up the Utah game. Rider: Jarom Jordan & Amy Gant Duke: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Washington State: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Utah State: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Cincinnati: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Pitt: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Georgia Tech: Andy Demetra & Kele Eveland Utah: Krista Blunk Utah Valley: Brandon Crow & Amy Gant Loyola Marymount: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Pepperdine: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Portland: Bryan Sleik & Carlie Dumanon Gonzaga: Thomas Gallagher Santa Clara: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber San Francisco: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Saint Mary's: Dr. Joaquin Wallace & Jordan Watkins Pacific: Jeff Dominick San Diego: David Gentile Gonzaga: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Portland: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber San Francisco: Pat Olson Santa Clara: Kylen Mills Saint Mary's: Jarom Jordan, Amy Gant, & Kenzie Koerber Pepperdine: Al Epstein Loyola Marymount: Jonathan Grace San Diego: Paul Sunderland & Kevin Barnett James Madison: Jeff Hathhorn & Amanda Silay Pitt: Jeff Hathhorn & Amanda Silay

References For information on BYU's other athletic sports this season please check out the following: