BYU & Utah Volleyball Both Playing In Provo To Open NCAA Tournament

PROVO, Utah – The BYU and Utah women’s volleyball teams both received an at-large bid to the 2019 NCAA Tournament on Sunday and the two teams are in the same quadrant of the tournament.

BYU will host this weekend’s games on its home court at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars finished the season second-place in the West Coast Conference and had a 25-4 record on the year, their first round game is against the New Mexico State Aggies from the Western Athletic Conference. Game starts at 7 p.m. (MT) this Friday.

More #BYUWVB games will be played in the Fieldhouse this year 🙌 pic.twitter.com/02sEdwpVjc

— BYU Women’s Volleyball (@BYUwvolleyball) December 2, 2019

Utah finished the season with a 22-9 record and will face the Illinois Fighting Illini’ from the Big Ten Conference at 4 p.m. (MT) on Friday.

If both BYU and Utah win their first round games, they will face off this Saturday in the second round at 7 p.m. (MT) for an opportunity to advance to the Sweet 16.

This is the second year in a row and third time in four years that Utah will travel to Provo for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

WE’RE DANCING! We will be heading to Provo to take on Illinois in the first round! #utestrong pic.twitter.com/m9QNBxkenb

— Utah Volleyball (@UtahVolleyball) December 2, 2019

“We’re excited to host this weekend and play again in the Smith Fieldhouse against New Mexico State, as well as host Utah and Illinois,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “It’s going to be a great weekend of volleyball.”

BYU and Utah met earlier this season with the Cougars taking down the Utes in four-sets.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.