On paper, the Dons match against No. 10 BYU should have been a no-doubt sweep. That's why the game isn't played on paper, because USF made BYU work for it. 

The opening set fed into the thought that BYU would outmatch USF as the Cougars (25-3, 14-2 WCC) went up early and won 25-10. But the script flipped completely in set number two.

The Dons would take the opening point of the second set on a hit from Emily Reed. BYU would immediately tie the action until Tyna Adamcikova gave USF the lead 2-1. the Dons would hold the lead the rest of the way countering every BYU run with one of their own. The Dons were holding a commanding 19-11 lead before BYU started a comeback. The Cougars would bring it all the way back to 19-17 before Reed stopped the run with a kill. The teams would trade points through the rest of the set until Shannon Levinson set-up Adamcikova for the monster kill and the 25-21 set victory. 

The difference between the first two sets was a strategic move by head coach Vicki Brown and her staff. "We made a switch with the right side," Brown explained. "It helped a lot with our blocking on the outside. (McKenna) Miller is a beast on the outside, so we needed to put our biggest block against her (a rotation of Marjolijn Oskam and Kate Ashman). I think that change really opened up our offense and our transition as well."
 
In that huge second set, Adamcikova had four kills and an ace. Reed chipped in five kills of her own and Oskam came through with two blocks and a kill. 
The rest of the match would mirror the first set as BYU would pull away 25-13, 25-9.

On the game Adamcikova led the Dons with a double-double tallying 10 kills and 11 digs. Reed nearly had one of her own as she had nine kills and nine digs. Oskam had a game-high five solo blocks to go with three kills. Kim Gutierrez led the team with 16 digs. Trish Koutsoukos had a team-high 15 assists followed by Levinson who had 14.

Next up for the Dons (4-25, 0-16 WCC) is a match with another powerhouse in No. 11 San Diego. But taking set two from BYU gives the young Dons momentum going forward. "(Winning the set) does add a little belief," Brown said. "At the end of the day, this is our home court. This performance is justifying what we are doing; we are working hard and playing together for 25 points."

Saturday's game against the Toreros will start at 1 p.m. in War Memorial at the Sobrato Center and can be streamed live on TheW.tv.