PROVO, Utah — No. 9 BYU women's volleyball fell to West Coast Conference foe San Diego in five sets (25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 17-25, 15-10) at the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday. 

Sophomore outside hitter Madelyn Robinson led the way for BYU (16-3, 7-1), tying a career-high 18 kills in the match, posting a .341 hitting percentage with four blocks, three digs and three assists. Senior outside hitter McKenna Miller added 13 kills while senior outside hitter Riley Lyman tied a career high with seven digs in front of a packed Fieldhouse of 4,405 fans, the ninth-highest attendance in program history.

Box score

Set 1

In a tightly contested set that saw 11 ties, neither team could take the lead early. However, the San Diego (15-4, 8-0) offense proved to be too much for the Cougars to handle as the set progressed, as they notched 18 kills to BYU’s 10, going on a 7-1 run to put them ahead for good and win the set, 25-18.

Set 2

Miller and Robinson led the way for the Cougars as they took the set 25-20. Miller ignited the Cougar offense, posting seven kills in the set, while Robinson added five of her own to give the Cougars a stellar .328 hitting percentage. BYU went on a 5-1 run in the middle of the contest to win comfortably. 

Set 3

The Toreros got out to a hot start early and built a big lead, but BYU showed a lot of fight and battled back before ultimately losing the set, 25-19.

Set 4

In set four, it was the Cougars' turn to start strong and pushed for a 25-17 victory. BYU got out to a 3-0 lead early and kept its foot on the gas, holding a 20-11 lead late in the contest. Solid play from across the board kept San Diego at bay, with a dump kill by Whitney Bower ending the set.

Set 5

The set was tied early at 4-4, but San Diego pulled away with an 8-2 run. The Toreros held on for the victory, winning the set 15-11.

The Cougars will continue conference play on the road next week at Loyola Marymount (11-8, 5-2) on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. PDT. The match will be televised on the WCC Network.

PROVO, Utah – No. 9 BYU women's volleyball plays host to San Diego in a battle of West Coast Conference co-leaders on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. MT in the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars (16-2, 7-0) and Toreros (14-4, 7-0) are both undefeated in conference play halfway through the WCC slate and are two of the top teams in the nation with BYU ranked ninth and San Diego just five points outside of the AVCA Top 25.

The match will be televised live on BYUtv and BYUtv's digital channels.

BYU vs. San Diego Game Notes

BYU is 10-8 overall and 6-2 at home all-time against San Diego, winning both matches 3-1 last season. However, the two teams have split the series in four of the eight years since BYU joined the WCC (2013, 14, 16, 17). 

BYU is on a 10-match winning streak, having not lost in more than a month. The streak is currently tied for ninth longest nationally and also ties for eighth longest by the Cougars in the rally scoring era. BYU has had a win streak of 10 or more matches every season since 2013. Meanwhile, San Diego is on a 12-match win streak.

BYU is ranked 22nd in the nation in hitting percentage, now at .265 on the season. On defense, the Cougars have held opponents to a .200 or less hitting percentage in each of the last 13 sets played over the Cougars’ last four matches plus one set against LMU (BYU has won all 13 sets). Opponents are hitting .072 over that time compared to .294 for the Cougars. On the year, BYU is holding opponents to .159 hitting, ranked 26th nationally.

From the service line, the Cougars’ 1.78 aces per set is 16th in the country as five players have 10 or more each. Freshman setter Whitney Bower leads the way with 33, good for 16th nationally, while Miller is next at 25, blowing past her career season best of 21 set last year.