PROVO, Utah – Seniors Nicole Warner and Heather Hannemann led the No. 14 BYU women’s volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-20) victory this weekend over Santa Clara at the Smith Fieldhouse on Senior Day.

“We always say this is the greatest place to play, and for our seniors, their time is almost up,” head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We are so lucky to have had them on this team. They are such outstanding leaders, and I’m excited they have been able to have this season. Looking forward, we are all focusing on our next match. That is the only thing that matters right now.”

Video Highlights and Interviews

The Cougars improve their record to 24-2 overall and 12-2 in the West Coast Conference. The Broncos fall to 20-9 overall and 9-5 in the WCC.

Warner finished the match with seven kills and a game-high four blocks, while Hannemann led the team with 32 assists making 2,247 in her career.

Alexa Gray finished with 13 kills, and Jennifer Hamson finished with 11 kills and 10 digs, her sixth double-double of the year. Tia Withers led the Cougar defense with 14 digs.

At the start of set one, the Cougars jumped out to an early 8-0 lead beginning with a kill from senior middle blocker Warner who got her team pumped up on the first play of the game. BYU earned several more points due to a net violation and a passing error from Santa Clara and an ace from Hannemann.

Santa Clara’s first point of the match came from Megan Anders with a kill from the middle. Warner, however, blocked her next two attempts, giving the Cougars an 11-1 lead. Freshman Gray helped continue that lead 22-7 with back-to-back kills from the outside.

At the end of set one, Gray blocked Santa Clara’s Kayla Lommori to give the Cougars set point, but the Broncos went on a 3-0 run before ending the set for the Cougars with a service error. The Cougars ended the set with three blocks apiece from LeCheminant, Warner and Hamson, two from Kimberly Dahl and one from Gray.

Similarly to set one, the Cougars jumped out to an early 3-0 lead due to a service ace from Hannemann, her fourth of the night for a career high, passing errors from Santa Clara and a kill from Hamson. Despite the early lead, the Broncos stayed in the match keeping within three or four points with contributions from Lexi Williamson and Anders. Meanwhile, Hamson continued to pace the Cougars recording her 1,000^th career kill.

Toward the end of set two, Gray hit a hard angel kill from the outside, putting the Cougars up 19-17. Warner, who leads the NCAA in blocks per set, continued her dominance in the middle with another block. Another kill from Hamson, a net violation from Santa Clara and a kill from Warner closed out set two 25-19.

With BYU up two sets to zero, Santa Clara got its first lead of the game going up 2-1 with kills from Katherine Douglas and Taylor Milton. Warner tied to the game at two with a kill in the middle.

Playing their best volleyball of the match, the Broncos went up 13-8, but the Cougars closed the gap 15-13 with kills from Gray and Hamson and several errors from the Broncos.  Two kills from LeCheminant and one from Hamson tied the game at 17 and another kill from Gray gave the Cougars their first lead since the beginning of the set, 18-17. The Cougars went up 20-17 with more kills from Gray and LeCheminant. A final kill from Hamson closed out the set 25-20 and gave the match to BYU.

Up next, the Cougars head to California for two of their last three matches against Pepperdine and San Diego on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. The match against Pepperdine begins at 7 p.m. PST.

SCU vs. BYU Box Score

PROVO, Utah—In its last conference home match of the year, the No. 14 BYU women’s volleyball team welcomes Santa Clara to the Smith Fieldhouse for a rematch Saturday at 1 p.m. MST. The match will be broadcast on BYUtv.

BYU, now 23-2 on the season and leading the West Coast Conference with an 11-2 record, lost to Santa Clara in the team’s last meeting in California. With BYU at match point in the fifth set, the Broncos went on a 4-0 run to take the set and the 3-2 (31-29, 20-25, 25-21, 13-24, 16-14) match from the Cougars.

The Cougars will honor their two seniors just prior to the Saturday match. Nicole Warner, a redshirt senior from Rigby, Idaho, and Heather Hannemann, a true senior from Alpine, Utah, will be graduating following the end of the volleyball season in December.

Jennifer Hamson leads the BYU offense, averaging 3.91 kills per set and is aided by freshman outside hitter Alexa Gray’s 3.45 kills per set. Tia Withers plays libero with 2.95 digs per set.

BYU is coming off back-to-back wins last week when the Cougars took down then-No. 18 San Diego Wednesday for sole ownership of first place in the WCC. BYU then defeated Loyola Marymount 3-0 Saturday.

BYU seniors

Senior setter Hannemann has recorded 2,215 assists and 450 digs during her time as a Cougar. Since the beginning of the 2012 season, Hannemann has ranked in the top 25 in NCAA stats for assists per set with 11.26. She also leads the West Coast Conference in assists and was named to the Rice Invitational and BYU Nike Invitational all-tournament teams. Hannemann has recorded eight double-doubles this season and had a career-high 57 assists in the match against Wichita State. Hannemann is ninth in BYU history for career assists.

Hannemann, a team captain for the Cougars this year, is majoring in exercise and wellness.

Senior middle blocker Warner has recorded 610 blocks, 755 kills and 196 digs during her BYU career. This season, Warner is No. 1 in the NCAA for blocks per set, collecting a whopping 1.78 average. Warner also leads the WCC in hitting percentage, hitting .434. Nicole is fourth in BYU history for career block assists with 584 and fourth in BYU history for career blocks. Warner set a career high for blocks in a match this season, tallying 17 blocks against Loyola Marymount in October.

Warner has received five conference awards for academics, including being named to the 2011-12 WCC Honor Roll and academic all-conference team. Warner is majoring in exercise and wellness.

Santa Clara

The Broncos are now 19-8 on the season and 8-4 in the WCC, good for a third-place tie with Saint Mary’s in conference standings. BYU leads the series with Santa Clara 3-1-0.

At the head of the Bronco offense is Megan Anders, who leads with 3.11 kills per set and is helped out by Taylor Milton’s 2.95 kills per set. Alyssa Anderson averages 6.49 assists per set while Katy Schatzman leads with an average 3.43 digs per set. Lacey Maas has the head in blocking with 1.38 per set.

Santa Clara will face San Francisco at home Thursday before traveling to Provo.

How to watch

BYUtv will broadcast the match and live streaming is available at BYUtvsports.com. Live stats are also available on the volleyball schedule page and Twitter updates can be found @BYUwvolleyball.

Final matches

BYU has two weeks left of the regular season following the Santa Clara match. Nov. 15 and Nov. 17, the Cougars will be on the road at Pepperdine and at San Diego, respectively. BYU defeated both teams at home already this season. The Cougars play their final match Tuesday, Nov. 20 at the Smith Fieldhouse against UVU.