Boswell lifts No. 16 BYU past No. 5 San Diego in three

PROVO, Utah — Senior middle blocker Amy Boswell lifted No. 16 BYU women's volleyball sweep No. 5 San Diego (25-16, 25-22, 27-25) Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.

“I’m super happy with the way we played,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “Our assistant coaches did a great job in preparing the team this week. I think it was one of our better performances this year. San Diego's a really good team. I think it was a total team effort, and I'm happy with tonight.”

Boswell and freshman outside hitter McKenna Miller led the Cougars with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Boswell also had four blocks along with Whitney Young Howard and Veronica Jones-Perry. Lyndie Haddock set the team to a .369 hitting percentage while contributing 40 assists and nine digs. Mary Lake led the team in digs with 16 and Lacy Haddock had nine kills in the win.

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The Cougars (20-3, 9-2 West Coast Conference) and Toreros (19-3, 10-1 WCC) fought back and forth until midway through the first set with neither side taking a sizeable lead. After getting ahead by one with a score of 13-12, a pair of kills from Lacy Haddock, one from Jones-Perry as well as a San Diego error led to a 4-0 run to give BYU a 17-12 lead. The Cougars easily extended their lead to nine points, winning the set 25-16 on a bad set from the Toreros. Miller led BYU with five kills in the set while Boswell and Lyndie Haddock recorded three apiece. The Cougars had 20 digs and a first-set clip of .429, compared to San Diego’s .132.

In the second set, the Toreros took their first lead of the set 6-5 on a kill and led by as many as three points before BYU came back to tie it 12-all after a Lacy Haddock and Howard block. Boswell was then credited with three-consecutive kills, propelling the Cougars on a 6-2 run. Errors late in the set plagued BYU and kept San Diego in the set. Capitalizing on Torero errors and an opportune kill from Miller gave the Cougars a victory with a final score of 25-22.

The third set concluded with 21 ties and six lead changes as both teams stayed within three points throughout the entire set. BYU held its biggest lead of the set 20-17 before San Diego came back to take a 22-20 lead after five-straight points. The Cougars stayed in the set as a Boswell kill knotted up the score at 23 apiece. After the Toreros failed to convert their set point with a 25-24 lead, Boswell had a kill to keep BYU alive in the set. Two San Diego errors led to the Cougars' set point and eventual match-winning point as BYU came away with a 3-0 victory.

The Cougars will begin a two-match road trip at Pacific Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. PDT, followed by Saint Mary’s Saturday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m. PDT.