Boswell helps No. 10 BYU beat San Francisco in four

SAN FRANCISCO – Senior middle blocker Amy Boswell helped No. 10 BYU women’s volleyball beat San Francisco in four sets (25-10, 21-25, 25-13, 25-9) Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.

“Our serving was on point tongiht,” BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. “It was a good team effort offensively and defensively.”

Boswell led the Cougars with 16 kills on a .577 clip to go along with four solo blocks. Lyndie Haddock set the team with 29 assists while Mary Lake chipped in 22 digs. Whitney Young Howard rounded out the defensive effort with five blocks and Lacy Haddock had 10 kills in the win.

As a team, BYU (25-3, 14-2 West Coast Conference) collected a season-high 15.0 blocks. The Cougars also had eight service aces with just four service errors on the night.

BYU got on board first in the opening set with an overpass kill from Boswell. San Francisco (4-25, 0-16 WCC) struggled offensively as the Cougars jumped out to a 6-1 lead following a Boswell block. A pair of McKenna Miller kills extended BYU’s advantage to seven at 11-4. A Don attack error gave the Cougars a double-digit lead at 17-7, and a Veronica Jones-Perry block followed to force a San Francisco timeout, down 18-7. BYU then finished the set on a 5-0 run, capped off by a block from Howard and Miller, to win 25-10.

The Dons jumped out to a 7-2 lead early in the second set following a series of kills, a pair of aces and a block. San Francisco maintained an eight-point lead, 15-7, before Olmstead took her final timeout of the set. The Cougars then went on a 4-1 rally out of the break to close the gap, trailing 16-11. The Dons scored the next three, but BYU rattled off the following six points to bring it back within two, down 19-17. The Cougars’ rally proved too late as San Francisco won the set, 25-21.         

A Lacy Haddock kill helped propel BYU to a 4-1 advantage at the start of the third set. A Howard kill extended the Cougars’ lead to seven at 11-4. A bad set from the Dons gave BYU a double-digit lead at 17-7, and multiple additional San Francisco errors put the Cougars ahead 21-8. BYU eventually won the set 25-13 on a Howard block.

The Cougars shut out the Dons to begin the fourth set, going on a 6-0 run after a Boswell kill to start the final set. Another Boswell kill extended the BYU lead at 11-2, and a 7-0 Cougar run ensued to put them up 18-4. San Francisco followed with a 5-1 rally to cut its deficit to 10, down 19-9. It was all BYU from there, as two Lacy Haddock kills helped the Cougars to a 25-9 set and match win.

BYU stays on the road next, facing Santa Clara on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m. PST. The match will be streamed live on TheW.tv. Links to live stats and the video feed can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.