All-around effort helps No. 8 BYU past Pepperdine in three

MALIBU, Calif. – An all-around team effort helped No. 8 BYU women’s volleyball past Pepperdine in three sets (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) Thursday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.

"We were scrappy tonight with some great touches on the block," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "There were lots of long rallies, and we had to be patient until we could get our kills. I liked our tough serving."

Veronica Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 12 kills, followed closely by McKenna Miller with 11. Lyndie Haddock set the team with 31 assists to go with 10 digs for a double-double while Mary Lake contributed 15 digs.

Pepperdine (12-10, 4-5 WCC) got off to a quick offensive start in the first set, leading BYU (20-1, 9-0 WCC) 5-1 early on. A pair of kills from Miller then helped the Cougars score the next five-straight points to go up 6-5. BYU went on a 5-1 run from errors by the Waves to take a 13-11 advantage, forcing a Pepperdine timeout. The set remained close until kills by Cosy Burnett and Jones-Perry helped increase the Cougar lead to four, 19-15. BYU led by as many as five before the Waves scored three-straight to get back within two, trailing 22-20. The Cougars eventually won the set 25-20, however, after a kill from Kennedy Redding.

A 4-0 run, capped off by another Redding kill, pushed BYU to a 7-5 advantage in the second set. Back-to-back aces from Tristyn Moser kept the Cougars ahead 14-12, but Pepperdine capitalized on BYU errors to stay in the set, down just one at 18-17. The Cougars scored the next four points, capped off by a Sara Hamson kill, to take a 22-17 lead. A kill from Jones-Perry then gave BYU the set 25-21.

After three-consecutive attack errors from the Waves, the Cougars took an 8-5 edge in the third set, forcing a Pepperdine timeout. Another Hamson kill made it 13-8, and a kill from Burnett extended the lead to nine at 19-10. The Waves scored the next four points to make it 19-14, but BYU cruised from there, taking the set 25-15 on a Miller kill.

The Cougars stay on the road next, heading to Loyola Marymount Saturday, Oct. 21, at noon PDT. The match will be streamed live on TheW.tv. Links to the video stream and live stats can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.