No. 10 Cougars sweep USF to move to 14-1

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — No. 10 BYU women’s volleyball swept its first conference road trip of the season after a 3-0 victory (25-23, 25-16, 25-18) over San Francisco Saturday afternoon.

BYU is now 14-1 overall and 4-0 in West Coast Conference play. The Cougars are on a seven-match winning streak, winning 21 straight sets in those victories, all sweeps.

Taylen Ballard-Nixon led BYU with 10 kills in the match. It was her fifth time this season reaching double-digit kills and second match in a row doing so. Heather Gneiting had nine kills and had a .421 hitting percentage. Kenzie Koeber, Erin Livingston and Kennedy Eschenberg each had six kills.

The Cougars had a .250 hitting percentage on 100 attacks in the match. San Francisco hit .055 on 91 attacks. Both teams had 38 digs. BYU dominated at the net with 14 blocks to USF’s three.

SET ONE

It was a back-and-forth start to the match, as the teams combined for 11 ties and nine lead changes in the first set.

The Cougars eventually got out to a 16-12 lead and had some separation, but the Dons fought back and eventually held a 22-19 lead late in the set. BYU head coach Heather Olmstead called a timeout at that point. After that, BYU went on a 6-1 run to close out the set that included an Eschenberg kill, a Tayler Hifo ace, back-to-back blocks and a Ballard-Nixon kill off of a broken play, for the 25-23 set victory.

SET TWO

Once again, BYU got out to a 16-12 lead. This time, the Cougars did not allow the Dons to claw back, ending the set on a 9-4 run.

Hifo had another ace, and served for four other BYU points to get the Cougars to 24-16. Eschenberg finished off the set with a kill for the 25-16 set victory.

SET THREE

For the third consecutive set, BYU led 16-12. The Cougars had a 6-0 run that included two kills from Gneiting. Gneiting ended the match with a solo block that made it 25-18 and gave the Cougars the sweep.

Hifo had another ace in the final set. She racked up four total in the match.

Next up for the Cougars are WCC home matches on Thursday and Saturday against Portland and Gonzaga, respectively. Both matches will be available to view at BYUtv.org and also on the BYU App. Saturday’s match will be available on BYUtv.