No. 9 BYU remains undefeated in the WCC, sweeping Gonzaga

PROVO, Utah - No. 9 BYU women’s volleyball notched its ninth consecutive sweep, dominating Gonzaga (25-7, 25-20, 25-14) in the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday.

The Cougars are now 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the West Coast Conference. BYU has swept its last 27 consecutive sets.

Hitting a .472 hitting percentage on 49 kills, the Cougars achieved their highest clip of the season. In comparison, Gonzaga hit a .034 on its 24 kills. 

Senior outside hitter Taylen Ballard-Nixon led the Cougars with 10 kills and one ace. Three more Cougars tallied nine kills, including graduate opposite hitter Kenzie Koerber, junior middle blocker Heather Gneiting and sophomore outside hitter Erin Livingston.

Gneiting led the group with a .615 clip and six blocks. To top it off, she achieved two solo blocks in today's performance, celebrating a new career-high tally. 

"I thought we played really well, especially since Gonzaga is a really good serving team," Gneiting said. "We passed well and Whitney Bower did a good job of distributing the ball for the all the hitters."

Junior setter Bower contributed to the team by racking up 40 assists, seven digs, three kills and an ace.

SET ONE
BYU opened the match strong with a 4-0 run, including two kills by Eschenberg and an ace by Bower. Three kills by Gonzaga put the team on the board, 11-3. However, BYU tacked on a 5-0 run, thanks to five kills by Ballard-Nixon, Eschenberg and Koerber. 

BYU dominated the set winning 25-7. The Cougars finished with a .765 hitting percentage and three players — Eschenberg, Ballard-Nixon and Koerber — hit a perfect 1.000.

The Bulldogs had four consecutive attack errors toward the end of the set. The Cougars tallied 14 kills and a .765 clip. Ultimately, Gonzaga’s -.192 clip could not compete, giving the Cougars a 25-7 set victory.

SET TWO
BYU and Gonzaga went back and forth, exchanging runs and points throughout the second set. The teams took turns leading and stayed within three points of each other. At 17-12, BYU started to break away after three kills by Gneiting and Bower.

The Cougars had two service errors, giving the Bulldogs a chance to catch up at 18-15. Compared to only notching five kills in the first set, Gonzaga more than doubled its kills, achieving 12. This allowed them to rack up 20 points. In the end, three final kills by Livingston and Ballard-Nixon sealed the set victory, 25-20, for BYU.

SET THREE
At the start, Gonzaga led 2-0, however, back-to-back kills by Livingston evened out the score. The teams would tie three other times before BYU managed a 5-0 run after five quick kills, leading 10-5.

Another four kills put BYU ahead, 15-6. An ace and six blocks later extended BYU's lead to 25-14, giving the Cougars their ninth consecutive win.

Up next, BYU will face Loyola Marymount at the Gersten Pavilion on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. PDT.