No. 4 BYU clinches share of WCC title with sweep at Pacific

PROVO, Utah — No. 4 BYU women’s volleyball clinched at least a share of the West Coast Conference title with two regular season matches remaining, after a sweep over Pacific in the Alex G. Spanos Center on Thursday (25-20, 25-17, 29-27).

For the season, BYU now holds a 26-1 overall record and a 16-0 WCC record. The team sits at No. 2 in the NCAA for match winning percentage. If the Cougars secure a win against Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Nov. 20, the WCC title is officially theirs, considering BYU's lone remaining regular season matchup at that point will be against second-place San Diego, who lost to Pepperdine last weekend to drop to 13-2.

BYU had 13 blocks in the match. Both graduate opposite hitter Kenzie Koerber and junior middle blocker Heather Gneiting put up six block assists. Graduate middle blocker Kennedy Eschenberg followed closely with five and one solo. 

The Tigers racked up 41 kills for the night, hitting a .099 hitting percentage. Right behind with 38 kills, the Cougars more than doubled its opponent, hitting a .222 clip.

At the top of the leaderboard offensively, Pacific’s Alexa Edwards put down 15 kills. Koerber had 12 kills for the Cougars. Eschenberg tallied eight kills and the team’s highest clip at .467.

SET ONE
The teams started the match by trading kills and errors, tying six times by 8-8. From there, BYU pulled off a 5-0 run after an ace by graduate libero Aria McComber and kills from Eschenberg and senior outside hitter Taylen Ballard-Nixon.

From there, both teams tallied their fair share of attack and service errors. BYU led at 18-14, but Pacific racked up four more kills to close the gap to 20-18. Final kills by Ballard-Nixon and Gneiting secured BYU the first set-win at a close 25-20.

SET TWO
BYU took the lead after two quick kills by Eschenberg. Blocks by Koerber and Gneiting followed, allowing the Cougars to break away to 7-1. The team continued to rack up points until Koerber’s eighth and ninth kill of the night propelled it ahead 16-6.

The Tigers managed a 4-0 run, thanks to two kills by Pacific’s Darina Kumanova. This closed the gap to 19-13. Ultimately, three more kills from Eschenberg and Ballard-Nixon contributed to a .324 set clip for BYU, allowing the Cougars to take its second set-win at 25-17.

SET THREE
Pacific started strong with a 4-1 lead after two service aces and two BYU attack errors. Still trailing, Ballard-Nixon slammed BYU’s first kill of the set at 6-4. At 9-5, the Tigers maintained the lead after BYU’s fifth attack error of the set. 

BYU made efforts to boost ahead after three kills from Ballard-Nixon, Gneiting and junior setter Whitney Bower. However, Pacific’s Edwards notched her seventh and eighth kills to keep the Tigers ahead at 13-11. Two attack errors later and BYU tied the match at 15-15. 

Edwards thrived under the pressure, tacking on four kills and taking back the advantage, 19-16. The Cougars fought back, adding four combined kills from sophomore outside hitter Erin Livingston, Eschenberg and Koerber. At a tight 23-21, Edwards boasted her 13th kill. Koerber battled back with her 12th kill. A kill by Livingston tied the match at 25-25. 

In the end, two fatal errors at 27-27 allowed BYU to take home the win at 29-27 on their second match-point opportunity, fighting off three set-point opportunities for the Tigers.

Up next, BYU will face Saint Mary's in the University Credit Union Pavilion. The match will take place on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. PST.