PROVO, Utah – Lacy Haddock’s career-high 14 kills fueled No. 13 BYU’s sweep over Santa Clara (25-19, 29-27, 25-17) Thursday night at the Smith Fieldhouse to open West Coast Conference play.
"I loved the team effort tonight," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "A lot of people stepped up. We talked about staying calm when we were down and just battling. I thought we battled in the second set and that was really good for us to have to go through."
Lacy Haddock finished with a career-high 14 kills on a .407 clip while McKenna Miller added 12 kills. Mary Lake tallied a team-high 11 digs, and Lyndie Haddock and Hannah Robison both had eight. Whitney Young Howard contributed four blocks and seven kills in the win.
BYU (12-1, 1-0 WCC) jumped to a quick 7-2 lead in the first set to force a Santa Clara (9-4, 0-1 WCC) timeout early in the match. Two back-to-back kills by Santa Clara and a BYU error cut the Bronco deficit to three. The teams continued to trade points, but the Cougars held on to a 16-10 advantage after three Bronco miscues. BYU continued to dominate as a Taylor Odom kill pushed the Cougars’ lead to 20-15. The Broncos countered with four of the next 10 points, but it wasn’t enough to hold back the BYU offense. A block by Lacy Haddock won the set for BYU, 25-19.
Feeding off energy from the first set, the Cougars scored the first three points of the second set. The Broncos tied the set at 4 apiece before getting their first lead of the night on a BYU error. An ace by Lyndie Haddock helped the Cougars take back a 9-8 lead, but it didn’t last for long as Santa Clara went on a 5-0 run to force a BYU timeout. A Howard kill then sparked a 6-2 Cougar run to get back in the game. Hannah Robison earned the Cougars’ fourth ace of the night to help BYU pull ahead 18-15. After a Bronco timeout, the Cougars blocked two-consecutive hits to bring the score to 22-16. The Broncos wouldn't give up as they fought back to tie the score at 24-all. The Cougars ended the set in extra points, though, on a Lacy Haddock kill, 29-27.
The beginning of the third set proved to be a close contest with the score tied 7 apiece. A kill by Lacy Haddock gave the Cougars momentum to score the next two points. Both teams rallied back and forth before a Sophie Hartsock kill extended BYU’s advantage at 15-13 going into a media timeout. A Santa Clara attack error then pushed BYU’s lead to 19-15. The Cougars capitalized on Bronco attack errors to maintain an advantage and won the match point 25-17 on a Robison kill.
The Cougars host San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 1 p.m. MDT. The match will be streamed live on TheW.tv. Links to live stats and a video feed can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.