PROVO, Utah – Roni Jones-Perry and No. 9 BYU women’s volleyball swept West Virginia (25-18, 25-11, 25-14) Thursday evening in the home opener and first match of the BYU Nike Invitational.
"We had great energy tonight," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "We came out focused and I really liked our serving and passing. Those two skills helped us with our blocking and attacking. Overall, it was a great match for our team."
Jones-Perry led all players with 13 kills, hitting a .417 clip. Mary Lake contributed 16 digs and Lyndie Haddock-Eppich brought 30 assists and 10 digs, giving her a double-double. Kennedy Eschenberg added four blocks and seven kills for the Cougars. As a team, BYU (3-0) hit at a .310 clip.
Eschenberg and Jones-Perry began the match with back-to-back kills to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. West Virginia (2-2) tied it up and they battled to keep the scored even at 7-7. Heather Gneiting then went on a 3-0 serving run for BYU, giving her team a 10-7 advantage. The Cougars grabbed the lead and brought the score to 20-14 with kills from Eschenberg and McKenna Miller. Keeping the advantage, Jones-Perry ended the set with two kills to make it 25-18.
Set two started with another lead for BYU at 4-0 from kills by Jones-Perry and Madi Robinson, which forced the Mountaineers to call an early timeout. The Cougars came out of the break with back-to-back blocks from Eschenberg and Jones-Perry. West Virginia answered back with two kills to put it on the board, making the score 7-2. The Mountaineers then had a 5-1 run, getting within three, down 9-6. A block from Haddock-Eppich and Eschenberg and kills from Jones-Perry and Gneiting led BYU on a 12-3 run, making it 21-9. BYU won the second set 25-11 on a serving error by West Virginia.
The Cougars opened the third set just like set two on a 5-0 advantage after kills from Eschenberg and Robinson - once again forcing West Virginia to take another early timeout. The Mountaineers then quickly put five points on the board to make it 9-5 for the Cougars. Gneiting’s third ace of the night, and a kill by Haddock-Eppich, brought the score to 14-7. BYU went on a 6-2 run from kills by Miller in the front and Jones-Perry in the back row to make it 20-10. West Virginia attempted to close the deficit with three kills, trailing by nine at 22-13. A kill from Jones-Perry and a block from Eschenberg then brought set three to match point, 24-14. BYU took set three and the match with a kill from Jones-Perry on the outside.
The Cougars face No. 1 Stanford for their second match of the invitational on Friday, August 31, at 7 p.m. MDT. The match will be televised live on BYUtv. Live stats can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.