PROVO, Utah – Senior Roni Jones-Perry and No. 9 BYU women’s volleyball upset No. 1 Stanford in a five-set match (25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 15-11) Friday night in BYU’s second match of the BYU Nike Invitational.
"I'm so happy for the team," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "They believed in each other and were able to accomplish something special. I thought we served tough and came up with big swings when we needed it. The crowd was amazing. We thank everyone who came out tonight."
Roni Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 20 kills in addition to 10 digs for a double-double. McKenna Miller followed close behind Jones-Perry with 15 kills. Lyndie Haddock-Eppich contributed 48 assists while Mary Lake put 18 digs on the board.
BYU (4-0) took the lead in the decisive fifth set off an error by Stanford (2-1), putting the score at 2-1. An ace by Sydnie Martindale and two kills by Jones-Perry added to the Cougars lead, putting them up at 11-8. BYU extended its advantage with a 2-1 run, including a block and a kill by Jones-Perry. Another Jones-Perry kill put the score at 14-10, and BYU won the last point off a Stanford net fault, concluding the set and match 15-11.
After back-and-forth points for both teams, BYU took the lead in the first set at 4-2 with a kill by Kennedy Eschenberg. Two kills back-to-back by Madi Robinson and Miller put BYU up at 8-6. The Cardinal came back with three points in a row to put the score at 10-9, BYU. However, an ace by Martindale and two back-to-back kills by Jones-Perry added to BYU’s lead, putting them ahead at 17-12. A run by Stanford brought it within a point at 18-17, but then BYU scored three-consecutive points to make it 21-17. Following back-and-forth points between the teams, the Cougars clinched the win with another kill by Jones-Perry, 25-22.
BYU took a 2-0 lead in the second set off a Stanford block error and kill by Miller. An additional kill by Eschenberg and back-to-back blocks by Jones-Perry and Eschenberg added to BYU’s lead, putting them up at 8-4. BYU stayed ahead at 11-6 with a kill and ace by Jones-Perry. Stanford then called a timeout after a four-point run by the Cougars, which put them up by nine, 15-6. Points went back-and-forth between the Cardinal and the Cougars, but BYU came out on top at 25-20 with a final kill by Jones-Perry.
Stanford took the lead at 3-2 in the third set off a receiving error on BYU. The Cardinal maintained their lead until BYU tied it up at 8-8 with kills by Eschenberg and Miller. The Cougars took their first lead at 14-13 off a kill by Haddock-Eppich. However, Stanford took control again bringing the score to 20-17 and leading to a timeout called by BYU. The Cardinal maintained this lead until they scored the set point at 25-21.
Stanford took the lead in the fourth set following two kills, putting the score at 3-1; however, BYU quickly tied it up with a kill and ace by Miller at 3-3. Points went back-and-forth until the Cardinal took a two-point lead at 10-8 off a Cougar hitting error. Then Stanford went on a four-point run to put the score at 15-12. BYU followed this rally with one of their own that included an ace by Jones-Perry, making the score 19-17, Stanford. However, BYU was unable to regain a lead and the Cardinal took the set at 25-20, forcing the decisive fifth set.
The Cougars face Wichita State for their third match of the invitational on Saturday, September 1, at 7 p.m. MDT. It will be streamed on the TheW.tv and live stats can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.
West Virginia v. Wichita State
In the second match of the BYU Nike Invitational Friday evening, Wichita State defeated West Virginia in four sets (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-16).
In the first set, West Virginia (2-3) and Wichita State (4-0) battled it out, keeping it within one point as the score reached 13-13. West Virginia grabbed the lead and kept it for the rest of the match with Wichita State keeping the score within three points until match point. The second and third set mirrored the beginning of set one with the two teams keeping it close for the first 20 points of the sets. The Shockers were the ones to take the lead in sets two and three, capitalizing on errors by the Mountaineers to win the two sets. Wichita State took off in set four and didn’t allow the Mountaineers to get within five points, winning set four and the match at 25-16.
Alex Koon led the Shockers with 16 digs and 15 kills, hitting a .438 clip. Tabitha Brown and Megan Taflinger both contributed 11 kills. From West Virginia, Kristin Lux led her team with 14 of the team’s 48 kills. Katelyn Evans was not far behind, bringing her team 12 kills.