PROVO, Utah – Senior Roni Jones-Perry helped lead No. 1 BYU women’s volleyball to a three-set win over Pepperdine (26-24, 25-13, 25-8) Saturday afternoon to remain undefeated.
"I liked the way we stayed focused the entire match," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "We showed a lot of fight in the first set and kept it going."
Jones-Perry had a career high of 14 digs, which assisted in her achieving a double-double, as she led the team in scoring with 12 kills. Lyndie Haddock-Eppich also had a double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs. Mary Lake led BYU in digs with 16. Haddock-Eppich and Heather Gnieting put up seven blocks apiece for the Cougars throughout the match.
Kennedy Eschenberg began set one with a kill for BYU (20-0, 10-0 WCC), giving her team the early lead. With back-to-back kills, Madelyn Robinson gave the lead depth with a score of 6-2 for the Cougars. Pepperdine (13-7, 7-3 WCC) fought back to tie it 7-7. With an assist from Haddock-Eppich, Gnieting puts the ball down to take the lead back for BYU. McKenna Miller followed with an ace to widen the point deficit. The Cougars and Waves battled as they kept the score even at 19-all. The Waves rallied back and were up 24-23 for set point, but a block from Gnieting and Haddock-Eppich tied it again. A kill from Jones-Perry ended set one 26-24 for BYU.
The Cougars went on a 3-0 run at the beginning of set two with Jones-Perry adding two kills in that span. Jones-Perry later brought the score to 7-2 for BYU off an ace. Kills from Miller and Haddock-Eppich brought the lead to five points for the Cougars. A block from Gnieting and Haddock-Eppich made it 12-5, forcing Pepperdine to take a timeout. Gnieting and Jones-Perry contributed kills and widened their team's lead to 17-9. BYU took set two, 25-13, when Haddock-Eppich brought it to an end with a block.
BYU took an early 9-3 lead in set three with kills from Jones-Perry and Robinson. A block from Haddock-Eppich and Gnieting, along with a kill from Jones-Perry, forced Pepperdine into taking another timeout at 14-6. Coming out of the break, Jones-Perry slammed the ball down from the back row. BYU then went on a 12-0 run against Pepperdine with help from kills by Jones-Perry and Miller and an ace by Sydnie Martindale, to make it 22-6. Kills from Lacy Haddock and Allison Stapleton helped the Cougars take set three 25-8.
The Cougars will continue the second half of conference play as they travel to play Portland on Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. PDT. The match will be broadcasted on TheW.tv and live stats can be found on the BYU women's volleyball schedule.