PROVO, Utah – Veronica Jones-Perry had a career night as No. 10 BYU beat Pacific in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-17) Thursday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.
"I'm really proud of the way the team played tonight," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "I thought we served tough and that resulted in some big blocks. Our energy was great and overall it was a great team win."
The Cougars (22-2, 11-1 West Coast Conference) were fueled by 12 kills, five digs and a career-high nine blocks from Jones-Perry. Cosy Burnett had eight kills and eight blocks. Mary Lake’s 13 digs continued her run of double-digit digs in every match this season.
On the night, BYU hit at a .272 clip compared to a .159 for Pacific (12-12, 7-6 WCC).
BYU gained its first five-point lead in the first set when Jones-Perry followed up a kill with a block to put the Cougars up 12-7. They forced a Tiger timeout when a kill by Lyndie Haddock and a Pacific error extended BYU’s lead to 17-8. The Tigers rallied to eventually cut their deficit to 23-21, but a Jones-Perry kill and Pacific error gave the 25-21 set to the Cougars.
The second set was more tightly contested early on, with the two teams knotted up at 9-9. Back-to-back blocks by Jones-Perry and Burnett put BYU up 12-9. The Cougars pushed the lead to 19-14 after a block by Burnett and Lacy Haddock. BYU scored four-straight points to lead 24-16 and took the set 25-17 on McKenna Miller’s kill.
The Cougars jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the third set to force a Pacific timeout. The Tigers went on a run to trail just 15-13. They cut it to 17-16 before seven-straight BYU points made it 24-16. After a Pacific point, a service error resulted in a 25-17 win for the Cougars.
BYU returns to Elaine Michaelis Court on Saturday to take on Saint Mary’s at 1 p.m. MDT. That match will be televised on BYUtv.