STOCKTON, Calif. – No. 9 BYU women’s volleyball defeated Pacific in straight sets (25-19, 25-17, 26-24) in West Coast Conference play on Thursday.
The Cougars (13-2, 4-0 WCC) have now won seven straight matches and are 6-0 on the road so far this year.
Senior McKenna Miller notched 12 kills with just one error as the Cougars hit .320. BYU had just six errors on the night as a team, tied for sixth fewest in a match in rally era program history.
Sophomore Heather Gneiting had six kills on 11 swings with a team-high seven blocks. Senior Mary Lake added 13 digs while Madelyn Robinson added six kills and 10 digs.
Set 1
BYU won the first set 25-19, getting 14 points off Pacific service and attack errors. The Cougars hit .385 in the set with 10 kills and no errors. BYU went on a 4-1 run to take a 13-9 lead and went ahead by as many as five at 17-12 after a Gneiting kill. The Tigers cut the lead to two at 21-19, but BYU scored four straight behind freshman Grace Wee’s serve to end the set.
Set 2
A 9-1 run turned a tied game into a 13-5 BYU margin to essentially put the set away early. Miller had six kills in the set, including the first and the last points for BYU as the Cougars won, 25-16. BYU scored 17 of its 25 points on kills in set two.
Set 3
Pacific went ahead 9-6 and maintained the lead at 14-10. A Gneiting kill and a block by Gneiting and Taylen Ballard-Nixon brought BYU within one at 14-13, but only at 18-18 on a Miller kill did the Cougars tie the match. BYU finally took the lead at 22-21 on a Lion attack error, then battled with Pacific until the score was tied at 24. The Cougars then put the match away off a block by Gneiting and Whitney Bower and a final kill from Miller.
The Cougars will head to Moraga to face Saint Mary’s on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m. PT.