PROVO, Utah—Securing its first win in league play, the BYU women’s volleyball team continues its march through the West Coast Conference with matchups at Loyola Marymount Thursday and No. 18 San Diego Saturday.
Thursday’s match begins at 7 p.m. PDT in Los Angeles, while the Saturday match begins at 1 p.m. PDT in San Diego.
“We’re excited for our first road trip in the West Coast Conference,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We believe both LMU and USD are great opponents and they have our full attention as we travel to California.”
The Cougars (12-3) took down Saint Mary’s 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-13) in their first appearance in WCC competition. Opposite hitter Jennifer Hamson once again recorded a double-figure evening, her 13th of the season, with 12 kills on .550 hitting, also contributing six blocks and four service aces. Middle blocker Nicole Warner threw down 10 total blocks, nine assisted and one solo, to set a new season high. Senior outside hitter Casey Thurston set a season high of eight kills off the bench and had five blocks.
Hamson leads BYU with 214 kills, averaging 4.28 per set on .328 hitting. She also contributes 1.16 blocks per set and has 21 service aces on the season. Junior libero Kendalyn Hartsock has 230 total digs at 4.60 per set and Warner has 88 blocks. Setter Heather Hannemann reached 526 assists in the last match.
LMU, currently undefeated in conference play with a 2-0 record, is 8-6 on the season. The Cougars look to continue their undefeated all-time record (2-0) against LMU.
At the helm of the Lions’ offense is Jasmine Rankins, who puts up 3.42 kills per set. Litara Keil has recorded 42 blocks this season, .89 per set, to lead the Lions and Betsi Metter has 224 digs at 4.67 per set.
Reigning WCC champion USD fell 3-0 to San Francisco last week, putting the Toreros in fifth place in the conference standings going into the second week of WCC play. USD still holds the best season record in the league at 14-1 on the season.
Leading the Toreros, Amber Tatsch has 167 kills. Chloe Ferrari is close behind with 155 kills. Katie Hoekman and Kandiss Anderson head the defense with 53 blocks and 189 digs, respectively.
BYU hasn’t faced USD since 1996, when BYU took home the victory. The series is tied 1-1.
For links to live stats, click HERE.