Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — Prior to Thursday night, the BYU women's volleyball team had the No. 1 ranking in the nation and a 10-match winning streak.
Pacific was 5-6 and had just four substitutes who traveled to Provo from the Tigers' home of Stockton, California.
But strange things can happen in conference play, where teams are shockingly familiar with players, coaches, sets and strategies.
And yet the only strange thing that happened Thursday was that the match was over just over an hour after it tipped.
Roni Jones-Perry had a match-high 13 kills and three aces, and McKenna Miller added 11 kills and three blocks as top-ranked BYU opened the defense of its fourth-straight West Coast Conference championship with a 25-12, 25-20, 25-14 sweep of Pacific in the Smith Fieldhouse.
"This is a new chapter of the season for us; it’s the West Coast Conference, and we’re excited to see those teams that we are more familiar with," BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. "Pacific was the first team up.
"It was excited to open at home, and we’re excited to play Saint Mary’s on Saturday during this road stretch. They’re excited to challenge themselves, to keep moving forward, and to keep getting better."
Lyndie Haddock-Eppich dished out 35 assists with five digs, and added two kills for good measure, to help the Cougars improve to 11-0 on the season with their first WCC win of the year.
"Offensively, we were really good," Olmstead added. "Both our outsides, McKenna and Roni, were spectacular with no errors between the both of them. Offensively, we were really good, our passing was pretty good, and Lyndie did a great job distributing the ball."
Kaitlyn Lines and Riley Ramsey had seven kills each to lead Pacific (5-7, 0-1 WCC), which hit just .184 on the night as the Cougars out-blocked their visitors 9-2.
Freshman Heather Gneiting paced the front row with five blocks, and Kennedy Redding Eschenberg added seven kills and three blocks for the Cougars, who open WCC play with four of five matches at home — including Saturday at 1 p.m. MDT against Saint Mary's.
Mary Lake served three of the Cougars' seven aces.
"We just did a good job of focusing on us, and what we wanted to do, staying assertive on those things," Jones-Perry said. "It’s easy to let go of that, depending on who is on the other side of the net. So I think we did a good job of staying focused on us and what our strengths are."
Any thoughts of a tight first set were quickly eliminated by the top-ranked Cougars. Gneiting laid down three straight kills — all by sliding from the left side to the right — to give BYU a 15-6 lead in the first set.
The Cougars hit .682 in the first set and cruised to the 25-12 victory, paced by Jones-Perry’s five kills and a set-clinching block.
BYU shrugged off a slow start in the second set, rattling off six straight points to take a 9-4 lead early on Jones-Perry’s kill from the left side. Jones-Perry added the Cougars’ sixth ace of the night for a 22-13 advantage, but the Tigers responded with a 7-1 run to pull within 23-20 on Lauren Cline’s block.
Gneiting pushed one over the net to get the Cougars back on track, and her third block of the night helped BYU close out the second set, 25-20.
Eschenberg came out hot in the third set, securing four straight points to help the Cougars start 7-2 while looking for the closeout. Jones-Perry’s 13th kill of the match gave BYU a 22-12 advantage, and Haddock-Eppich finished it off with a setter’s dump, 25-14 in a match where BYU out-blocked the visitors 9-2.
"When Lyndie is up there throwing dumps down, they have to worry about her, too," Jones-Perry said. "It gave us a lot of room to swing into."
Next up:
The Cougars' homestand continues Saturday when they host Saint Mary's. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. MDT in the Smith Fieldhouse.
