Joining the West Coast Conference next season means a lot of things to the BYU’s women’s volleyball team —better opponents, better places to visit and being part of a great volleyball tradition.
Saint Mary’s won the WCC title last year with a 13-1 conference record, putting together a .279 hitting percentage on the year, followed by San Diego (10-4) and Pepperdine (9-5). Saint Mary’s finished the season No. 21 in the country and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling in five sets to No. 4 Stanford.
Former BYU standout Kayla Walker played at Pepperdine before transferring to BYU. She said she is excited for the Cougars’ opportunity to join the WCC and that it will give BYU’s non-football sports a chance to shine.
“I think it’s going to be such a great conference for BYU to be in,” she said. “Competition-wise, you’ve got some phenomenal volleyball programs and it will be a great group to compete with because all of those schools don’t have football teams, so their big sports are volleyball and basketball.”
In addition to simply having great volleyball, the WCC will also give the Cougars a chance to travel to some of the most beautiful parts of the country such as Malibu, Calif., and San Diego.
BYU got a preview of one future opponent, Loyola Marymount, in last weekend’s Molten Classic. The Cougars defeated LMU in five sets. Still, the Lions are excited to welcome BYU into the WCC.
“I think that it will be a good change for the WCC,” said LMU freshman opposite hitter Alyse Hensley. “BYU will bring more competition and more depth to our conference.”
Overall, the change looks to be a positive one for all parties involved.
“I have a lot of respect for the volleyball programs in both the Mountain West Conference as well as the WCC,” Walker said. “I think that the move will be exciting, though. Bringing a new mix of teams to the table, it will be fun to see the new matchups and rivalries.”
