The No. 18 BYU women’s volleyball team swept Portland Saturday, their 15th sweep of the season. This was also the Cougars second sweep against Portland.
The win against Portland moves the Cougars 9-2 in the West Coast Conference and 21-2 overall.
Head Coach Shawn Olmstead said he was happy with the way the team played and with the outcome of both matches this weekend.
“It’s exciting to win both these matches on this road trip,” Olmstead said. “It was a road trip we were looking forward to, and we knew the importance of winning both these matches.”
The Cougars took down Portland in three quick sets.
In the first set, Portland and BYU went through nine tied scores before the Cougars were able to break away with a 7-1 run at 18-18. Senior Nicole Warner closed the set 25-19 for the Cougars with a kill.
Warner opened the second set with a kill, giving the Cougars a confident start. Portland tied the score at 3-3, but was not able to gain the lead. The set closed 25-17 for the Cougars on an attack error from Portland.
In the last set, the teams went through multiple tied scores, but once again the Cougars were able to break away and take the lead. Multiple kills from the Cougars helped close the last set out 25-19, ending the match.
Olmstead said the Cougars played exceptionally well against Portland.
“I thought our middles played phenomenal and we did a good job at blocking,” Olmstead said. “I would have liked to dig a few more balls, so I think we need to work a little on that.”
Senior Heather Hannemann lead the Cougars with 28 assists and freshman Tia Withers contributed an impressive 12 digs. Kimberly Dahl, Alexa Gray and Warner each contributed eight kills. Junior Jennifer Hamson contributed five kills and three digs.
Warner said both teams played well and it was a good win, but the Cougars need to work on their communication for upcoming matches.
“There’s a lot of communication stuff that we’re working on as a team,” Warner said. “Sometimes on the court things happen so fast and we don’t talk like we should. We can play with any team out there, as long as we keep playing our system, then we’ll be unstoppable.”
The Cougars now head home to take on opponents San Diego and Loyola Marymount next week in the Smith Fieldhouse.
