The No. 13 BYU women's volleyball team will travel to California this week to battle Pepperdine and No. 18 San Diego for the West Coast Conference title.
BYU prepares to receive a serve from the Santa Clara Broncos.
The matches against the Toreros and Waves are the last two matches of the conference for the Cougars. BYU (24-2, 12-2) only needs one win this week to share the WCC title, but wins in both matches would secure the Cougars as conference champions. If San Diego falls to BYU, the Toreros will end up in second place for the second year in a row.
Head Coach Shawn Olmstead said Pepperdine and San Diego are good teams and the Cougars are ready for the matches.
'It’s exciting to finish off our conference playing some of the best teams our conference has to offer,' Olmstead said. 'We’re excited about it and we look forward to the challenge.'
The Cougars will take on Pepperdine Thursday in the Firestone Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. PST. The last time the Cougars and Waves met was on Sept. 20 when the Cougars took down the Waves in a 3-0 sweep.
Senior Heather Hannemann said it is going to be a big match against Pepperdine because they are a good team.
'Pepperdine at their place is always hard to play,' Hannemann said. 'But we’re excited and we're ready to go out there and take it and upset the conference this week.'
After the match against Pepperdine, BYU will turn its attention to San Diego. The Cougars and Toreros will face off in the Jenny Craig Pavilion Saturday at 1 p.m. PST. BYU last took down San Diego on Halloween night in a tough 3-1 win. The Cougars are hoping to come out victorious once again.
Freshman Ciara Parker said she is excited as the Cougars close the season and work towards their goal of becoming WCC champions.
'It's going to be tough and there are some really good teams ahead of us,' Parker said. 'But we want to accomplish our goal of becoming champions this weekend. We’re just looking forward to playing volleyball.'
Olmstead said as the Cougars travel they are going to focus on controlling the ball and staying free from errors.
'On the road you need to limit the errors that you commit on your side so you don’t hurt yourself,' Olmstead said. 'If we can do that that will really help us.'
Live statistics and video streaming for the matches this weekend will be available on the Cougars' website. Results will also be posted online following the matches.