Cougars sweep Santa Clara and San Fransisco

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Dani Jardine
Cosy Burnett hugs Danelle Stetler while Kiani Tuileta (right) celebrates after winning a point against Utah on Sept. 10, 2017. (Dani Jardine)

The No. 9 BYU women’s volleyball team swept both Santa Clara (25-22, 25-17, 25-14) and San Fransisco (25-18, 25-22, 25-8) this weekend in West Coast Conference play.

The Cougars’ overall record improved to 12-1 and BYU is 2-0 in WCC action.

Saturday’s game was played against San Fransisco at War Memorial Gym in California.

Veronica Jones-Perry lead the team with 14 kills while Taylen Ballard and Mckenna Miller added a career-high 10 and nine kills, respectively.

Lyndie Haddock set the team with 34 assists, 10 digs and seven blocks. Mary Lake collected 15 digs and Cosy Burnett had eight kills and five blocks.

“I liked the offensive distribution today and am proud of the way the entire team was ready to play,” said BYU head coach Heather Olmstead. “I think our blocking is getting better, so I was happy to see us get great touches.”

A pair of kills from Jones-Perry helped BYU (13-1) to a 6-3 advantage over San Francisco (3-12) early in the first set. Back-to-back Don attack errors extended the lead to five at 11-6. The Cougars were ahead 15-8 before San Francisco went on a 6-1 run to get within two, down 16-14.

BYU countered with a 4-1 rally to go up by five, 20-15 and Burnett ended the set with a kill.

Consecutive blocks from Haddock and Burnett pushed the Cougars to a 4-1 lead to start the second set. The Dons then rallied with a 5-0 run to take a 7-6 advantage, but a Jones-Perry kill helped push BYU ahead again at 15-12.

San Francisco evened the score at 18-18, keeping things close for the remainder of the set, but the Cougars won 25-22 on a Jones-Perry kill.

Three kills from Ballard helped BYU take a 5-2 lead to begin the third set. Two Jones-Perry aces extended the Cougars lead to double-digits at 14-4, and BYU cruised from there, taking the set 25-8 on a San Francisco attack error.

The Cougars also swept Santa Clara in a fast 3-set match. Jones-Perry had 19 kills and four service aces in the win.

Also notable were Lyndie Haddock who had 27 assists, Mary Lake with 10 digs and Cosy Burnett with four blocks.

“Roni (Jones-Perry) and Cosy (Burnett) both took some great swings,” Olmstead said. “I’m proud of the way the team played.”

Click here for the full Santa Clara breakdown.

This upcoming week includes a Tuesday, Sept. 26, home match against Pepperdine and a Saturday, Sept. 30, trip to San Diego.

Pepperdine is 9-5 this season and BYU is favored to win against them at home.

San Diego is currently ranked No. 17 and poses the biggest conference threat to BYU so far this season.

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