Balanced pin-hitting pushes No. 8 BYU past Pacific in three

STOCKTON, Calif. — Balanced hitting at the pins helped push No. 8 BYU women’s volleyball past Pacific in three sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-16) Saturday afternoon at the Alex G. Spanos Center to remain perfect in league play.

"The team came out focused on what they wanted to do today," BYU head coach Heather Olmstead said. "Our offense and defense executed at a high level against a good Pacific team."

Veronica Jones-Perry led the Cougars with 13 kills to go with six digs. Taylen Ballard added nine kills on a .533 clip while McKenna Miller chipped in eight kills in the win. Lyndie Haddock contributed 30 assists and 11 digs for a double-double. Mary Lake and Sydnie Martindale collected 10 and nine digs, respectively, and Kennedy Redding added eight blocks to round out the defensive effort.

Pacific (7-11, 2-5 West Coast Conference) took a 5-2 lead early in the first set against BYU (17-1, 6-0 WCC). Back-to-back kills from Miller then helped the Cougars on a 6-1 run to take an 8-6 advantage. A Cosy Burnett ace pushed BYU ahead by three, 16-13, and a Redding solo block extended the advantage to seven, 22-15. The Cougars won the set 25-19 on a Burnett kill.

Errors from the Tigers kept BYU ahead 8-7 to start the second set. The Cougars then stormed ahead 12-8 after consecutive Redding and Ballard blocks. Three kills from Jones-Perry helped extend the advantage to seven, 21-14, but Pacific scored the next three points to get back within four, trailing 21-17. A Ballard kill then ended the set 25-20.

A pair of kills each from Ballard and Burnett helped BYU take a 6-3 lead to begin the third set. A Jones-Perry kill made it 13-9, and another pair of kills from Jones-Perry pushed the Cougars on a 5-0 run to go up 18-10. Three-straight points from the Tigers ensued to get them back within five, down 18-13, but the rally proved too late as BYU cruised through the rest of the set, winning it 25-16 on a Pacific service error.

The Cougars return home to the Smith Fieldhouse next, facing Portland Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. MDT. The match will be televised live on BYUtv. Links to the video stream and live stats can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.