BYU Women’s Volleyball Ends No. 2 Stanford 37-Game Home Win Streak
Sep 22, 2019, 12:04 PM | Updated: 12:13 pm
Photo: Courtesy of BYU Athletics
PALO ALTO, Calif. – The No. 12 ranked BYU women’s volleyball team pulled off a huge win Saturday on the road against the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal.
The Cougars defeated Stanford, the defending National Champions, in four-sets (18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 31-29). BYU’s win ended Stanford’s 37-game home winning streak at Maples Pavilion. Stanford was riding high entering the match as they had their eyes set on being the No. 1 ranked team in America after defeating the top-ranked team Nebraska in Lincoln earlier in the week.
McKenna Miller was clutch down the stretch for @BYUwvolleyball, tallying 18 kills and 2 aces, as the 12th-ranked Cougars upset No. 2 Stanford in four sets! 🤙#NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/lwt2g70tQC
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) September 21, 2019
Senior McKenna Miller who was dominant in the Cougars win at rival Utah two days prior, had another impressive performance against Stanford. Miller had 18 kills in the match.
BYU dropped the first set 18-25 but then rolled and sealed the victory in a thrilling fourth set that saw the Cardinal hold off multiple match points from the Cougars. Stanford took a lead at 25-24 but BYU kept battling and finally the Cougars won the set and the match off of a Taylen Ballard-Nixon kill that ended up ricocheting out of play, giving the Cougars the 31-29 set and the match.
It was worth the wait for lucky 🎱!
On their eighth match point, No. 12 @BYUwvolleyball was finally able to close out an upset of No. 2 Stanford in four sets (18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 31-29).#NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/Uc03wf79AE
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) September 21, 2019
With the win at Stanford, BYU concludes non-conference play with a 9-2 overall record. The only two losses came against nationally-ranked teams in Marquette and Texas earlier in the season.
Postgame Dancing
To celebrate the big win over Stanford, the BYU team and head coach Heather Olmstead took a page from the Cougar football program and busted out the dance moves in the postgame locker room celebration.
Go off coaches 🕺🏽💃🏻#BYUWVB #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/7tEgepz5yS
— BYU Women’s Volleyball (@BYUwvolleyball) September 21, 2019
Up Next
The next top 25 poll will be released tomorrow and BYU is likely headed into the top 10. The Cougars will open up West Coast Conference play this Thursday on the road against Gonzaga. The match begins at 7 p.m. (MDT) and will be available online on the WCC Network.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
