BYU Women’s Volleyball Claims WCC Championship In Historic Spring Season
Mar 31, 2021, 3:30 PM
BYU Women's Volleyball clinched the WCC regular season title with a sweep over Santa Clara. (BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey)
(BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey)
PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s volleyball is your outright West Coast Conference champions in an unprecedented spring season. The 2021 edition of Heather Olmstead’s dominant program claimed the outright regular-season title with a sweep over Santa Clara.
Been preparing for this moment since last year 🥳 pic.twitter.com/QDd7VkOdHK
— BYU Women’s Volleyball (@BYUwvolleyball) March 31, 2021
The title is BYU’s seventh since joining the West Coast Conference in 2011.
The Cougars held a one-game lead in the conference standings over second-place Pepperdine coming into Wednesday’s match. BYU was 14-1 in the conference, and Pepperdine was 12-2 with two matches remaining this weekend. A loss would have left BYU with the possibility of having to share the 2021 WCC crown. Instead, they took care of business and claimed the outright title.
BYU had a hit percentage at 45 percent during the match. Senior Taylen Ballard-Nixon had 12 kills to lead the way for the Cougars. The win closes BYU’s regular season at 15-1 in the WCC and 16-1 overall in a historic spring season.
.@BYUwvolleyball has captured the #WCCsports 🏆
The Cougs are 7️⃣-time WCC Champs!#WCCsports pic.twitter.com/ODUrq2PDka
— West Coast Conference (@WCCsports) March 31, 2021
Typically, women’s volleyball is played in the fall semester. Still, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WCC delayed all of its fall sports, forcing student-athletes to wait longer than expected to compete. BYU made the most of their opportunities blowing through a West Coast Conference race led by seniors Ballard-Nixon and Kennedy Eschenberg.
BYU will now prepare for a bid in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Selection Show takes place on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPNU. BYU has gone to eight consecutive NCAA Tournaments, advancing to at least the Second Round during this impressive run. In 2014, BYU made a run all the way to the NCAA Tournament Final before falling to Penn State.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.
