STOCKTON, Calif. – Seeking an upset, the Pacific volleyball team came up short in a straight-set loss to No. 4 BYU on Thursday night. The Tigers dropped three tightly contested sets to the Cougars, 25-20, 25-17 and 29-27. Pacific nearly took its first set from the Cougars at home since Oct. 8, 2015.
 
Pacific (12-15, 9-7 WCC) teammates Alexa Edwards (15 kills, 14 digs) and Jenna Heller (14 assists, 13 digs) each recorded a double double in the loss.
 
Brigham Young (26-1, 16-0 WCC), who has only dropped one set in conference play in 2021, posed a .222 hitting percentage as Kenzie Korber led the Cougars with 12 kills to go along with eight digs. Kennedy Eschenberg added eight kills and six blocks for the winning team.

"I think we are competing and getting better which is the main thing," said Pacific head coach Greg Gibbons. "We did some really good things out there, tonight." 

Set 1
The first set was tied on six occasions before BYU would go ahead on a kill by Eschenberg to spark four-straight points by the visitors, who would lead for the remainder of the set. Pacific managed to cut the deficit to one, 14-13 after three-straight points on kills by Edwards and Darina Kumanova to go along with a hitting error by BYU. The Cougars would go on to take the opening set by a 25-20 margin.
 
Set 2
The second set saw BYU lead from start to finish as they posted a .324 hitting percentage. The Cougars raced out to an early 7-1 lead in the set en route to the 25-17 set victory. Eschenberg had five kills and Koerber added four to pace the Cougars.
 
Set 3
The third set was the most tightly contested of the night as the set was tied on eight occasions and also had just one lead change. Pacific had a 15-13 lead that prompted a BYU timeout. The Cougars rallied to tie the set for the first time at 15 which started a back-and-forth affair between the two teams. Both teams struggled to get a solid advantage until the Cougars came away with the set as a result of a Pacific service error and a hitting error to close out the match en route to a 29-27 victory in the set.
 
Next, Pacific will host San Diego at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday at noon.