SAN FRANCISCO – Senior outside hitter Taylen Ballard-Nixon totaled a career-high 23 kills to help No. 15 BYU defeat San Francisco in four sets (25-15, 20-25, 26-24, 25-18) on Saturday in War Memorial Gym.

Ballard-Nixon recorded the 23 kills on a .316 clip and ended the match with 11 digs to post her third double-double of the year. Freshman outside hitter Erin Livingston finished the afternoon with new career highs of 18 kills and six blocks.

Senior middle blocker Kennedy Eschenberg was the third Cougar to record double-digit kills, totaling 10 on an efficient .474 clip. Sophomore setter Whitney Bower posted her third consecutive double-double with a career-high 52 assists and a team-high 16 digs.

BYU (10-1, 9-1 WCC) finished with a.338 hitting percentage and outblocked San Francisco (5-7, 5-7 WCC) 10-5 on the day.

Final Box Score

SET ONE
Ballard-Nixon had a pair of kills and a solo block as the Cougars jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage to start the first game. Three consecutive kills by Livingston increased the lead to 16-8. Ballard-Nixon and Livingston tacked on two more kills each as BYU took the set 25-15.

SET TWO
After trailing 4-1 to begin the second game, freshman middle blocker Leilani Dodson fueled a 7-3 Cougar run with a kill and solo block to give BYU an 8-7 edge. The Dons immediately reclaimed the lead and remained in control for the remainder of the second set, winning the game 25-20.

SET THREE
Neither team could find much separation in the third game as the two teams battled to a 12-12 tie. Four different Cougars connected on kills to help BYU take a two-point edge, 21-19. A kill by Eschenberg broke a tie at 24 and a Ballard-Nixon kill ended the set, 26-24.

SET FOUR
Ballard-Nixon and Dodson had three kills apiece to put the Cougars up 10-8 to start the fourth set. Ballard-Nixon connected on three more kills to increase BYU’s advantage to 18-15. Livingston added three more kills late in the game, scoring the final point of the set to secure the win for BYU, 25-18.

The Cougars will return home to host a pair of matches against Pacific in the Smith Fieldhouse. The two matches are scheduled for March 12-13 and both have 1 p.m. MST start times. Broadcast information for both matches can be found on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.

PROVO, Utah – No. 15 BYU women’s volleyball will face San Francisco March 5-6 at the War Memorial Gym in San Francisco.

The two matches are both scheduled to start at 1 p.m. PST and will be streamed on the WCC Network.

No. 15 BYU Cougars (8-1, 7-1 WCC)

• BYU remained in the top 15 of the AVCA national poll for the fifth week in a row
• The Cougars moved to 8-1 and 7-1 in league play after splitting its series at Pepperdine last week
• BYU ranks No. 9 in the NCAA DI in assists per set (13.61), No. 13 in hitting percentage (.287), No. 26 in kills per set (14.16) and No. 30 in aces per set (1.87) – the Cougars lead the WCC in each of the four categories
• In the WCC, sophomore setter Whitney Bower ranks No. 2 in aces per set (0.45) and No. 3 in assists per set (10.39)
• Senior outside hitter Taylen Ballard-Nixon leads the team with an average of 3.36 points per set and 133 total points while averaging 3.68 kills per set (114 total)
• Defensively, senior middle blocker Kennedy Eschenberg leads the team in blocks per set with an average of 1.10 (22 total) and freshman libero Madi Allen leads the team with 4.42 digs per set (137 total)

Series Information

• BYU is 20-0 all-time against San Francisco, including 9-0 on the road
• BYU head coach Heather Olmstead is 10-0 against the Dons, 5-0 in San Francisco

San Francisco Dons (5-5, 5-5 WCC)

• San Francisco lost consecutive matches to No. 18 San Diego last week to drop to .500 on the season and in league play
• Four of the five matches won by the Dons have gone to five sets
• Junior outside hitter McKenna Marshall leads the team with 166 kills (3.86 kills/set), 12 aces (0.28 aces/set), and 187.5 points (4.36)
• Defensively, sophomore middle blocker Orsula Staka leads the Dons with 42 blocks (0.98 blocks/set) and senior libero Anna Dalla Vecchia has totaled 208 digs (4.84 digs/set)

Broadcast Information – March 5

• Time: 1 p.m. PST
• Live Stream: WCC Network
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Broadcast Information – March 6

• Time: 1 p.m. PST
• Live Stream: WCC Network
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast