• Secured a Top 20 national ranking, NCAA Tournament berth and 25 or more wins for the eighth-straight season
• Beat eventual national champion Stanford for the second-consecutive year, the Cardinal's first home loss in three years
• Mary Lake became the program’s all-time digs leader, finishing with 1,898. Lake was named WCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and WCC Libero of the Year
• McKenna Miller was named WCC Player of the Year and finished 11th in program history with 1,446 kills
• Finished 19th in hitting percentage and 24th in opponent hitting percentage nationally
Season Review
The 2019 BYU women’s volleyball season culminated in yet another 25-win season and NCAA Tournament berth as the Cougars once again finished among the top teams in the nation.
Finishing with a record of 26-5, BYU notched wins on the road against eventual national champion Stanford and Utah with the Cougars only losses coming to nationally ranked NCAA Tournament teams. BYU reached the postseason for the eighth-straight year as the No. 14 seed, advancing to the second round.
The Cougars were ranked every week of the season, ending at No. 17 in the final AVCA poll. In addition to a strong nonconference, BYU swept every West Coast Conference opponent except league winner San Diego to place second in the conference at 16-2.
BYU opened with two wins in the BYU Nike Invitational against Boise State and UVU before falling to No. 16 Marquette. After winning the BYU doTERRA Classic, the Cougars won two of three at the Shocker Volleyball Classic, only losing in four sets to No. 3 Texas.
The Cougars then played two of their toughest opponents in three days, first traveling to play at No. 18 Utah where BYU came away with a 3-1 victory behind 22 kills from McKenna Miller and 17 digs by Mary Lake. Two days later, the Cougars went to No. 2 and eventual national champion Stanford, winning in four sets to give the Cardinal its first home loss since 2016.
The two wins were part of a 10-match win streak broken only by a five-set loss to San Diego in Provo, the first of two five-setters against the Toreros. The Cougars hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, sweeping past New Mexico State before losing in a rematch to No. 17 Utah.
Libero Mary Lake closed out her outstanding career with VolleyballMag.com Third Team and AVCA honorable mention All-America citations while being named the WCC's best defender for the third year in a row. Lake broke the BYU all-time career digs record on Nov. 7 against Santa Clara and finished her career first in digs per set and seventh in sets played all-time at BYU and first in digs, third in sets played and seventh in aces in the BYU career rally scoring records. A fan favorite, Lake also excelled as an accounting student on her way to being named Academic All-District and a Senior CLASS Award finalist. Lake was also named the WCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
• Whitney Bower: VolleyballMag All-America honorable mention, VolleyballMag Freshman All-America honorable mention, All-WCC First Team
• Kennedy Eschenberg: All-Region honorable mention, All-WCC First Team, Academic All-District
• Heather Gneiting: All-Region First Team, All-WCC First Team
• Mary Lake: AVCA All-America honorable mention, VolleyballMag All-America Third Team, All-Region First Team, WCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, WCC Libero of the Year, All-WCC First Team, Academic All-District, Senior CLASS Award Finalist
• McKenna Miller: AVCA All-America honorable mention, VolleyballMag All-America Third Team, All-Region First Team, WCC Player of the Year, All-WCC First Team
Outside hitter McKenna Miller also wrapped up her four years as one of the most dynamic offensive players in Cougar history, earning VolleyballMag.com Third Team and AVCA honorable mention All-America citations after being named the WCC Player of the Year. Miller finished 11th in kills and 10th in attempts in the BYU all-time career records and fifth in matches with double-digit kills; sixth in kills, kills per set, attempts, points, and points per set; and eighth in sets played and attempts per set in the BYU rally scoring era career records.
Lake and Miller were joined by junior Kennedy Eschenberg, sophomore Heather Gneiting and freshman Whitney Bower on the All-WCC First Team.
Bower, a freshman setter, started every set for the Cougars on her way to being named VolleyballMag.com All-America honorable mention. Bower finished second in aces and aces per set, fourth in assists and sets played, sixth in assists per set, seventh in digs per set and eighth in digs in the BYU freshman record book.
Following the season at the end-of-year team banquet, Lake was given the Coaches Award, Riley Lyman the Strength and Conditioning Award, Taylen Ballard-Nixon the Most Improved Award and Eschenberg the Academic Award for highest GPA.
