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BYU Women’s Volleyball: With another WCC title in hand, more milestones loom

By Shaun Gordon

ATHENS - AUGUST 21: Shadow image of celebration by the USA team during their men's indoor Volleyball preliminary match against Australia on August 21, 2004 during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Peace and Friendship Stadium part of the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
ATHENS - AUGUST 21: Shadow image of celebration by the USA team during their men's indoor Volleyball preliminary match against Australia on August 21, 2004 during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Peace and Friendship Stadium part of the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) /
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BYU Women’s Volleyball earned the West Coast Conference Championship with their win on Thursday, but they still have to focus on their final two matches.

On Thursday night BYU Women’s Volleyball made the inevitable official.

The Cougars clinched the outright West Coast Conference Championship, and they did it with two matches still to play. It’s the fifth consecutive year that the Cougars have won at least a share of the WCC title.

Even with the conference in hand, there’s still plenty more to play for even before the NCAA Tournament begins.

BYU has already set a program record for most matches won to start a season, surpassing 23 straight from the 1977 team, but there’s two more records they can set this season.

The fewest losses a Cougar team has ever had in a season is two (1970-72). If BYU finishes the regular season undefeated that record is automatically broken.

More importantly, The current record for most consecutive matches won sits at 28, set in 1992. Finishing the regular season unbeaten would tie that record, with one win in the NCAA Tournament breaking it.

Of course the coaches and players likely don’t care much about breaking program records. They care about winning a national championship.

The tournament will be the ultimate litmus test for the Cougars, as they’ll look to prove that they really are the No. 1 team in the nation, but the last two regular season games will be key in their tournament run.

Right BYU is perfect, the only unbeaten team in the nation. That zero in the loss column is the reason that they’re ranked as the country’s top team. One loss and they’ll tumble from that lofty perch.

Especially with Stanford sitting right behind them. The Cardinal have only one loss: BYU. If the Cougars slip up in one of their final two games Stanford will certainly pass them, and a few other teams may slip past them as well.

Why is this important? The top four overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament get home-court advantage up to the Final Four. If the Cougars receive one of those spots they’ll get four straight home games in the tournament, and BYU’s home-court advantage is second to none.

The Cougars have their best opportunity in program history to make a deep tournament run, and two more wins will secure the best chance for them to make that run.

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