PROVO -- BYU improved to 8-1 on the season as the Cougars defeated New Mexico in three games Friday night, 30-18, 30-21, 30-15. The Cougars are perfect in the Mountain West Conference this season, improving to 2-0, while New Mexico dropped to 2-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

"When you play a young team like we did tonight you need to work on your goals," BYU head coach Elaine Michaelis said. "We improved our team attack percentage and we made less errors."

The Cougars dominated the match against the young Lobo squad, hitting .457 on the night with 54 team kills. Senior Jackie Bundy led BYU with a match-high 15 kills, six blocks and two service aces.

"Jackie played really well," Michaelis said. "Her hits were right where they needed to be and she made few errors."

Nina Puikkonen added 10 kills and one block assist to the Cougar victory, while Sunny Mahe put down 13 kills with a .647 attack percentage. Puikkonen's block assist ties her with Amy Steele Gant in second place on BYU's all-time total blocks list. Karina Puikkonen recorded 40 assists in a quick three-game match, while adding five kills and three blocks to her effort.

New Mexico's Malena Thompson led the Lobos with 12 kills, five digs and three blocks.

The match, played in front of a 1,160 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse, lasted an hour and fifteen minutes. Michaelis was able to clear the bench and give all 10 available players a chance to play.

BYU hosts Air Force Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse while the Lobos travel to Salt Lake to meet Utah.

Volleyball Box Score
        New Mexico Lobos vs BYU Cougars (Sep 28, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    New Mexico Lobos       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  REINES, Anna........  3|  4   9  23 -.217|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 2  HAYES, Lynzie.......  3|  4   5  15 -.067|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
 5  THOMPSON, Malena....  3| 12   4  26  .308|  0|  0   0|  4|  5| 1  2  0|  0|  14.0
 6  SHIELDS, Vanessa....  3|  6   0  13  .462|  1|  0   1|  3|  1| 1  0  0|  0|   7.0
 9  GRIFFIN, Kelly......  3|  1   2   8 -.125| 24|  0   3|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 15 TIXIER, Alex........  3|  0   0   2  .000|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  STEELE, Amy.........  3|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 10 BURNS, Blaire.......  3|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 11 MASTEN, Staci.......  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  3   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 28  21  93  .075| 27|  3   8|  7| 20| 2  7  0|  0|  36.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   9  5  34  .118   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  8  33  .061   New Mexico Lobos.... 18 21 15  2 - 8 ; 0 - 3 MWC
   3   9  8  26  .038   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  8 - 1 ; 2 - 0 MWC
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  3|  7   1  13  .462|  1|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  5   1   7  .571| 40|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  2|   7.5
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 10   2  18  .444|  0|  1   2|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|  11.5
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3| 15   4  24  .458|  3|  2   2|  1|  5| 1  5  1|  1|  20.5
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  2|  1   1|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  3| 13   2  17  .647|  0|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  15.0
 4  WARNICK, Becky......  1|  1   0   6  .167|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 6  STEELE, Lindsey.....  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  1|  1   2   4 -.250|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  12  92  .457| 46|  7   7|  3| 37| 1 12  1|  3|  68.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  3  36  .472   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  18  6  35  .343   Date: Sep 28, 2001   Attend: 1160   Time: 1H 15M
   3  16  3  21  .619   Referees: BRUCE GRANT, JOAN POWELL, KAREN MARSHALL