Cougars Roll in Sweep of Ragin Cajuns

COLLEGE STATION -- In a break-out match, the BYU women's volleyball team's offense was in high-gear as it swept Louisiana-Lafayette 30-28, 30-22, 30-17 Friday to kick-off the 2002 McDonald's Texas A&M Invitational. The win improves the Cougars to 4-5, while the Ragin Cajuns record evens at 4-4.

"I thought we played really well today," head coach Karen Lamb said. "The starting unit was starting to develop consistency within the system, which we really haven't had this season."

For the match BYU hit a season-high .377 while limiting the Louisiana-Lafayette attack to a .115 attack percentage. BYU played progressively stronger as the match wore on and April Varner led the Cougar charge with 15 kills to go with a career-high .448 hitting percentage.

The first game was a seesaw battle as neither team led by more than three points. BYU took the early lead at 5-2 on a kill by Varner, but Louisiana-Lafayette went on a 0-4 run capped by a Stacey Cole kill to put the Cougars in a 5-6 hole. The Ragin Cajuns put the Cougars down 10-11 and the teams traded points, but BYU wouldn't see the lead again until a Cole error put BYU up 23-22. The critical junction that handed BYU the momentum came with the Cougars down 23-25 when they went on a 5-0 run capped by a Sahara Castillo service ace.

The Cougars were never down the rest of the match as they jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the second game. BYU stretched its lead to as many as eight points but Louisiana-Lafayette pulled to within three points at 24-21, before the Cougars went on a 5-0 run to cap the game.

In the third game, BYU played its most dominating volleyball of the season as it hit a season-high .464. Five attack errors by the Ragin Cajuns contributed to a quick 10-2 BYU lead; as the Cougars cruised to seal the match on a Laura Nielsen kill.

Blocking continues to be a strength for the Cougars as they outblocked the Ragin Cajuns 12-0, led by a match-high seven blocks from Carrie Bowers.

While Varner led the Cougars offensively, Bowers, Lindsey Metcalf and Laura Nielsen balanced out the BYU attack with eight kills apiece. Karina Puikkonen continues to display her multi-faceted game as she had 37 assists and seven kills with no attack errors while hitting a match-high .636. She also compiled six blocks, two service aces and two digs. Metcalf also contributed a career-high 18 digs.

Stacey Cole and Priscilla Lima lead the Ragin Cajun's, but their attack was stifled by the Cougar defense as they recorded 18 and 13 kills, respectively, but were limited to hitting .160 and .281.

BYU will play two matches on Saturday; starting with Sam Houston State at 11 a.m. (CDT) and the tournament concluding match against No. 16 Texas A&M at 7 p.m.

                              Volleyball Box Score
    BYU Cougars vs Louisiana-Lafayette (Sep 13, 2002 at College Station, TX)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  7   0  11  .636| 37|  2   0|  0|  2| 0  6  1|  1
 3  VARNER, April.......  3| 15   2  29  .448|  1|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  1  1|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  8   2  21  .286|  6|  0   3|  0| 18| 0  3  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  8   1  16  .438|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 1  6  1|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  8   3  15  .333|  1|  0   2|  1|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3|  2   2  10  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 10 WEBB, Erin..........  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  1|  2   0   2 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 50  10 106  .377| 47|  3   6|  3| 48| 1 22  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  3  36  .389   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  5  42  .310   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  4-5
   3  15  2  28  .464   Louisiana-Lafayette. 28 22 17  4-4
    Louisiana-Lafayette    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Laires, Clarice.....  3|  5   2  16  .188|  1|  0   2|  2| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 3  Henson, Beth........  3|  2   3  11 -.091| 37|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  0  1|  0
 8  Tough, Lesley.......  3|  3   4  16 -.062|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 9  Bermes, Lindsey.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 13 Lima, Priscilla.....  3| 13   4  32  .281|  1|  0   0|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  1
 15 Cole, Stacey........  3| 18  10  50  .160|  1|  2   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 5  Byrnes, Connie......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Liverett, Stacy.....  3|  3   5  14 -.143|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 44  28 139  .115| 42|  3   7|  3| 39| 0  0  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 0.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  8  49  .224   Site: College Station, TX (G. Rollie White Col.)
   2  13  9  51  .078   Date: Sep 13, 2002   Attend: 75   Time: 1:15
   3  12 11  39  .026   Referees: Kathy Ferarraccio, Mary Blalock

Cougars Continue Playing, Complete Eight Matches in 10 Days

After getting back on a winning track Tuesday with a sweep of Weber State, the BYU women's volleyball team will travel to College Station, Texas, to participate in the Texas A&M Invitational this weekend. Continuing a grueling string of matches, the Cougars will play Louisiana Lafayette Friday, and Sam Houston State and No. 16 Texas A&M Saturday.

In sweeping the Wildcats, BYU (3-5, 0-0 Mountain West Conference) recorded its first sweep of the season and it was the first time the Cougars have won the first game in a match this season.

"We're really starting to improve as a team," head coach Karen Lamb said. "We're still a young, inexperienced team, but we'll only get better as we play more games."

All 13 of the active players on the Cougar roster have seen time on the court this season, as BYU searches for a consistent mix. Although BYU is being outhit this year (.122 to .179), the Cougars attack showed spark against the Wildcats as they hit for a higher percentage with each successive game.

The Cougars are led by the all-around play of junior setter Karina Puikkonen, who is averaging 9.45 assists and 1.31 kills per game with a .280 attack percentage to go with 1.66 digs and 1.34 blocks per game.

The strength of the Cougars this year has been their blocking, as they have outblocked six of eight opponents this season. On the year, BYU holds a 3.47 to 2.38 bpg advantage over its opponents. The blocking brigade is led by BYU's two new starting middleblockers, junior Carrie Bowers and redshirt freshman Lexi Brown, who are averaging 1.39 and 1.59 bpg.

Brown was injured in the second game of the Cougars' match Tuesday. She sprained her knee, and will have an MRI Wednesday night to determine the extent of the injury. As a result Brown will not accompany the team to Texas.

All of BYU's opponents carry winning 2002 records into the tournment, with a cumulative record of 15-6.

The Cougars will meet the Rajun' Cajuns for the first time in what will be a battle of first-year head coaches. BYU is 2-0 all-time against Sam Houston State, with the last meeting a 2-0 Cougar sweep in 1980.

The Cougars hold a 9-1 edge in head-to-head match-ups with the Aggies. The last time the two teams met, BYU defeated Texas A&M in five games at the 1997 NCAA East Regional Semifinals.

For the tournament, the Cougars will play Louisiana-Lafayette Friday at 5 p.m. On Saturday, BYU will play Sam Houston State at 11 a.m. and Texas A&M at 7 p.m.

TEXAS A&M INVITATIONAL
G. Rollie White Coliseum (7,800)
College Station, Texas
FRIDAY, SEPT. 13
BYU vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (4-3) -- 5 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 14
BYU vs. Sam Houston State -- 11 a.m.
BYU at No. 16 Texas A&M -- 7 p.m.