Smith Fieldhouse women's volleyball attendance record set with 3,553 fans

PROVO, Utah -- (Sept. 18, 1999) After a slow start, the BYU women's volleyball team survived to win a five-game match over No. 10 Pepperdine in front of a record 3,553 fans in the Smith Fieldhouse.

The No. 12 Cougars lost the first game to the Waves, but recovered and won the match 8-15, 15-10, 11-15, 15-8, 15-9.

"I thought we started off a little uptight," head coach Elaine Michaelis said. "Once we got into the flow of the game we played much better."

Strong serving was a key to the win for the Cougars. Sophomore middle blocker Jackie Bundy led the team with three service aces and junior Melissa Layton's powerful jump serve caused passing troubles for Pepperdine.

"I don't think we played our best offensively tonight so it was nice to get a win against such a good team," Michaelis said.

The Cougars were led offensively by sophomore middle blocker Nina Puikkonen who finished with 20 kills. Seniors Mari Carpenter and Caroline Bower added 16 and 15 kills, respectively. Bower also had 12 digs and five blocks.

Besides her serving success, Bundy finished the night one block away from a triple double. She ended the match with career highs of 10 kills, 11 digs and nine blocks to go along with her three service aces.

Senior Anna-Lena Smith came closer to setting the all-time assists record for the Cougars with her 64 assists against the Waves.

Pepperdine setter Melissa Plass, who suffered a concussion in a match against the University of Utah Friday, finished the night with 43 assists and 11 kills.

The win improved BYU's record to 6-1 and Pepperdine fell to 7-1. The Cougars will travel to the Stanford Invitational next Friday and Saturday to face California and No. 7 Stanford.