UNIVERSITY PARK -- The Cougars narrowly escaped Rutgers Saturday at the Penn State Classic, winning a close 3-2 (30-27, 30-18, 22-30, 29-31, 15-10) contest in their final tune-up before facing No. 8 Penn State in the night cap.

"We had lots of good things going on and if we had done a better job serving and passing we would've won this match in three games," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "But I thought we did a nice job of keeping our composure and coming out strong in the fifth game."

BYU dominated the Scarlet Knights in the first two games of the match, hitting a combined .412 percent on 36 kills while holding Rutgers to just .072 hitting on 19 kills and 14 errors.

But Rutgers, 11-17 in 2003, stormed back in games three and four, reversing roles to bring BYU's offensive production down from .469 hitting in the second game to just .237 in the third game and earning the 30-22 win. BYU trailed almost the entire way through game four before rallying to tie the score at 29. Rutgers proved to be too resilient, however, picking up the last two points to take the game at 31-29.

The two squads waged war in game five, battling back and forth on every point until a kill by Lindsy Hartsock sparked a 7-0 BYU run to give the Cougars a 14-8 lead. Three points later, on a kill by Kim Wilson, BYU had the 15-10 victory.

Two Cougars recorded double-doubles in the match. Kim Wilson picked up 21 kills and 14 digs to mark the first time a BYU player has notched more than 20 kills in a match since Wilson did it against Penn State in the 10th match of the season last year. Senior April Varner added 16 kills and 13 digs and junior Lexi Brown also contributed 16 kills. Middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock, recovering from a sprained ankle, played in all five games and put up 6 blocks for the Cougars in a great defensive effort as well as leading the Cougars with a .667 hitting percentage that featured 8 kills and no errors.

Overall, the Cougars hit .354, including an incredible .786 in the fifth game, on 76 kills and only 19 errors while holding Rutgers to just .222 hitting on 65 kills. BYU also out-blocked the Scarlet Knights 14-10 and out-dug them 67-58.

A total of 11 Cougars saw action with redshirt freshmen Erica Lott and Catherine Parker making just their second collegiate starts and true freshman Chelsea Goodman making her second collegiate match appearance

BYU, now 2-0, will conclude the Classic by playing host Penn State, ranked No. 8, Saturday night. The two teams have played an even 4-4 series to this point, with BYU winning the most recent match-up 3-2 in last year's Mizuno Classic. Penn State also won its first two games of the season to move to a 2-0 record. Live stats are available by visiting the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball home page at www.byucougars.com.

"We can do a lot of good things against Penn State," Lamb said. "We're looking forward to the opportunity to be in the game at the end and hopefully pull off the upset."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
         Rutgers vs BYU Cougars (Sep 04, 2004 at University Park, Pa.)
    Rutgers                |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Christjaener, Dawn..  5|  1   1   9  .000|  2|  1   1|  1| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 7  Thiry, Addie........  5|  7   0  13  .538|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|   8.5
 9  Young, Ashleigh.....  5|  7   5  18  .111|  0|  2   2|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0|  11.5
 10 Travioli, Stephanie.  5| 18   3  41  .366|  3|  1   1|  2|  7| 2  3  1|  0|  22.5
 13 Yankauskas, Lora....  5| 14   6  34  .235|  1|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  1|  0|  15.0
 14 Martin, Abbey.......  5|  5   1  10  .400| 47|  3   1|  1|  6| 0  1  1|  0|   8.5
 1  Greenwald, Jocelyn..  5|  0   0   4  .000|  0|  1   3|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 5  Meyer, Amanda.......  1|  1   1   4  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 8  Stout, Courtney.....  5| 11   6  28  .179|  2|  3   5|  2| 15| 0  2  1|  1|  15.0
 15 Castillo, Casey.....  3|  1   4  10 -.300|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 65  27 171  .222| 56| 11  13|  8| 58| 2 16  4|  1|  86.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  6  32  .125   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2   9  8  37  .027   Rutgers............. 27 18 30 31 10  0-2
   3  21  3  43  .419   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 22 29 15  2-0
   4  17  7  42  .238
   5   8  3  17  .294
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VARNER, April.......  5| 16   6  43  .233|  1|  1   0|  4| 13| 0  1  0|  0|  17.5
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  5|  7   3  17  .235| 62|  1   4|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  2|   9.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  5| 21   4  41  .415|  1|  2   4|  3| 14| 0  4  0|  0|  25.0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  5| 16   3  26  .500|  0|  0   3|  1|  9| 0  2  2|  0|  17.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5|  7   2  16  .312|  3|  2   3|  1|  3| 0  4  2|  0|  11.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5|  8   0  12  .667|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 2  8  0|  0|  14.0
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  2   1|  2| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 12 PARKER, Catherine...  3|  1   1   6  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|   2.0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 76  19 161  .354| 71|  8  17| 11| 67| 2 24  4|  2|  98.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  5  36  .361   Site: University Park, Pa. (Recreation Building)
   2  18  3  32  .469   Date: Sep 04, 2004   Attend:     Time: 2:14
   3  15  6  38  .237   Referees: Kurt Fulmer, Patty Salvatore
   4  14  5  41  .220
   5  11  0  14  .786

PROVO -- After an offseason which saw eight newcomers added to its roster, the BYU women's volleyball team will open its 36th recorded season at the Penn State Classic Tournament on the campus of Pennsylvania State University.

Held in University Park, Pa., the Cougars will play one match on Friday against Quinnipiac at 7:30 p.m. BYU will then face Rutgers on Saturday at 1 p.m. and conclude the Tournament against No. 8 Penn State Saturday evening at 8 p.m. All times are Mountain Daylight Time.

"We're excited to get some experience playing in an actual match before meeting Penn State in the third match," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We're pretty evenly matched and I know it will come down to who does the little things, especially in terms of serving and passing. Our plan is just to focus on the task at hand."

With players seemingly evenly matched, the coaching staff waited until this week to announce the starting lineup.

Junior All-Mountain West Conference setter Lauren Richards returns to quarterback the attack and redshirt freshman Erica Lott will make her Cougar debut on the rightside. After a break-out freshman year in which she earned MWC Freshman of the Year honors, preseason All-MWC sophomore Lindsy Hartsock will lead BYU's blocking efforts along with junior Lexi Brown in the middle.

On the outside senior April Varner and junior Kim Wilson have gotten the starting nod. Redshirt freshman Lindsey Evans will also make her Cougar debut as BYU's starting libero.

A pair of seniors with starting experience, outside hitter Lindsey Metcalf and rightside hitter Mandi Kiholm could also see significant court action.

"We have more firepower from hitters than we've had in the past couple of years, which is very exciting," said Lamb. "Having a better offense will also make our defense better. I think our blocking has improved and we're ready to go."

Here's a look at the teams that will take the floor against the Cougars this weekend.

QUINNIPIAC

The Bobcats return 11 letterwinners and five starters from last year's 6-20 team, having lost only three letterwinners. Top returners include 5-10 senior setter Janka Lopatta, who averaged 6.92 assists per game last year, and Kalyn Hundley, a 5-11 sophomore outside hitter who put up 2.30 kills per game in 2003. Head coach Makeba Davis returns for his sixth season after leading Quinnipiac to a 4-4 Northeastern Conference record.

This is the first meeting between BYU and the Bobcats and will be the season-opening match for both teams.

RUTGERS

BYU will take on the Scarlet Knights in the second match of the Penn State Classic on Saturday afternoon, marking the third meeting of the two teams. BYU owns a 2-0 advantage in those matches, the first being in 1998 and the second being in last season's Florida Invitational, a match which the Cougars swept.

Rutgers returns eleven letterwinners and five starters from last year's 11-17 team, including senior outside hitter Dawn Christjaener, who posted 3.41 kills per game and 2.49 digs per game in 2003, as well as senior setter Abbey Martin who quarterbacked the attack with 11.10 assists per game. Head coach Ann Leonard-House returns for her 11th season at the helm of the Rutgers program.

The Scarlet Knights will open their season facing host Penn State Friday night before meeting the Cougars.

PENN STATE

Preseason No. 8 Penn State awaits BYU in the final match of the Classic Saturday evening. The Nittany Lions return nine letterwinners and five starters on a team that went 31-5 in 2003 and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals. Second Team All-American setter Sam Tortorello will be back to run the offense after averaging 13.48 assists per game last season. Head coach Russ Rose will be looking for his 800th win during the tournament, owning a 799-148 mark in 25 seasons.

BYU and Penn State have an even 4-4 record in this series. The two teams' most recent meeting came last season in the BYU Mizuno Classic when the Cougars stunned the then No. 8 Lions, winning three games to two: 21-30, 30-27, 30-23, 26-30, 15-13.

Penn State will open against Rutgers Friday evening before facing Quinnipiac in the Saturday afternoon game and BYU in the tournament closer.

"We have a long and good series going with Penn State," said Lamb. "We look forward to a challenging and exciting opportunity to compete against them."