Wilson and Richards Named to All-Tournament Team

UNIVERSITY PARK -- The Cougars dropped a tough match vs. No. 8 Penn State Saturday night, losing in four games to conclude the Penn State Classic with a 2-1 record.

After defeating Rutgers in a long five game match earlier Saturday afternoon, BYU managed to keep the match tight through the first two games, falling 26-30 in the first and stealing the second from the Nittany Lions 30-27 as they hit a combined .241. But Penn State took over from there, winning handily by scores of 30-17 and 30-11 while holding the Cougars to an uncharacteristic .000 combined hitting percentage with 16 kills and 16 errors in both games.

"We played pretty well in the first two games," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "But then we hit a brick well in games three and four. We just broke down, especially in our passing."

Despite a disappointing .128 overall hitting percentage, there were some highlights for the Cougars in the loss. Junior Kim Wilson recorded her second double-double of the day on 15 kills and 10 digs and redshirt freshman Erica Lott picked up 13 kills, the first double-digit kills outing of her young career. Lexi Brown rounded out BYU's offensive output with 10 kills while Lindsey Metcalf anchored the defense with 18 digs and Lindsy Hartsock put up 8 blocks to control the net.

Three players recorded double-digit kills for the Nittany Lions as senior Ashley Pederson led all players with 19 kills and Sydnie Nadeau and Cassy Salyer added 14 and 10 kills, respectively enroute to a .252 team hitting percentage.

Wilson and junior setter Lauren Richards, who averaged 49 assists per match over the two-day tournament, were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts, the third such award for both players in their careers.

"Everyone put forth a good effort," Lamb said. "This was a good learning experience for us. We're a pretty physical team but we just need to work out the details."

BYU will now return home to prepare to host the annual Mizuno Classic. The Cougars will meet Memphis on Friday night at 7:30 in their home-opener before taking on Oklahoma and Central Florida on Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse at 2:30 and 7:30 respectively. Friday night's match will be broadcast on BYU Radio and fans can keep track of all the matches with live stats available through the BYU women's volleyball home page at www.byucougars.com.

"We're looking forward to the Mizuno Tournament and to playing at home in front of our fans," said Lamb. "We are going to keep improving."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
        BYU Cougars vs Penn State (Sep 04, 2004 at University Park, Pa.)
    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.......  1|  0   3   6 -.500|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  4|  8   4  20  .200| 46|  0   0|  0| 13| 0  1  1|  1|   8.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  4| 15   8  37  .189|  2|  2   3|  4| 10| 0  3  0|  0|  18.5
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  4| 10   2  26  .308|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  2  1|  0|  11.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 13   8  41  .122|  1|  0   3|  1|  9| 1  2  2|  0|  15.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4|  4   3  16  .062|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  7  1|  1|   7.5
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3|  2   3   5 -.200|  1|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 2  KIHOLM, Mandi.......  3|  3   3  11  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  2|  0|   4.0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 PARKER, Catherine...  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  2|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 21 KEMP, Annie.........  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 55  34 164  .128| 54|  3  11|  7| 71| 1 18  7|  2|  68.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18 13  45  .111   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  21  5  42  .381   BYU Cougars......... 26 30 17 11  2-1
   3   9 10  43 -.023   Penn State.......... 30 27 30 30  3-0
   4   7  6  34  .029
    Penn State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Nadeau, Syndie......  4| 14   3  29  .379|  3|  1   1|  1| 10| 0  4  0|  0|  17.0
 3  Eshleman, Tabitha...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 6  Tortorello, Sam.....  4|  3   1  12  .167| 46|  1   0|  0| 13| 1  2  0|  0|   6.0
 12 Holm, Kim...........  4|  8   2  13  .462|  2|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0|  10.0
 14 Salyer, Cassy.......  4| 10   5  25  .200|  2|  0   0|  0|  2| 2  4  2|  0|  14.0
 15 Pederson, Ashley....  4| 19   4  47  .319|  2|  1   0|  0|  9| 3  0  0|  0|  23.0
 5  Brown, Kris.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  Fidler, Ashley......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  Walters, Kaleena....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  3   3|  1| 21| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 16 Price, Kate.........  4|  8   6  37  .054|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   9.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 62  21 163  .252| 57|  7   5|  3| 66| 6 16  2|  0|  83.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  4  38  .263   Site: University Park, Pa. (Recreation Building)
   2  18  7  46  .239   Date: Sep 04, 2004   Attend: 2704   Time: 2:02
   3  15  7  41  .195   Referees: Patty Salvatore, Kurt Fulmer
   4  15  3  38  .316

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."