LAWRENCE -- The No. 16 BYU women's volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night at the Jayhawk Classic, falling 30-26, 30-24, 30-23 to the University of Kansas. With the loss, the Cougars are now 6-1 on the season.

"As our program continues to mature, we're going to see evenings when we face adversity," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We have to learn how to rise above. As difficult as this was for our athletes, we have to learn from it, get better and move on."

Junior Erica Lott led the Cougars with 13 kills in the match while fellow junior Chelsea Goodman paced BYU with 10 digs. Sophomore Rachel Dyer recorded a season-high six blocks. Starting sophomore setter Amy Schlauder helped the Cougars record a .421 hitting percentage in game one but was injured in the process, eventually having to sit out game three.

The Cougars never really took control of the match, with their largest lead coming early in game three at two points while the Jayhawks led by as many as nine. BYU came into the match hitting .323, which ranked ninth in the nation, but managed just a .250 mark against Kansas. However, the number of the night was .437 -- the Jayhawks' hitting percentage against a team that entered the match allowing opponents to hit just .129.

Kansas was led by junior rightside hitter Emily Brown with a match-high 20 kills. Brown was one of four Jayhawks in double figures on the night, including senior Jana Correa who recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs.

BYU will be back in action on Friday afternoon in the second match of the Jayhawk Classic facing the 6-0 Arkansas Razorbacks. The contest will begin at 3 p.m. CT and can be followed via live stats or on BYU Radio. Both are available by going to the Schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

"There's still a lot of volleyball left to play this season," said Watson. "Our goal is always to improve as the season progresses and end better than we start. We're excited to see what we can do against Arkansas."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
           #16 BYU Cougars vs Kansas (Sep 07, 2006 at Lawrence, Kan.)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3|  5   2  15  .200|  0|  0   0|  1| 10| 0  1  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 13   4  34  .265|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 1  1  1|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  7   1  11  .545|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  2|  1   0   1 1.000| 23|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  7   2  13  .385|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 3  3  0|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  2|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3|  3   4  17 -.059|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  1|  1   0   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  9|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  1
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 37  13  96  .250| 35|  3   3|  4| 27| 4  8  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  3  38  .421   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   7  4  26  .115   BYU Cougars......... (0) 26 24 23  6-1
   3  11  6  32  .156   Kansas.............. (3) 30 30 30  7-1
    Kansas                 |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Martincich, Katie...  3|  5   0   6  .833| 57|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  1  0|  4
 4  Correa, Jana........  3| 14   3  27  .407|  0|  1   2|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Brown, Emily........  3| 20   7  35  .371|  1|  1   2|  0|  4| 1  1  0|  0
 10 Williams, Brittany..  3| 12   3  19  .474|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 15 Hill, Megan.........  3|  7   2  15  .333|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 18 Noyes, Savannah.....  3| 11   1  16  .625|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0
 3  Mathewson, Jamie....  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  2|  0   3|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  1
 6  Grieb, Melissa......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  2|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 11 Mahoney, Caitlin....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Wittman, Dani.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  2   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 69  17 119  .437| 64|  4  11|  3| 42| 2  6  0|  5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23  3  37  .541   Site: Lawrence, Kan. (Horejsi FA Center)
   2  24  8  45  .356   Date: Sep 07, 2006   Attend: 917   Time: 1:33
   3  22  6  37  .432   Referees: Mike Hamilton, Tim Neels
                        ID-458471

PROVO -- The No. 16 BYU women's volleyball team will put its 6-0 record on the line this week at the Jayhawk Invitational hosted by the University of Kansas. The Cougars will take on the Jayhawks (6-1) Thursday at 7 p.m. CT before facing Arkansas (6-0) on Friday at 3 p.m. CT.

"Both Kansas and Arkansas are well coached and experienced teams," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "They play in outstanding volleyball conferences so the challenge for our program will be great. I believe this will be another great weekend to learn more about our team prior to opening MWC play."

BYU enters the week coming off of a spectacular weekend at the BYU Molten Classic. The Cougars won the tournament title with three wins, including a four-game upset of then-No. 4 Stanford in front of a BYU women's volleyball record 4,050 fans on Friday night. The team completed the event on Saturday with sweeps of Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Virginia Commonwealth.

Junior rightside hitter Erica Lott earned tournament MVP honors for the second week in a row and Mountain West Conference Player of the Week accolades after averaging 4.60 kills and 2.00 blocks per game. Senior middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock and sophomore setter Amy Schlauder were also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Kansas is currently 6-1 in 2006 after winning the Temple Classic last weekend. The Jayhawks' only loss came Aug. 26 at Alabama. Kansas is led by outside hitters Jana Correa and Emily Brown, who average 3.67 and 3.58 kills per game, respectively. Middle blocker Savannah Noyes adds 3.33 kpg. The Jayhawks' top blocker is freshman Brittany Williams with 1.00 blocks per game while senior libero Jamie Mathewson paces Kansas with 3.92 digs per game. As a team, the Jayhawks are hitting .273 while holding opponents to a .154 hitting mark. BYU is 3-0 all-time against Kansas.

Arkansas enters the Jayhawk Invitational undefeated in 2006 at 6-0, winning tournament titles at the Oklahoma Invitational and the Arkansas Invitational. The Razorback offense is led by senior outside hitter Denitza Koleva, who averages 3.79 kills per game while hitting .278. Senior middle blocker Amy Allison records 1.38 blocks per game while freshman Destiny Clark adds 1.29 bpg. Junior libero Ashley Miller leads Arkansas with 4.54 digs per game. As a team, the Lady Razorbacks hit .241 while holding opponents to a .162 mark. BYU is 0-2 all-time against Arkansas.

Fans of BYU women's volleyball can catch all the action of the Jayhawk Classic in a variety of ways. In addition to live stats being available, BYU Radio will carry a live audio stream of the match over the Internet, both of which can be accessed by going to the Schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/. Live video will also be available for CSTV XXL subscribers via CSTV Online.