PROVO -- The No. 19 BYU women's volleyball team came out slow but dominated down the stretch Saturday night as the Cougars defeated the New Mexico Lobos, 30-32, 30-22, 30-18, 30-21, in the Smith Fieldhouse, improving to 15-2 overall and 6-1 in the Mountain West Conference.

"We definitely got better as the match went on," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We ended better than we started, and that's an encouraging thing. We showed a lot of determination."

Junior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman once again led BYU with 23 kills and 16 digs. She was joined in double figures on offense by Lindsy Hartsock with 16 kills, Kim Wilson Sorensen with 14, Erica Lott with 14 and Marisa Vandersteen with 10 -- a career high. Vandersteen also led the Cougars in hitting efficiency with a .667 mark in just her second career start.

Sophomore setter Amy Schlauder also had a career night in just her second match back after recovering from a broken finger suffered on Sept. 7. Schlauder recorded a career-high 70 assists, surpassing the 66 she posted on Friday night, to go along with a personal-best 10 digs, marking the first double-double of her career.

"Having Amy back is great," said Hartsock. "She's a strong presence for us who always works hard. Her leadership on the court is very important to us."

Game one was all Cougars from the start as BYU came out firing on all cylinders and built a 13-5 lead. But Cougar miscues helped spark an 8-2 Lobo run, reducing the lead to just 15-13. BYU kept its composure and held on until a 7-1 New Mexico spurt put the Lobos up 23-21 and left the Cougars looking for answers. They got them from Vandersteen. The redshirt freshman, who started in place of the injured Rachel Dyer, recorded a block and a kill to help BYU tie things up at 27-27. From there the two teams battled back and forth as the Cougars fought off two game points until a kill and another Cougar error sealed the deal for the Lobos, 32-30.

A completely different theme emerged in game two as the Cougars dominated in every aspect of the game. BYU managed to turn a .082 game-one hitting percentage into a sizzling .500 mark on the way to a 30-22 win in which the Cougars never trailed. Goodman contributed six kills and four digs in the game to claim her 11th double-double of the season. Game three was much the same as BYU took control from the start with a 12-5 lead featuring back-to-back-to-back kills from Hartsock. The Cougars cruised from there, notching the 30-18 win.

With their backs against the wall, the Lobos fought back in game four, overcoming an early 7-4 deficit to tie things up at 8-8. But BYU once again proved dominant, challenging the UNM defense on every point while posting a .531 hitting percentage and recording a 30-21 win.

The Cougars will now hit the road to finish the first half of conference play at Wyoming on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
     New Mexico Lobos vs #19 BYU Cougars (Oct 07, 2006 at Smith Fieldhouse)
    New Mexico Lobos       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  THERKELSEN, Kelly...  4| 10   2  27  .296|  4|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 4  KWASIGROCH, Sarah...  4|  4   0   6  .667| 40|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  0  1|  0
 5  INGRAM, Joelle......  4|  4   2  19  .105|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  2|  0
 6  MORRIS, Rose........  4| 16   9  50  .140|  3|  1   0|  4| 11| 0  2  0|  0
 9  SUITER, Allison.....  4|  8   2  18  .333|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 10 FAIRCHILD, Jeanne...  4| 12   7  40  .125|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  3  1|  0
 1  TRIPP, Gayle........  4|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   1|  3|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 8  CRAWLEY, Kathleen...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 15 HEASTY, Jennifer....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   3|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 54  22 161  .199| 49|  4   9|  8| 45| 0 12  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  47  .213   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  4  38  .289   New Mexico Lobos.... (1) 32 22 18 21  6-12, 2-5
   3  10  5  40  .125   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30 30  15-2, 6-1
   4  13  7  36  .167
    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....  4| 23   8  49  .306|  1|  1   4|  0| 16| 0  4  0|  0
 8  VANDERSTEEN, Marisa.  4| 10   0  15  .667|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  5  1|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 14  10  38  .105|  0|  2   3|  2|  9| 0  5  2|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4| 16   1  24  .625|  0|  1   0|  0|  5| 0  6  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  4|  3   1   4  .500| 70|  3   0|  0| 10| 0  3  1|  2
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   1|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  4| 14   4  31  .323|  2|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  1|  0
 16 LAU, Stephanie......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 80  24 161  .348| 74|  8   8|  4| 66| 0 23  5|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17 13  49  .082   Site: Smith Fieldhouse (Elaine Michaelis)
   2  21  3  36  .500   Date: Oct 07, 2006   Attend: 1813   Time: 1 h 57 m
   3  22  5  44  .386   Referees: Gary Houghton, Daphne Nelson, Karen Marshall
   4  20  3  32  .531

PROVO -- After stepping out of Mountain West Conference play Tuesday night to record its 10th sweep of the season at UVSC, the No. 19 BYU women's volleyball team returns to league action this weekend, hosting TCU on Friday and New Mexico on Saturday in 7 p.m. matches.

"This is an important conference weekend for our program," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "The process of continual improvement becomes a challenge when facing confident and well-coached conference opponents. TCU and UNM are physical, which will pose some trouble for our team."

At 13-2 overall and 4-1 in the MWC, the Cougars are anxious to return to the friendly confines of the Smith Fieldhouse, where they are 15-1 over the past two seasons. BYU also boasts the seventh-best attendance average in the nation at 2,380 fans per match, bolstered by a Cougar women's volleyball record 4,455 fans last Friday night when BYU squared off against in-state rival Utah.

Injuries are still plaguing BYU as the Cougars could be without the services of top hitter Erica Lott due to back problems and starting setter Amy Schlauder, who is still out with a broken finger. Lott is listed as day-to-day while Schlauder is not expected to be ready until next week. Back-up setter Jenna Judkins suffered a sprained ankle last week but recorded double-doubles against both Utah and UVSC.

The Horned Frogs are 14-4 overall and 3-2 so far this season in Mountain West Conference play, including wins against Wyoming, Air Force and San Diego State and losses vs. Colorado State and UNLV. Junior middle blocker Anna Vaughn currently leads TCU and is sixth in the league with 3.79 kills per game on .349 hitting, fourth in the conference. Vaughn is also fourth in the MWC in blocks in conference play with 1.35. BYU leads the all-time series 7-0, including three wins last season.

The Lobos are 6-10 overall this season and 2-3 so far in Mountain West Conference play with wins against Air Force and San Diego State and losses vs. Wyoming, Colorado State and UNLV. Sophomore outside hitter Jeanne Fairchild leads the Lobo attack with 3.02 kills per game while adding 1.24 digs per game. Sophomore libero Gayle Tripp ranks fourth in the league with 4.57 digs per game. The Cougars are 58-7 all-time against the Lobos and have not lost to UNM since 1995.

Friday night's match will be available live on BYU-TV and then re-aired several times over the course of the following week on the mtn.; the complete broadcast schedule can be found by clicking on the BYU Women's Volleyball 2006 Broadcast Schedule article on the BYU women's volleyball homepage at www.byucougars.com. A live video/audio stream of both matches as well as live stats will be available by going to the Schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage.