PROVO -- With a feisty crowd of 3,880 packed in the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday night, the No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team upset No. 10 Wisconsin 3-2 (26-30, 30-25, 30-15, 26-30, 15-13) at the BYU Molten Classic.

The Cougars' opening-round match of the tournament coincided with BYU freshman orientation, bringing in the fourth-largest crowd in BYU women's volleyball history.

"The crowd gave me chills all night," Cougar senior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman said. "They're a huge part of playing here at BYU. It's good to win in front of that many people."

BYU put on a show for the fans as five players finished with double-digit kills on a .324 team hitting percentage. The Cougars also had 30 blocks.

"This was a great match for the sport of women's volleyball," BYU head coach Jason Watson said. "I thought Rachel Dyer and Bryn Porter were amazing. This win was huge for our program."

Junior middle blocker Dyer did more than just provide defense for the Cougars. Dyer, who had a career-high 20 kills in the match, tallied seven winners in the final game, five of which came as the Cougars' first five points of the contest. Junior outside hitter Bryn Porter added a career-high 13 kills.

The Cougars started a little slow, dropping game one 30-26, but responded with energy in the following two games. Game three was the turning point for the Cougars as they won 30-15, in large part due to the play of Erica Lott and Goodman, who combined for nine kills in the game.

Despite being down two games to one, Wisconsin wouldn't go down without a fight. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner had eight kills in the fourth game and finished with a match-high 22 kills. The Badgers rallied around Dolgner came out with a 30-26 win after an early five-point deficit.

But the fifth game was all BYU. The Cougars got out to an early 5-1 lead and never looked back. Sophomore Ashton Hansen finished off the match with an emphatic kill, giving her a career-high 10 winners.

BYU setter Kiana Rogers started for the first time in her career and dished out 63 assists.

With the win, the Cougars improve to 3-0 on the year while the Badgers drop to 3-1. BYU will face American on Saturday at 12 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse before taking on Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. to complete the tournament. Live stats will be available for both matches.

Northern Iowa Sweeps American

In the opening match of the BYU Molten Classic Friday Northern Iowa handed American University its first loss of the year (30-25, 30-22, 30-26). UNI's record improved to 3-1 while AU dropped to 4-1.

UNI was led by a balanced attack as the Panthers had three players with double-digit kills. Outside hitter Amy Sampson led Northern Iowa with 17 kills while outside hitter Laura Rowen and middle blocker Danielle Brazda pitched in with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Brazda also led UNI with nine blocks and a hitting percentage of .429.

The American Eagles saw a stellar performance from junior outside hitter Rubena Sukaj as she recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs. Coming into the match Sukaj was averaging a very impressive 5.5 kills per game. The Eagles also had a solid effort from outside hitter Christina Nash as she had 13 digs.

In the first game the Panthers jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they led the whole game winning 30-25. Brazda set the tone in that game as she recorded six kills and one block. AU had a total of 24 digs in the game and was led by outside hitter Ivana Cebakova with eight digs.

The second game saw much of the same for the Panthers and Eagles. UNI won the game 30-22 and led by as many as eight points. As a team the Panthers had eight blocks and 14 digs. American?s Sukaj had seven kills for the second straight game.

AU started off the third game quick as the Eagles got on top of UNI 3-0. The game see-sawed back and forth from there with both teams fighting for the lead. But just as in the first two games, UNI eventually came out on top winning 30-26.

UNI will see its next action on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Wisconsin before facing BYU at 7 p.m. AU will take on the Cougars at 12 p.m. and the Badgers at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
     #10 Wisconsin Badgers vs #15 BYU Cougars (Aug 31, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Wisconsin Badgers      |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Simpson, Jackie.....  5|  7   0  13  .538| 53|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  2|   9.0
 7  Dolgner, Brittney...  5| 22   8  46  .304|  3|  0   2|  1|  9| 0  2  1|  0|  23.0
 9  Dykstra, Katherine..  4|  3   1   8  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   3.5
 12 Reineke, Taylor.....  5| 12   4  32  .250|  0|  0   4|  0|  2| 1  8  0|  0|  17.0
 15 Jeffers, Audra......  5| 13   3  32  .312|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  1|  1|  15.0
 19 DuPont, Caity.......  3|  3   3  15  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 1  Salow, Morgan.......  4|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   5.5
 2  Kuzma, Kim..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  Klingsporn, Nikki...  2|  0   1   3 -.333|  3|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Berkley, Amanda.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Wack, Allison.......  4|  6   7  19 -.053|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   7.0
 13 Wack, Jocelyn.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  3   3|  0| 17| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 14 Mills, Megan........  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 70  29 179  .229| 66|  5  13|  2| 58| 2 20  3|  3|  87.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  41  .341   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15 11  39  .103   Wisconsin Badgers... (2) 30 25 15 30 13  3-1
   3  10  7  41  .073   BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 30 30 26 15  3-0
   4  22  7  44  .341
   5   5  0  14  .357
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  5| 16   9  47  .149|  2|  1   2|  0| 13| 0  3  0|  0|  18.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  5| 10   3  18  .389|  3|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  8  1|  0|  14.0
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  5|  4   1   7  .429| 63|  0   1|  0|  8| 2  3  1|  0|   7.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 16   6  32  .312|  0|  1   5|  0| 15| 0  6  1|  0|  20.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  5| 13   3  36  .278|  2|  0   4|  0|  8| 0  3  0|  0|  14.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 20   2  30  .600|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  7  0|  1|  23.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  5| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 79  24 170  .324| 71|  2  13|  5| 69| 2 30  3|  1|  98.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  6  44  .273   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  14  5  27  .333   Date: Aug 31, 2007   Attend: 3880   Time: 2h 32m
   3  18  4  34  .412   Referees: Tom Given, Maile Jewkes, Karen Marshall
   4  14  5  38  .237
   5  15  4  27  .407

PROVO -- The No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team will open its 2007 home season this weekend hosting the BYU Molten Classic on Friday and Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. No. 10 Wisconsin highlights the four-team field along with 2006 NCAA Tournament participants American and Northern Iowa.

"This is an important week for our program," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We get to open our home schedule with 3 nationally competitive programs. The challenge for our team will be to improve upon the lessons learnt last weekend."

The event will begin Friday at 4 p.m. with American taking on Northern Iowa before the featured match between the Badgers and Cougars at 7 p.m., which will be televised live on BYUTV. Saturday's action begins at 10 a.m. with Wisconsin facing Northern Iowa and BYU playing American at 12 p.m. The evening block will see Wisconsin vs. American at 5 p.m. before BYU and Northern Iowa play in the 7 p.m. nightcap. Live stats will be available for all six matches.

BYU went 12-1 in the Smith Fieldhouse last year and set a new program attendance record with an average of 1,902 fans, 13th in the nation. The Cougars are now 460-82 (.849) all-time at home and 22-1 on Elaine Michaelis Court over the last two years. With a 995-274-5 all-time record in the 39-year recorded history of BYU women's volleyball, the Cougars are just five victories away from becoming the fourth program in volleyball history to post 1,000 wins.

Wisconsin is 3-0 so far in 2007 after claiming the InnTowner Invitational title last weekend with sweeps of UW-Milwaukee, Gardner-Webb and Syracuse. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner paces the Badgers with 4.88 kills per game while adding 2.12 digs per contest. The Badgers, who hit .271, are holding their opponents to a dismal .012 offensive efficiency while besting foes in every statistical category.

American is off to an undefeated 3-0 record in 2007 after capturing the D.C. Volleyball Challenge Crown with sweeps of Georgetown and George Mason and a five-game come-from-behind victory over George Washington. Junior outside hitter Rubena Sukaj, a native of Albania, leads the Eagles averaging 5.5 kills per game, including 27 against GW, on .326 hitting. As a team, the Eagles are hitting .295 while holding opponents to a .113 offensive mark. American bests its opponents in every statistical category.

The Eagles' participation in the BYU Molten Classic marks the return of former BYU All-American setter Lauren Richards Evans to the Smith Fieldhouse. Evans finished her Cougar career in 2005 third all-time at BYU in career assist average (12.29) and total assists (4,056). She was hired as an assistant with the Eagles prior to the 2006 season.

Northern Iowa jumped out to a 2-1 start in 2007 after claiming the UNI Invitational crown last weekend. The Panthers swept Western Michigan and Wright State to open the year before falling at Kentucky in five games. Two UNI players are averaging over three kills per game as junior middle blocker Ashten Stelken is posting 3.73 kpg and sophomore outside hitter Shannon Aschoff is right behind with 3.27 kpg. As a team, the Panthers are hitting .279 while holding opponents to a .141 offensive mark. UNI bests its opponents in every statistical category.

The Cougars began the 2007 season last weekend winning the Hawkeye Challenge with a sweep of Marquette (30-23, 30-27, 30-22) on Friday and a five-game victory over Iowa on Saturday. BYU had to fight hard to begin the year 2-0, though, as the Hawkeyes won the first two games (30-21, 30-21), forcing a spectacular Cougar comeback (30-19, 30-26, 15-13) to secure the win. Three Cougars received All-Tournament honors for helping the Cougars claim the Hawkeye Challenge crown. Chelsea Goodman was named the tournament MVP while Rachel Dyer and Bryn Porter were named to the all-tournament team.