PROVO -- With a dominating offensive performance, the No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team swept American (30-18, 30-19, 30-28) during the BYU Molten Classic Saturday afternoon at the Smith Fieldhouse.

"This was a good match for us," BYU head coach Jason Watson said. "We did a good job executing our offensive and defensive systems. We were also able to let some of our freshman see playing time."

The Cougars dominated the Eagles during the match, totaling 52 kills in three games. Three BYU players had kills in the double digits including Chelsea Goodman, who led the team with 14 kills, followed by Erica Lott with 12 and Rachel Dyer with 10.

BYU began the match with a phenomenal .517 hitting percentage in the first game, totaling 18 kills as a team. The Cougars jumped ahead early in the game with an 8-1 lead over American. The Eagles made a run at a comeback, getting to within four, but were unable to over come the Cougars' early lead. With an American service error to give the Cougars the game point, BYU took the game 30-18.

The second frame was more of the same as the Cougars continued to dominate on the net, hitting .368 while limiting the Eagles to a .083 hitting percentage. Goodman led the team with six kills during game two, and Lott claimed five kills for herself as the Cougars posted a game-two total of 19 kills.

American took its first lead of the match during game three. The teams battled down to the wire as the score was tied 27-27 when an Eagle service error gave the Cougars a one-point lead. Lott put the ball down for BYU to extend its lead, before a service error gave American a point. With the score at 29-28 a double block from true freshman middle blocker Christina Measom and Lott gave BYU the final point of the match.

The Cougars will continue their play in the BYU Molten Classic when they face 3-2 Northern Iowa at 7 p.m.

Wisconsin Sweeps Northern Iowa in BYU Molten Classic

PROVO -- Coming off a tough loss against No. 15 BYU Friday evening, No. 10-ranked Wisconsin swept the University of Northern Iowa in the third match of the BYU Molten Classic Saturday morning, 34-32, 30-25, 30-17.

Wisconsin struggled to find momentum in the first game, but once the Badgers got going, their attack was tough to stop. UW led with 67 kills and a .297 hitting percentage. Outside hitter Brittney Dolgner led the Badgers with 19 kills, while Danielle Brazda led the Panthers with 10.

Starting out strong in game one, Wisconsin led the way until the Panthers came back to tie it 9-9. Both teams fought for the lead from there as the game was tied 17 times and neither team could hold more than a two-point advantage. Wisconsin's hitting errors were unusually high with 10, while Northern Iowa only had four. Middle blocker Brazda helped the Panthers keep the game close with five blocks. But rightside hitter Katherine Dykstra helped the Badgers pull ahead in the end with two kills on the last two points and a total of nine kills for the entire game. In the end, Wisconsin edged Northern Iowa 34-32.

In game two, Northern Iowa got off to an early lead being up 4-0. But Wisconsin quickly made its way back to tie the game 5-5 with a kill from Dykstra. Though the Panthers stayed within as little as two points until midway through the game, they couldn?t break Wisconsin's momentum. The Badgers never looked back the rest of the game beating the Panthers 30-25.

Game three started out like the previous two with the Panthers taking the lead. The Badgers came back to tie the game at 5-5 with a block by outside hitter Allison Wack. They then went on an amazing 10-point run from which the Northern Iowa could not recover. Wisconsin led the rest of the game finishing with a 30-17 victory.

Wisconsin will finish out the Molten Classic facing American University at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and Northern Iowa will play BYU at 7 p.m.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
        American Eagles vs #15 BYU Cougars (Sep 01, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    American Eagles        |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Sukaj, Rubena.......  3|  9   5  26  .154|  0|  0   1|  5|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   9.0
 8  Recht, Ann..........  2|  3   3  10  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   4.0
 9  Stradling, Tara.....  1|  0   0   2  .000|  3|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   0.5
 12 Cinkova, Katerina...  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  3|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 Recht, Claire.......  2|  1   1   7  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 19 Ricketts, Cassandra.  2|  5   4  16  .062|  0|  0   1|  0|  6| 1  1  0|  0|   6.5
 2  Cebakova, Ivana.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 3  Burns, Cynammon.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 4  Paganini, Tessa.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Brooks, Chelsa......  3|  6   4  18  .111|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  3  1|  0|   8.5
 10 Borecka, Julia......  3|  8   1  28  .250|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0|   9.0
 11 Nash, Christina.....  3|  0   0   1  .000| 20|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  1  1|  0|   0.5
 16 Striebel, Logan.....  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 20 Waterman, Angelina..  1|  3   1   7  .286|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 35  20 117  .128| 27|  3   9|  9| 27| 1 12  4|  0|  45.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  6  40  .125   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  7  36  .083   American Eagles..... (0) 18 19 28  4-2
   3  14  7  41  .171   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  4-0
    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....  3| 14   4  27  .370|  0|  2   2|  1|  9| 1  1  0|  0|  17.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  2|  3   0   6  .500|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  2|   4.5
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  1|  3   0   5  .600| 13|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 12   4  24  .333|  1|  3   3|  1|  9| 0  4  1|  0|  17.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  2|  5   0   7  .714|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  1|  0|   5.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 10   3  18  .389|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 7  MEASOM, Christina...  1|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  2   0|  0| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 14 CARPENTER, Christy..  2|  3   2   9  .111|  0|  2   1|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  2|  0   1   1-1.000| 32|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 52  14 101  .376| 50|  9   9|  3| 52| 1 15  3|  2|  69.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  3  29  .517   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  5  38  .368   Date: Sep 01, 2007   Attend: 342   Time: 1h 24m
   3  15  6  34  .265   Referees: Maile Jewkes, Daphne Nelson, Karen Marshall

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.