PROVO -- In front of a record crowd of 4,509 in the Smith Fieldhouse, the BYU women's volleyball team swept Utah for the first time since 2001 with a 30-27, 30-27, 30-25 victory on Friday night. The win also meant the first season sweep of the Utes since 1999 after a five-game win in Salt Lake City earlier this year, allowing the Cougars to secure the women's volleyball Deseret First Duel trophy and improve to 18-6 overall and 10-4 in the Mountain West Conference.

"These matches are always emotional and draining on our athletes," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "To be able to pull away like we did is a wonderful accomplishment for our athletes."

Senior co-captain Chelsea Goodman led the way for BYU offensively with 17 kills while reigning MWC Player of the Week Rachel Dyer added 13 kills on .571 hitting. Senior Erica Lott also posted double-digit winners with 10 to go along with a team-high 12 digs, notching her seventh double-double of the season. Cougar setter Amy Schlauder averaged 16.0 assists per game while pacing BYU to a .326 hitting percentage.

"Tonight was just fun," said Schlauder. "It's so great to see the crowd in their Deseret First Duel t-shirts getting riled up. They were a big part of the win tonight."

Bryn Porter brought the fans to their feet on the first point of the night as she put down a cross-court kill. The Cougars weathered several ties early in game one while playing the part of the aggressor until a double call gave Utah its first lead at 8-7. However, moments later, Porter swung the game back in BYU's favor with two kills during a 4-0 Cougar spurt to give BYU a 12-9 advantage. The lead would stretch to 16-10 as the Cougars dominated offensively, hitting .600 (9-0-15) through the first 15 points of the game.

The Utes began to climb back after the media timeout, putting together three straight points to cut the lead in half until Dyer ended the Ute run. Leading 17-13, the Cougars kept the momentum in their favor and stayed at least two points in front to the 30-27 win.

Utah came out fast in game two, scoring the first two points and building a 10-8 lead. However, a 7-0 Cougar run including two kills from Ashton Hansen allowed BYU to take a commanding 15-10 lead at the halfway mark. Trailing 17-11, the Utes fought back with four straight points of their own to cut the lead to two until Goodman got the Cougars going again with a tremendous kill down the line to spark a BYU spurt that put the Cougars in front 20-15. The Utes weren't done yet, though, we they came back to tie the game at 23-23, setting up a fight to the finish. Porter put BYU back on top with a kill and an ace, and the Cougars finished out the 30-27 victory.

With their backs against the wall, Utah took an early advantage in game three, but Goodman kept BYU in it with three early kills until the Cougars finally took the lead at 7-6. The high hitting percentages of games one and two gave way to more defensive play in game three, but BYU adjusted accordingly with a 13-10 lead. Utah came within one at 17-16, but Dyer put down back-to-back slams to spark a 4-0 Cougar run and put BYU on top 21-16. That lead would build to 27-20 before the Cougars put the match away with a 30-25 win.

BYU will conclude the regular season with two home matches next weekend against San Diego State on Friday and UNLV on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse and be televised live on BYUTV.

"We always want to be good in November and make our case for the NCAA selection committee," said Watson. "Tonight's win helped us build upon what we've already accomplished over the last few weeks and strengthen our case for the tournament. We also had a nice crowd tonight, which helps people see that we have a lot of support here. We hope that will continue next week."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
             Utah Utes vs BYU Cougars (Nov 09, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Utah Utes              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  SHARDLOW, Stephanie.  2|  0   0   0  .000| 17|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 5  BAIRD, Lori.........  3| 11   2  25  .360|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  3|  0|  12.0
 6  SANDBERG, Chelsey...  3|  5   2  12  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  6  0|  0|   8.0
 8  HAYNIE, Kathryn.....  3|  9   6  22  .136|  0|  2   1|  1| 10| 1  2  0|  1|  13.0
 16 ROBISON, Kate.......  3|  8   3  27  .185|  3|  0   3|  5|  9| 0  3  0|  0|   9.5
 17 WEBB, Whitney.......  3| 13   4  28  .321|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|  13.5
 10 BARTKOWIAK, Karolina  2|  1   0   6  .167|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   2.5
 11 FISHER, Keisha......  3|  2   0   2 1.000| 26|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  1|   2.0
 12 HODGMAN, Stephanie..  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 DANGERFIELD, Connie.  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   1|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  17 122  .262| 48|  4   6|  6| 41| 1 17  3|  2|  62.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  4  40  .375   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  5  36  .306   Utah Utes........... (0) 27 27 25  11-14, 7-7 MWC
   3  14  8  46  .130   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  18-6, 10-4 MWC
    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| 17   3  41  .341|  1|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  2  1|  0|  18.0
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  3|  8   3  14  .357|  4|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  10.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 10   2  20  .400|  1|  1   2|  3| 12| 0  2  1|  0|  12.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  3|  9   7  27  .074|  1|  2   0|  0|  4| 0  2  1|  0|  12.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  3|  2   1   6  .167| 48|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  1|   3.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 13   1  21  .571|  2|  2   1|  0|  4| 0  3  0|  0|  16.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   1|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 59  17 129  .326| 58|  6   7|  4| 45| 0 15  3|  1|  72.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  2  39  .462   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  21  7  44  .318   Date: Nov 09, 2007   Attend: 4509   Time: 1H 41M
   3  18  8  46  .217   Referees: ERIC ASAMI, TERI JACKSON, KAREN MARSHALL/ KP
                        BYU Women's volleyball attendance record

Match To Be Aired at 8:30 on The Mtn.

PROVO -- The BYU women's volleyball team (17-6, 9-4 MWC) will play the first of three home matches to close out the regular season this Friday as the Cougars host in-state rival Utah in the Smith Fieldhouse. The match will begin at 7 p.m. and will be shown tape-delayed on The Mtn. at 8:30 p.m.

"Obviously, there is a lot of emotion associated with our matches against Utah," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We played very well against them in Salt Lake City earlier this season and hope to repeat that success here at home in front of a great crowd."

Friday's match will be more than just another Mountain West Conference contest as the Cougars and Utes will be continuing their hotly contested rivalry. The in-state foes have met 84 times in program history with BYU owning a 63-21 record. While the Cougars have traditionally dominated, Utah has claimed supremacy over the last seven years, posting a 15-3 record since 2000. However, BYU has begun to regain control, recording its first win in Salt Lake City since 2000 with a five-game victory earlier this year. Watson also coached his team to a home win in 2005, the first victory over Utah in the Smith Fieldhouse since 2001. This week's match will determine the volleyball champion in the newly created Deseret First Duel rivalry series in addition to garnering the winning school three points toward the overall point total.

BYU closed out its road season last weekend with victories at TCU and New Mexico. The two league wins had large implications on the MWC race as the Cougars put some distance between themselves and those chasing them for third place. At 9-4, BYU has a two-match lead over TCU and Utah, both of whom are 7-6, and a three-match advantage over New Mexico (6-7). UNLV and Colorado State are locked in a tie for first place in the league standings at 10-2. The Rebels will close out the regular season at BYU on Nov. 17.

Several Cougars continue to come up big for BYU as postseason play begins to loom large. Junior middle blocker Rachel Dyer was named the MWC player of the Week on Monday for her role in BYU's weekend wins as she posted 3.57 kills and 2.14 blocks per game while hitting .452 for the week. She currently leads the MWC and ranks seventh in the nation in attack percentage. Senior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman continues her assault on the BYU record book as she is already eighth all-time at BYU in career kills (1331) and seventh in career digs (992) with at least four matches left to play. Her current 3.58 digs per game average this season ranks third all-time.

The Utes are 11-3 overall this season and 7-6 in the Mountain West Conference, which is tied for fourth place with TCU. Junior outside hitter Kathryn Haynie leads the team and ranks ninth in the league with 3.67 kills per game while adding 2.12 digs per contest. Junior middle blocker Lori Baird paces the Utes in both hitting percentage at .306, which ranks seventh in the MWC, and blocks with 1.57 per game, which ranks second in the league, while contributing 2.86 kpg.

In addition to being aired on The Mtn., Friday's match will be available live on GameTracker and BYU All-Access. The contest will also be re-aired on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. on CSTV.