PROVO -- Playing in their final home match on Elaine Michaelis Court, seniors Chelsea Goodman, Erica Lott and Annie Pinegar produced results among the best of their careers to lead BYU to a 3-1 victory over No. 25 UNLV and secure a tie for second place in the Mountain West Conference.

BYU improved to 20-6 overall and 12-4 in the MWC with the 27-30, 32-30, 30-23, 30-23 triumph. UNLV falls to 21-5 and tied with BYU at 12-4 in league play with the defeat. Meanwhile, Colorado State earned the regular-season MWC title with a 3-0 win over New Mexico to avoid a three-way tie with the Cougars and Rebels. BYU will be the No. 3 seed at the MWC Tournament next week, playing sixth-seeded New Mexico Thursday at 11 a.m. PT at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. Click the pdf link above to view the entire tournament bracket.

"This was a big win for us tonight," said BYU coach Jason Watson, whose team has won a season-best seven straight matches. "We wanted to finish out the regular season strong heading into the MWC Tournament. I am especially happy for our seniors who have given so much to this program."

Goodman's game-high 23 kills was her highest output of the season, while Lott's 20 digs topped her previous career best by five digs and Pinegar established a new season high with her 26 digs. As a team, BYU equaled UNLV, ranked No. 8 nationally in digs, with a season-high 89 digs to set a new Cougar record for digs in a four-game rally-scoring match.

Setter Amy Schlauder tossed up 57 assists, 17 of which went to middle blocker Rachel Dyer, who recorded her fourth career double-double with a match-high 10 blocks. Schlauder helped BYU total 18 blocks on the night with a personal-record nine blocks while also tying her career high of 18 digs. Lott added 13 kills from the rightside position, and Bryn Porter contributed 10 scores on the outside for the Cougars.

The first game was close throughout with 11 ties and five lead changes. Trailing 23-19, the Rebels turned the momentum of the game in their favor by scoring four straight points as part of a 7-1 run. BYU fought back to tie the game at 27-27 with a Dyer kill and a solo block by Schlauder, but UNLV came out of a timeout to score the game's final three points for the 30-27 win. Lauren Miramontes paced UNLV with six kills in the game while Dyer recorded five scores for BYU.

Goodman powered the Cougars to a win in the second game with nine kills and a .421 attack percentage in the contest. BYU looked like it would run away, but the Rebels made it close in the end. The Cougars started the game 3-0 and then incrementally increased the lead to nine points at 15-6 before UNLV put together a 7-0 run to get back in contention.

The Rebels stayed close until finally pulling even at 28-28 when Dyer's tip attempt went wide. Quickly responding for the Cougars, Dyer put down a kill on the next possession to put BYU back on top. After ties at 29 and 30, Goodman came hard with an attack that caught the Rebel defender in the face before she could get her hands in position. On the next play, Goodman and Ashton Hansen teamed to block Miramontes' attack and give BYU the 32-30 victory.

BYU started strong again in game three, jumping out to a 9-1 advantage. UNLV cut the deficit to four with four consecutive scores, but the Cougars didn't let the Rebels get any closer. The lead became a game-high nine at 20-11, and BYU kept the momentum the rest of the way for a 30-23 triumph. Goodman added six kills to her total in the game while Dyer recorded five scores for the third straight game.

UNLV took its first lead of the match since winning game one when Miramontes put down her 16th kill of the match to begin game four. That would be the last lead for the Rebels as BYU recorded the next two points and never trailed again. Goodman registered four kills and Lott hit .600 with three kills to help fuel the 30-23 win that gave the Cougars the match.

Miramontes paced UNLV with 22 kills while libero Jada Walker came up with a match-best 28 digs for the Rebels. BYU honored its five seniors, including rightside hitter Catherine Parker and setter/defensive specialist Jenna Judkins, at the beginning of the match.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
             #25 UNLV vs BYU Cougars (Nov 17, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    UNLV                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  LUMSDEN, Brittani...  4| 12   7  39  .128|  2|  0   2|  1| 17| 0  1  0|  0|  12.5
 3  NUA, Melody.........  4|  2   1   8  .125| 63|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  1  1|  1|   2.5
 6  ALADJOVA, Maria.....  4| 15   9  57  .105|  0|  0   1|  2| 12| 0  2  1|  0|  16.0
 10 MIRAMONTES, Lauren..  4| 22   8  55  .255|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|  23.0
 15 WALTERS, Jessica....  4|  4   5  12 -.083|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  1|   5.5
 18 GREENWOOD, Erin.....  4| 15   2  36  .361|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|  16.5
 4  CUNNINGHAM, Camille.  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  2   1|  2| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 7  WALKER, Jada........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  2   2|  1| 28| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 8  ERICKSON, Alyssa....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  NOLAND, Samantha....  3|  0   1   3 -.333|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  2|  0|   0.0
 12 MORAN, Gerryn.......  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 16 MAKAIWI, Jeralynn...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 70  35 212  .165| 68|  4   7|  6| 89| 0 13  4|  2|  80.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  7  48  .188   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  21 10  63  .175   UNLV................ (1) 30 30 23 23  21-5, 12-4 MWC
   3  17  5  49  .245   BYU Cougars......... (3) 27 32 30 30  20-6, 12-4
   4  16 13  52  .058
    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....  4| 23   4  61  .311|  0|  3   4|  1| 11| 0  2  0|  0|  27.0
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  2|  1   3   9 -.222|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  4  0|  0|   4.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 13   6  34  .206|  1|  1   1|  0| 20| 0  3  1|  0|  15.5
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  4| 10   3  39  .179|  0|  0   1|  1| 10| 0  1  1|  0|  10.5
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  4|  3   0   5  .600| 57|  1   0|  1| 18| 1  8  0|  0|   9.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  4| 17   7  39  .256|  3|  0   0|  0|  3| 1  9  0|  0|  22.5
 7  MEASOM, Christina...  3|  1   2  10 -.100|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  1  2|  0|   2.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  4|  1   0   1 1.000|  2|  1   0|  1| 26| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 69  25 198  .222| 66|  6   6|  4| 89| 4 28  4|  0|  93.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 18.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  9  51  .118   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  8  60  .183   Date: Nov 17, 2007   Attend: 1888   Time: 2:27
   3  22  4  45  .400   Referees: KIM PICKERING, BRUCE GRANT, KARINA PUIKKENEN
   4  13  4  42  .214

Five Seniors To Be Recognized In Final Home Match On Saturday

PROVO -- After a resounding win over Utah last Friday, the BYU women's volleyball team will close out the regular season this weekend hosting San Diego State on Friday and No. 25 UNLV on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. and will be televised live on BYUTV.

"We've worked hard throughout the season and especially in the month of November to be playing our best when it really matters," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "Our motto has always been to be good over time, which we have a chance to do this weekend."

The Cougars have won five straight matches, tying their longest winning streak of the year while improving to 18-6 overall and 10-4 in the Mountain West Conference. BYU has also gone 8-2 in the Smith Fieldhouse while averaging 1,807 fans per match, 17th in the nation. With the MWC Tournament set to begin next week and the NCAA Tournament on the horizon, the Cougars will be looking to finish strong and bolster their case for the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

Saturday's match will honor five seniors who will be playing in front of the home crowd for the final time. Chelsea Goodman, Jenna Judkins, Erica Lott, Catherine Parker and Annie Pinegar will be recognized prior to the match for their contributions to the BYU women's volleyball program throughout their respective careers.

After getting off to their best start since 2001 at 7-2, the Aztecs are now 12-13 overall and 4-10 in the MWC, in eighth place after losing eight of their last nine matches. Sophomore outside hitter Stephanie Darnall leads the team with 3.28 kills per game while senior libero Aime Cordeiro puts up a league-leading 6.19 digs per game, helping the Aztecs rank third in the MWC in that category. BYU defeated SDSU in five games earlier this season to earn its 1,000th program victory.

The No. 25 Rebels are 21-3 overall and 12-2 in the Mountain West Conference, tying the school record with wins in their last 10 matches. UNLV is currently in a tie for first place in the MWC with Colorado State. UNLV's duo of senior middle blocker Lauren Miramontes and junior outside hitter Maria Aladjova go 1-2 for the Rebels and 3-4 in the MWC averaging 4.52 and 4.46 kills per game, respectively. UNLV swept BYU earlier this season.

In addition to coverage on BYUTV, both matches will be available on BYU All-Access and GameTracker. Links for both can be found by going to the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.