COLUMBIA -- Continuing on its 10-year streak, the BYU (1-0) women’s volleyball team won its season opener against Ole Miss (1-1) in the Tiger Invitational Friday 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-22).

“I thought the girls did a good job of being mentally tough,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “Ole Miss was great at defense, but we muscled our way through and earned that win.”

Starting out the season on the floor for the Cougars included Nicole Warner, Casey Speredon Thurston, Kayla Walker, Christina Measom, Kiana Rogers, Christie Carpenter and libero Morgan Lloyd Sorensen.

Walker led the team in kills with 13, hitting .211 while Carpenter added six kills at .312. Rogers assisted 27 out of 39 kills and also posted five kills hitting at .833 and six digs. Warner posted five kills while Thurston and Measom each tallied four. Sorensen led with 11 digs on the night with Melissa Lake Wright and Carpenter posting seven and six digs, respectively.

“Kayla took a lot of swings and did a great job,” said Goulding. “Once we got going everyone started to get in their groove and you can see that reflected in our statistics.”

In the first set, four-straight points early on gave the Cougars a four-point lead at 7-3. Ole Miss battled back to knot the score at 13, the Rebels holding the lead until BYU took the lead scoring six-straight points to take back the lead at 21-18. Trading points and tying the score at 23 and 24, the Cougars pulled away with an error on the Rebels and a block by Christina Measom and Kiana Rogers, settling the score at 26-24 for set one.

The second set started like the first with Ole Miss earning the first point, but BYU scored three quickly to take the lead at 3-2 and keep it until finishing the set at 25-20.

To finish off the match in set three, the Cougars and the Rebels tied the score nine times before BYU pulled away to win it 25-22.

BYU now leads the BYU vs. Ole Miss all-time series 3-0.

The Cougars will be in action again on Saturday to take on Texas State at 9 a.m. MT and Missouri at 5:30 p.m. MT to finish off their play in the Tiger Invitational.

                          Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
            Ole Miss vs BYU Cougars (Aug 28, 2009 at Columbia, Mo.)
   Ole Miss               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Whitney Craven......  3|  8   9  25 -.040|  0|  0   1|  2|  7| 0  1  0|  0
3  Miranda Kitts.......  3|  7   2  16  .312|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 1  2  0|  0
6  Katie Norris........  3| 17   6  38  .289|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
7  Emily Kvitle........  3|  1   1   6  .000| 39|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  1  1|  0
8  Regina Thomas.......  2|  2   3   5 -.200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
13 Caitlin Weiss.......  3|  8   1  18  .389|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
2  Morgan Springer.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  1| 13| 0  0  0|  0
4  Danielle Sanchou....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
5  Ashley Veach........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 Courtney Cunningham.  2|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
12 Marielle Oestermeyer  3|  1   0   2  .500|  2|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1
16 Catherine Heck......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 45  22 112  .205| 45|  0  10|  3| 35| 1 10  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18 11  40  .175   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  5  36  .194   Ole Miss............ (0) 24 20 22  1-1
   3  15  6  36  .250   BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 25 25  1-0
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  MEASOM, Christina...  3|  4   1  11  .273|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  3|  5   0   6  .833| 27|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  3  1|  1
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  3| 13   5  38  .211|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  3|  6   1  16  .312|  0|  1   1|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  3|  5   0  11  .455|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  4  1|  0
20 SPEREDON THURSTON,Ca  3|  4   3  10  .100|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  3|  1   0   2  .500|  1|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 39  10  95  .305| 39|  3   8|  0| 31| 0 13  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  3  30  .267   Site: Columbia, Mo. (Hearnes Center)
   2  16  3  31  .419   Date: Aug 28, 2009   Attend:     Time: 1:30
   3  12  4  34  .235   Referees: Daryl Korinek, Jose Jones, Kent Brockman

PROVO -- The BYU women’s volleyball team will kick off the 2009 season this weekend traveling to the Tiger Invitational held at the University of Missouri. The event will feature six matches in total with the Cougars competing Friday at 3 p.m. MT against Ole Miss and twice on Saturday against Texas State at 9 a.m. MT and Missouri at 5:30 p.m. MT.

“We are opening the season with some great opponents,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “It will be an exciting weekend and we know each team will come to play. It will really give us a chance to measure where we are and what we must do to get where we want to go. The girls are ready and anxious to get on the court and to prove themselves.”

Senior rightside hitter, Kayla Walker, will lead the Cougars in the Tiger Invite. She was named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Conference Team, leading the Cougars with 285 kills last season. Anchoring the team in the back row is libero Melissa Lake Wright, who led with 253 digs in 2008.

BYU is 33-6 all-time in season openers (no match-by-match records for 1971) and has not lost a season opener since 1999. The team leads Ole Miss 2-0 in the all-time series, the last meeting was the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament where the Cougars won 3-0. BYU also leads the all-time series against Missouri 1-0, with the only meeting coming in 2008, which was a five-set win for the Cougars. Saturday’s meeting against Texas State will be the first in history.

The Ole Miss Rebels finished the 2008 campaign with a 14-15 mark and a 10-10 record in Southeastern Conference play. Led by sophomore Katie Norris, who paced the team with 321 kills in 2008 despite only starting 15 matches, the Rebels have one of the youngest teams in the SEC with only one senior on their roster. The lone senior - Caitlin Weiss - finished second on the team with 205 kills during the 2008 season.

The Texas State Bobcats come into the 2009 season as the defending Southland Conference Champion. Overall, Texas State finished with a 23-14 record in 2008, including a 14-2 mark in league play. The Bobcats are led by senior Jessica Weynand, who led the team in kills (372), digs (365) and service aces (35).

Missouri returns five starters and its libero from last season as nearly 70-percent of the team's point production returns to the floor, highlighted by Julianna Klein, who finished 2008 with a team-best 446.0 points. The Tigers also return 91-percent of their season dig total as all three back-row regulars - libero Caitlyn Vann, Annie Lopez and Priscilla Armendariz - each return for another season. The trio accounted for 1,052 digs in 2009, accounting for 62-percent of the returning defense. Each of the nine players returning in 2009 saw action in at least 22 of Mizzou's 30 matches in 2008.

Live stats will be available for all six matches; visit the Mizzou women’s volleyball schedule page on the Mizzou women’s volleyball home page by clicking HERE to access these links.