SALT LAKE -- In front of a record-high 1,747 fans, BYU (6-7, 2-1) lost a close match to Utah (9-5, 3-0) in five sets on Crimson Court Friday.

“I was pleased with our effort,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “We made some mistakes at critical times, and in rally scoring it is hard to come back after those. I thought Utah played well, but they didn’t out-play us.”

Senior rightside hitter Kayla Walker came out with 19 kills on the night and 11 digs, her fourth double-double of the season. Camilla Phillips had a career-high eight kills while Kiana Rogers posted 41 assists. Morgan Lloyd Sorensen held up the back row with 24 digs, tying her career high.

In front of screaming Utah and BYU fans, the Utes came out with the first point of the night with a kill from Cinthia Silva. After a Utah service error, the two teams traded points until the Cougars posted a 4-0 run with kills from Walker and Warner and two hitting errors on Utah. Utah came back with a 3-0 run to eventually knot the score at five, seven and eight. BYU then kept the lead the rest of the set, achieved by a 4-0 run by pure Cougar blocks ending at 15-10. Both teams traded points until finishing at 25-19 in favor of the Cougars. Measom led the Cougars in set one with three kills and four blocks. Walker had one solo block and three assisted blocks to help the team achieve 6.5 blocks for set one compared to the Utes’ 1.5.

Utah started fast in set two, tallying a 7-1 run. BYU couldn’t keep up, coming only within three points after posting a 5-1 run ending with a service ace from Kiana Rogers at 9-6. With back-and-forth play the rest of the set, BYU could only come within four points, eventually falling to the Utes after they posted a 3-0 run to end the second 25-19.

Both teams traded points for the first 10 points in set three until Utah came out with a 5-0 run to give them the lead at 15-10. BYU then called a timeout and posted a 7-1 run coming out of that timeout to give them a 17-16 lead. With points scored by a number of BYU players, the balanced play helped the Cougars pull ahead. After knotting the score at 20, the Cougars posted a 3-0 run, causing the Utes to call a timeout at 23-20. Utah came out of the timeout with one point off of a BYU blocking error. Measom then scored the 24th point, but Utah wasn’t finished. The Utes then tallied a 3-0 run to put the score at 24-25. Tying the score at 24, 25, 26 and 27, BYU finally pulled ahead off a Utah hitting error and a net violation, ending set three at 29-27, putting the Cougars up two sets to one.

Set four proved to be as exciting as set three, the outcome being the only difference. Both teams traded points until Utah came out with a 5-0 run to cause the Cougars to play catch up. BYU did indeed catch up, calling a time out at 21-17 (Utah lead), followed by two-straight BYU points to bring the score to 22-20. Utah then called a timeout and posted two-straight points (24-20), but the Cougars weren’t finished yet. With Phillips hitting one Utah player in the face on a kill and three Utah hitting errors, the Cougars found themselves on top at 25-24. Tying the next five points, with back-to-back kills from Utah’s Cinthia Silva, Utah won set four 31-29.

Set five had both teams on their toes, the first to eight being the Utes at 8-5 to switch sides of the court. Utah then pulled away with a 4-1 run and kept the lead to finish off the match 15-10.

The Cougars will welcome North Dakota State to Elaine Michaelis Court Tuesday in the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.

 Volleyball Box Score
                           BYU Cougar Volleyball 2009
           BYU Cougars vs Utah (Sep 25, 2009 at Salt Lake City, Utah)
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  MEASOM, Christina...  5|  7   4  32  .094|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0 11  0|  1|  12.5
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  5|  5   2   9  .333| 41|  2   2|  0|  6| 2  5  1|  1|  11.5
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  5|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   1|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  5| 19  13  58  .103|  1|  0   0|  1| 11| 1  4  0|  0|  22.0
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  5|  7   7  30  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 1  1  0|  0|   8.5
15 WARNER, Nicole......  5|  6   3  18  .167|  1|  0   2|  0|  1| 2  4  0|  0|  10.0
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   2|  2| 21| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
6  GOODSELL, Chelsea...  5|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  2   3|  2|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
10 PHILLIPS, Camilla...  5|  8   4  21  .190|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  6  0|  1|  11.0
16 LAU, Stephanie......  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 52  33 172  .110| 46|  4  10|  6| 71| 6 31  1|  3|  77.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 21.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  6  31  .129   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2   8 10  38 -.053   BYU Cougars......... (2) 25 19 29 29 10  6-7, 2-1 MWC
   3  13  5  43  .186   Utah................ (3) 19 25 27 31 15  9-5, 3-0 MWC
   4  14  9  42  .119
   5   7  3  18  .222
   Utah                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6  SANDBERG, Chelsey...  5|  3   3  14  .000|  1|  1   3|  0|  4| 1  4  0|  0|   7.0
9  KILLPACK, Danielle..  5|  3   5  11 -.182|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  9  0|  0|   7.5
10 BARTKOWIAK, Karolina  5| 22   9  39  .333|  0|  1   4|  0| 17| 0  4  0|  0|  25.0
13 SILVA, Cinthia......  5| 14  10  42  .095|  1|  1   2|  3| 10| 0  6  1|  0|  18.0
14 SIMMONS, Abby.......  5|  0   0   0  .000| 31|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
16 HIBBERT, Sarah......  5| 14  12  62  .032|  0|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0|  15.0
2  NEELEY, Stephanie...  5|  0   0   1  .000| 27|  1   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
4  CRUMP, Corinne......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
7  LANTING, Jennifer...  5|  9   4  21  .238|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
11 FISHER, Keisha......  5|  0   0   2  .000|  2|  1   0|  1| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 65  43 193  .114| 62|  6  12|  4| 76| 1 29  1|  0|  86.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12 12  39  .000   Site: Salt Lake City, Utah (Crimson Court)
   2   9  6  34  .088   Date: Sep 25, 2009   Attend: 1747   Time: 2:12
   3  18 12  55  .109   Referees: Patricia Malta, Maile Jewkes
   4  18 11  45  .156
   5   8  2  20  .300
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       5   0  14  11   1    31
                        Lead changes     1   0   6   8   0    15

PROVO -- Both the Utes and the Cougars will look to stay undefeated in Mountain West Conference play when they take to the Crimson Court in Salt Lake City Friday at 7 p.m.

“The Deseret Duel had made an already great rival more exciting,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “With us both coming into this match 2-0 in conference, there is a lot at stake in this match. Our team will be prepared, focused and ready to meet the Utes on Friday.”

Both programs defeated SDSU and Air Force last week in the MWC opening week. Utah beat Air Force 3-1 and SDSU 3-0 while the Cougars swept Air Force (3-0) and won in five against SDSU (3-2). The all-time series boasts a 64-23 record in favor of BYU. In the last meeting Utah swept BYU in three.

Utah head coach Beth Launiere is now one win short of 400 for her career and currently has a 399-217 (.648) record in her 20th season with the Utes.

Senior rightside hitter Kayla Walker was named MWC Player of the Week Monday for her performance in both matches. She led in kills both games, tallying a career-high 32 kills against the Aztecs while maintaining a .500 hitting percentage. She took a total of 58 swings and only had three errors. Her playing was phenomenal in that match. Her 32 kills is the third-highest total in MWC league-match history. Thursday’s match against SDSU marked her third double-double of the 2009 season.

Casey Speredon Thurston also finished the SDSU match with her career high in kills with 13. Setter Kiana Rogers also broke her assist season high with 55 assists. Morgan Lloyd Sorensen posted 22 digs and Melissa Lake Wright added 18, tying a season high.

Against the Falcons, match-leaders included Walker with 10 kills hitting at .353 and Christina Measom with nine kills, hitting at .471. Camilla Phillips had significant playing time for the Cougars, posting a career-high six kills, hitting at .364. Morgan Lloyd Sorensen added 11 digs.

The match will be broadcast via BYU Radio by clicking HERE.