PROVO -- After five hard-fought sets, BYU’s women’s volleyball team (10-10, 5-4) lost to its in-state rival Utah (14-7, 7-2) in front of an electrifying season-high crowd of 2,249 fans, 25-19, 28-26, 25-23, 15-25, 6-15.

“We were good enough with the group we had, but we lost composure and couldn’t bounce back,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “Utah played a fantastic game the last half.”

The Cougars were led by outside hitter Christie Carpenter with 17 kills, followed by Camilla Phillips who tallied a career high nine kills. Nicole Warner and Christina Measom both finished off the night with eight kills.

Morgan Lloyd Sorensen tied her career high of 24 digs, making this the fourth-straight match with double-digit digs, and Melissa Lake Wright came away with 12 digs, her second-straight match with double-digit digs as well.

The game started with set one going back and forth, but BYU rallied on offense to take the lead and finish the set. Utah came back in the second set with back-to-back unanswered point runs as the taking an early lead. After a brief timeout, the Cougars bounced back with several defensive stands and a nine-point run of their own to take back the lead and kept it until the end.

In the last half of the match, BYU continued to play well, but fell to the Utes three sets in a row.

The Cougars return to the Smith Fieldhouse next Tuesday, October 27, at 5 p.m. to take on the Utah Valley University Wolverines.

Volleyball Box Score
                           BYU Cougar Volleyball 2009
               Utah vs BYU Cougars (Oct 23, 2009 at Provo, Utah)
   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| 11   2  22  .409|  0|  0   4|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|  12.5
9  KILLPACK, Danielle..  5|  5   2  12  .250|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   6.0
10 BARTKOWIAK, Karolina  5| 16   7  40  .225|  2|  3   2|  0| 11| 0  1  0|  0|  19.5
13 SILVA, Cinthia......  5|  8   6  39  .051|  0|  2   3|  3|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  11.0
14 SIMMONS, Abby.......  5|  0   0   0  .000| 24|  0   3|  0| 14| 0  0  1|  0|   0.0
16 HIBBERT, Sarah......  5| 10   6  31  .129|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0|  10.5
2  NEELEY, Stephanie...  5|  0   1   2 -.500| 28|  1   2|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
4  CRUMP, Corinne......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
7  LANTING, Jennifer...  5|  9   3  20  .300|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  2  1|  0|  11.0
11 FISHER, Keisha......  5|  0   0   2  .000|  2|  2   1|  1| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 59  27 168  .190| 56|  9  15|  5| 65| 1 11  2|  0|  74.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1   9  7  41  .049  13-24  54%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  6  39  .231  14-28  50%   Utah................ (3) 19 26 25 25 15  14-7; 7-2; MWC
   3  14  8  35  .171  16-23  69%   BYU Cougars......... (2) 25 28 23 15  6  10-10; 5-4; MWC
   4  13  4  31  .290  10-16  62%
   5   8  2  22  .273   6-6  100%
   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|  8   5  25  .120|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 2  5  0|  0|  12.5
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  5|  3   1   7  .286| 38|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  4  0|  0|   5.0
10 PHILLIPS, Camilla...  5|  9   6  34  .088|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  1  1|  0|   9.5
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  5| 17  10  57  .123|  0|  1   3|  2|  5| 0  2  2|  0|  19.0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  5|  8   3  21  .238|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  2  2|  0|   9.0
16 LAU, Stephanie......  5|  4   3  15  .067|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  2   4|  3| 24| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
2  HANNEMANN, Heather..  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
6  GOODSELL, Chelsea...  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   0|  2| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  5|  0   0   1  .000|  3|  1   1|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
13 SAGERS, Lauren......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 49  29 161  .124| 46|  5  11|  9| 69| 2 14  5|  1|  63.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  15  6  37  .243  14-20  69%   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  15  6  40  .225  14-26  53%   Date: Oct 23, 2009   Attend: 2249   Time: 2H 17M
   3  10  6  29  .138  16-25  63%   Referees: ERIC ASAMI, DAPHNE NELSON, KAREN MARSHALL;MF;JR
   4   5  6  28 -.036   9-24  37%
   5   4  5  27 -.037   6-15  40%
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       7  11   8   2   3    31
                        Lead changes     1   7   2   0   0    10

PROVO -- After going 5-3 in the first half of Mountain West Conference play, the BYU women’s volleyball team (10-9, 5-3) will face in-state rival Utah (13-7, 6-2) at the Smith Fieldhouse Friday at 7 p.m.

“The first round of the Deseret Duel was a very exciting hard-fought battle and an extremely tight match at the Crimson Court,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “We expect nothing different at the Fieldhouse this Friday except that we certainly will have the home court advantage.”

BYU leads the all-time series 64-24 with Utah winning the last three matches.

In front of a record-high 1,747 fans at the Crimson Court the Cougars battled a close match with the Utes, falling in five sets. Senior rightside hitter Kayla Walker led the team that night with 19 kills and 11 digs, her fourth double-double of the season. Camilla Phillips had eight kills while Kiana Rogers posted 41 assists. Morgan Lloyd Sorensen held up the back row with 24 digs, tying her career high.

“We look forward to our fans filling the gym, cheering us on, and helping us defend the Smith Fieldhouse,” said Goulding. “The team is excited and ready to welcome Utah to our court. Like any other match, the focus will remain on aggressive serving and passing. With solid execution of these two skills, our blocking and hitting percentages will take care of themselves.”

The team has invited all Alumni back to Friday’s match and encourage all to come partake of a great volleyball match from the Alumni reserved section and a reception to follow the match.

The last time out the Cougars split road games, falling to MWC-undefeated Colorado State at their home court Thursday in three games and beating Wyoming in five on Saturday.

Freshman Nicole Warner led the Cougars in kills with nine against the Rams, hitting .667, a career-high in hitting percentage. Christie Carpenter added eight kills while setter Kiana Rogers posted 26 assists and seven digs. Senior Morgan Lloyd Sorensen tallied 10 digs, her 13th double-digit dig night of the season.

Against the Cowgirls the Cougars had three spikers in double-digits with Christie Carpenter leading the way with a career-high 21, Christina Measom with 13, hitting .310 and Nicole Warner with 12 (career-high tied), hitting .370. On the defensive side of the ball Morgan Lloyd Sorensen led the team with 18 digs, accompanied by Melissa Lake Wright with 12.

All fans are encouraged to wear blue to cheer on their Cougars Friday night. Next the Cougars will host Utah Valley University Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.