Cougars Roll to Win Over Owls

PROVO -- After withstanding a one-woman show in the first game, the BYU women's volleyball team defeated Rice 3-1 (30-28, 30-20, 23-30, 30-17) Saturday afternoon on the final day of the BYU Mizuno Classic presented by Courtyard Marriott.

"I'm thrilled to get this win," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "They're a tough team, and we had to stay focused to pull it through."

Held at the Smith Fieldhouse, Owls outside hitter Rebeca Pazo complied 11 kills in the first game, but the Cougars endured the storm with a balanced attack led by five kills from Carrie Bowers.

"Pazo is an incredible offensive player," Lamb said. "But we adjusted to her after the first game and did a good job limiting her effectiveness."

The teams were tied 3-3 in the first game, until Rice (6-4) pulled ahead with a 6-0 run. The Owls would continue to stay ahead until the middle of the game. Then, on the strength of two kills from Bowers and two kills from Laura Nielsen, BYU (6-3) would narrow the gap and eventually retie the game at 16-16. The teams would trade sideouts and Rice held a slim 27-26 lead, until BYU went on a 3-0 run behind a Kim Wilson kills and a pair of Owl hitting errors. Wilson would put down another kill to seal the game for BYU.

In the second game, Rice held a brief lead at 3-2, but BYU, with three kills from Lindsey Metcalf, went on a decisive 6-0 run to go up 10-4. The Cougars wouldn't look back as Wilson provided the firepower with seven kills.

The Cougars stumbled in the third game, as Rice took advantage of sloppy BYU play to take the early lead. The Owls would lead by as many as eight points at 24-16, as they forced a fourth game.

The fourth game would start out close, until the Cougars slowly pulled away. BYU capitalized on a 6-0 run, led by two Lindsy Lewis-Hartsock aces to take a 22-12 lead. April Varner came on in the final game to put down seven kills in ten attempts to hit a career-high .700. The Cougars would close out the match with a 4-0 run and the match was won with a Pazo attack error.

Wilson led the Cougars in kills for the second consecutive match, as she tallied 21, while hitting .421. She also posted her second consecutive and third career double-double with 11 digs. Carrie Bowers and Lindsey Metcalf also finished with double-digit kills, finishing with 14 and 10, respectively.

Lewis-Hartsock set a career-high with seven blocks to go with a match-high four aces. Lauren Richards continued her solid overall play with 52 assists, 10 digs, four blocks, six kills and one ace. Uila Crabbe continues to lead the defense with a match-high 15 digs.

The Cougars will face-off for the tournament championship with No. 8 Penn State tonight at 7:30 p.m. In a preceding game, Rice will play Ohio State at 5 p.m.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                       2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
           Rice vs BYU Cougars (Sep 13, 2003 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    Rice                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  KAINZ, Rebecca......  4| 10   1  25  .360|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 2  2  0|  0
 2  SIGMAN, Rhonda......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 3  CARTER, Lindsey.....  3|  4   6  20 -.100|  0|  0   1|  2|  4| 1  0  0|  0
 5  HOBAN, Kristina.....  4|  1   3   7 -.286| 51|  1   1|  0|  4| 1  1  0|  0
 7  JACKMAN, Julie......  3|  8   1  17  .412|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 12 PAZO, Rebeca........  4| 27  10  56  .304|  0|  0   2|  0|  9| 1  1  0|  0
 6  DUPONT, Catherine...  4|  2   3  18 -.056|  1|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 9  KUYKENDALL, Tessa...  2|  0   1   4 -.250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0
 10 NEAL, Rebekah.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  4| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 15 SCOTT, Erica........  3|  4   1  11  .273|  0|  0   1|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 56  26 158  .190| 53|  2  11|  7| 47| 5  6  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  7  43  .326   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2   9  7  37  .054   Rice................ 28 20 30 17  6 - 4
   3  16  3  38  .342   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 23 30  6 - 3
   4  10  9  40  .025
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  4|  6   2  17  .235| 52|  1   4|  0| 10| 0  4  0|  2
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4| 10   6  30  .133|  0|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  4| 21   5  38  .421|  2|  0   3|  1| 11| 0  1  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  4| 14   6  31  .258|  5|  1   0|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  4   0|  0|  0| 1  6  1|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  4|  7   2  21  .238|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  2|  0
 3  VARNER, April.......  1|  7   0  10  .700|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 4  TOGO, Melanie.......  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  4|  0   1   3 -.333|  2|  0   0|  1| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CASTILLO, Sahara....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 69  24 161  .280| 62|  7  10|  2| 59| 1 21  3|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  4  36  .333   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  7  46  .261   Date: Sep 13, 2003   Attend: 264   Time: 1H 45M
   3  16 10  43  .140   Referees: MAILE JEWKES, BRUCE GRANT, KAREN MARSHALL
   4  18  3  36  .417