Cougars Overcome Aztecs in Dramatic Five-Game Win

Four Players Record Double-Digit Kills

PROVO -- For the second time this season, the BYU women's volleyball team overcame an 0-2 deficit for a dramatic come from behind 3-2 (26-30, 22-30, 30-19, 30-21, 16-14) win over San Diego State Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win improves the Cougars to 14-5 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain West Conference, while the Aztecs fall to 12-9, 3-3.

"It was an unbelievable effort by the team tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "You never want to put yourselves in the position to be down 0-2, but we were and we showed a lot of heart."

BYU the No. 19 blocking team in the nation was matched up with SDSU, the No. 5 blocking team. In the match, the Aztecs held the blocking advantage at 15-12. Defense and serving spurred runs on both sides throughout the match.

In the end BYU's balanced offense, which saw four players register double-digit kills, sustained momentum for the Cougars as they claimed the win.

In the first game, SDSU staked itself to an early lead at 5-2, but three consecutive Aztec attack errors knotted the game at 5-5. From there, the game would remain close and the two teams would exchange points. The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 21-19, but the Aztecs staged a 4-0 run, largely due to three BYU attack errors to take a 23-21 lead. SDSU cruised from there taking nine of the next 12 points.

After a close start to the second game, SDSU staged a critical 5-0 run midway through the game to take a commanding 18-12 lead. The Cougars couldn't get within five points the rest of the way, as the Aztecs ran away with the game by hitting a match-high .419.

Game three turned the tide for BYU and got the fans into the match, as the Cougars came out with energy to take a quick 4-2 lead with two kills from Lindsey Metcalf. BYU and SDSU traded points to keep the game close, but the Cougars would continue to hold a slim lead as they hit over .300 throughout the game. BYU's decisive blow was a 4-0 run to extend the Cougar lead to 20-15 after Kim Wilson and Metcalf kills. The Cougars were relentless and ended up scoring 14 of the final 18 points in the game.

"After we started communicating out on the court, we started to play well," Lamb said. "The fans were pretty loud tonight, and it was hard for the players to hear from the sidelines. So it was very important that they communicated with each other on the court."

The fourth game featured the same theme as the third. Only, BYU got out to a stronger start. Behind the staunch serving of Lindsey Kearl, including a pair of aces, BYU took a quick 6-1 lead and would hold the lead throughout. The Cougar defense continued to keep the Aztec offense in check, as BYU stifled each SDSU rally. The Aztecs would draw to within three points on numerous occasions, but were turned away each time. BYU would again finish strong with a 12-5 run to end the game, capped by a pair of Metcalf kills.

"We were determined not to lose," Wilson said. "We knew we could do it."

As it had in the previous two games, BYU took an early lead in the fifth game with a 3-0 lead. In a back-and-forth offensive struggle, SDSU fought back to tie it at 5-5. The Cougars then reeled off a 4-0 run, punctuated by two Wilson kills. The Aztecs then pulled off a 4-0 run of their own to tie the game again, at 9-9. BYU then staged another 4-0 run after consecutive kills by Carrie Bowers, Wilson and Lindsy Lewis-Hartsock. SDSU fought back again with a 5-1 run to tie the game at 14-14, but the Cougars prevailed with back-to-back kills from Bowers and Laura Nielsen to seal the match.

"Obviously it's tough to come from behind, but when we put ourselves in desperate circumstances, we play well," Lamb said.

BYU was led by Bowers' 15 kills, followed by Wilson (14), Lewis-Hartsock (12) and Metcalf (11). Nielsen put up a match-high .462 attack percentage to go with eight kills.

The Cougar serve was strong as they collected 11 aces, led by Kearl who collected three aces.

Defensively, Uila Crabbe put up a match-high 21 digs and Wilson recorded a career-high 17 digs to record her sixth double-double of the year. Nielsen led the team with six blocks.

Lauren Richards displayed her all-around game in quarterbacking the attack. She dished out a match-high 50 assists, while also posting 10 digs, eight kills, five blocks and a service ace.

The Cougars hit .211, while limiting SDSU to a .130 attack percentage. In the final three games, BYU held the Aztecs to sub-.100 attack percentages in each.

The Aztecs were led by Megan Schauermann who tallied match-highs with 17 kills and 10 blocks.

BYU will be in action again Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse, when it hosts UNLV. The BYU men's volleyball team will hold its annual Blue/White scrimmage at the conclusion of the women's match.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                       2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
      San Diego State vs BYU Cougars (Oct 17, 2003 at Brigham Young Univ.)
    San Diego State        |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  MORIARTY, Kara......  5|  8  11  41 -.073|  1|  1   1|  3| 15| 0  2  2|  0
 6  CANSDALE, Melissa...  5|  6   7  22 -.045|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  5  2|  0
 7  ENGSTROM, Sara......  5|  4   0  14  .286| 48|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  4  0|  1
 8  GREGG, Robyn........  5|  0   1   2 -.500|  1|  3   5|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0
 11 SCHAUERMANN, Megan..  5| 17   4  30  .433|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 1  9  0|  0
 15 ANGUELOVA, Zlatina..  5|  8   4  40  .100|  0|  0   0|  3| 17| 0  3  1|  0
 5  SANDE, Natalie......  5|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   1|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 16 MCPARTLAND, Aspen...  5| 15   7  35  .229|  1|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  5  2|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 58  34 185  .130| 53|  4   8| 11| 71| 1 28  7|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  8  53  .113   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  3  31  .419   San Diego State..... 30 30 19 21 14  12-9, 3-3
   3  11  9  40  .050   BYU Cougars......... 26 22 30 30 16  14-5, 4-2
   4  11  8  38  .079
   5   6  6  23  .000
    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....  5|  8   4  25  .160| 50|  1   2|  0| 10| 0  5  2|  4
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4| 11   6  40  .125|  1|  1   0|  3| 11| 0  0  1|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  5| 14   8  40  .150|  2|  2   3|  0| 17| 0  1  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  5| 15   5  33  .303|  2|  0   1|  0|  8| 1  3  2|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  5|  0   0   1  .000|  5|  0   0|  0| 21| 0  0  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5| 12   3  22  .409|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0
 3  VARNER, April.......  1|  2   2  10  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 4  TOGO, Melanie.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KEARL, Lindsey......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  3   2|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  2   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  5|  8   2  13  .462|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  5  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 70  31 185  .211| 60| 11  14|  4| 73| 2 20  5|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15 10  47  .106   Site: Brigham Young Univ. (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  14  7  34  .206   Date: Oct 17, 2003   Attend: 1320   Time: 2h 15m
   3  16  4  34  .353   Referees: ERIC ASAMI, DAPHNE NELSON, KAREN MARSHALL
   4  17  5  43  .279
   5   8  5  27  .111