Cougars Struggle in Tough Five-Game Loss

LOGAN -- The Cougars once again failed to capitalize on an early lead as they fell in five games to instate rival Utah State Tuesday night in Logan, dropping to 5-6 on the season.

BYU jumped out to an early lead in the match, winning the first two games 32-30 and 30-26. Despite hitting just .045 percent in the first game, the Cougar offense picked up in the second game, hitting .222 while the defense stifled the Aggies, allowing Utah State to hit a dismal .098 in the first game and .000 in the second.

However, the Cougars could not hold on to the two-game advantage as the Aggies came roaring back on their home court to win games four and five, 30-27 and 30-25, and force a fifth game, the fourth five-game match of the season for BYU. The Cougars are 1-3 in those matches.

Game five was a nail-biter as both teams battled for the victory. Though the game featured only one lead change, it was enough to give Utah State the 17-15 win.

"We did lots of good things tonight," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We've just got to figure out how to win the third game and put a team away. We fought hard, but it's always hard to play here and it just didn't come together for us tonight."

Several Cougars had career nights in the loss. Junior Kim Wilson set a new career-high in digs with 20 as she led BYU in that category. Wilson also led the Cougars in kills for the eighth time this season and with 20 on the night, came within one kill of equaling her season high. Erica Lott also came within a single kill of matching her career high as she put down 18 for the Cougars.

True freshman Chelsea Goodman saw her first significant playing time this season as she played in the libero spot and picked up nine digs, a career-high. Setter Lauren Richards, along with quarterbacking the Cougar attack with 61 assists, set a career-high in blocks as she tallied seven.

Other Cougars contributors included Lindsey Metcalf with 15 digs, Lexi Brown with 11 kills and Lindsy Hartsock with 11 blocks. Overall, the Cougars stuffed the Aggies 21 times, the eighth-best single match blocking total in BYU's storied history.

"Kim (Wilson) started off cold but fought back into it and had a great night," said Lamb. "Lindsy (Hartsock) also gave us 11 blocks, which is awesome."

Despite the tough night, the Cougars will not have much time to contemplate the loss as they now travel to New Mexico for a Thursday night matchup with the Lobos. BYU has not lost a single game to New Mexico since 1995, piling up 18 straight sweeps of its Mountain West Conference foe. Game time for that match is set for 7 p.m.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                    Brigham Young Univ. Cougars - Volleyball
           Brigham Young vs Utah State (Sep 28, 2004 at Logan, Utah)
    Brigham Young          |     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|  7   4  23  .130| 61|  4   5|  0|  6| 1  6  2|  4
 6  Metcalf, Lindsey....  5|  8   3  24  .208|  1|  0   1|  3| 15| 0  7  1|  0
 7  Wilson, Kimberly....  5| 20   9  57  .193|  0|  2   3|  0| 20| 1  3  2|  0
 9  Brown, Lexi.........  5| 11   4  32  .219|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  6  1|  0
 10 Lott, Erica.........  5| 18   9  47  .191|  0|  1   1|  0|  5| 1  3  3|  0
 14 Hartsock, Lindsy....  5|  7   6  17  .059|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0 11  0|  0
 1  Goodman, Chelsea....  5|  0   1   1-1.000|  2|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  1
 16 Evans, Lindsey......  5|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  2| 14| 0  0  0|  0
 20 Judkins, Jenna......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 72  36 202  .178| 65|  8  14|  6| 76| 3 36  9|  5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 21.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13 11  44  .045   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  7  36  .222   Brigham Young....... (2) 32 30 27 25 15  5-6
   3  19  8  50  .220   Utah State.......... (3) 30 26 30 30 17  3-7
   4  15  7  43  .186
   5  10  3  29  .241
    Utah State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Orgill, Amanda......  5| 10   5  25  .200|  1|  3   1|  0|  6| 0  3  2|  0
 4  Arsenault, Dominique  5|  5   2  12  .250| 61|  1   1|  0| 12| 0  3  1|  2
 5  Forbush, Carolyn....  5| 11  10  40  .025|  0|  0   1|  3|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Roth, Ingrid........  5| 14   2  28  .429|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  5  2|  0
 11 Graybill, Erin......  5| 14   4  37  .270|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  4  1|  0
 16 Cernianska, Zuzana..  5| 15  10  56  .089|  0|  0   3|  3| 17| 0  3  1|  0
 1  Ale, Monarisa.......  5|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  1
 3  Peterson, Kindy.....  4|  3   2  11  .091|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 8  Fahnestock, Amanda..  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Thoman, Kelsi.......  5|  0   0   1  .000|  5|  0   1|  2| 19| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 72  36 212  .170| 67|  6   9|  8| 72| 1 18  7|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14 10  41  .098   Site: Logan, Utah (Smith Spectrum)
   2  10 10  42  .000   Date: Sep 28, 2004   Attend: 473   Time: 2:35
   3  18  6  51  .235   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Tom Givens
   4  19  7  50  .240
   5  11  3  28  .286