Cougars Stumble in Bid To Beat Utes

SALT LAKE CITY -- The University of Utah's hold BYU continued Saturday afternoon as the No. 14 Utes defeated the Cougars in three games to mark the tenth straight Ute victory over BYU.

"I thought we had a good game plan," said head coach Karen Lamb. "They didn't do anything we didn't anticipate; we just needed to make more plays."

Despite a valiant effort by BYU, the balls simply did not fall in the Cougars' favor. BYU was outdug, 33-49, for just the third time this season and is 1-2 in those matches. Service errors were also a problem for BYU as the Cougars failed to put the ball in play 14 times compared to the Utes' five service errors.

"When you play such close games and have as many service errors as we have lately, it's tough to win," Lamb said. "We've been working on it but we absolutely have to change that."

While the match was just the second three-game defeat of the year for the Cougars, BYU did not go down without a fight. The two squads stuck close in game one with neither team gaining more than a two-point advantage through most of the game. An Erica Lott kill followed by a Ute service error gave the Cougars a three-point advantage at 22-19. But Utah proved too tough, putting together an 11-2 run to send BYU to a 24-30 defeat.

Game two belonged to Utah as the Utes came out strong and forced BYU to play catch-up the entire way. The Cougars had their worst hitting efficiency of the day in game two as they managed just .161 percent on 10 kills and five errors.

BYU found its rhythm in game three as Jenna Judkins saw significant playing time at the setter position and the Cougars fought their way back into the match. BYU took a 23-22 lead on back-to-back kills by true freshman Chelsea Goodman and then came up with a kill by April Varner on a Utah game point to tie the score at 29-29. However, a Cougar service error gave the Utes a second game point, which was enough to give Utah the 31-29 game three win.

Junior Lexi Brown led the Cougars with 10 kills on the match while Utah's Liana Bortoto led all players with 19. Varner came off the bench to lead the Cougars in hitting percentage with a .429 mark on seven kills and one error. BYU's Lindsy Hartsock, the nation's No. 1 blocker, continued her dominance with seven blocks on the afternoon. Lindsey Evans led the Cougars in digs with nine.

With the loss, the Cougars now drop to 11-9 on the season and 4-4 in the Mountain West Conference. BYU will step out of conference play for a Tuesday matchup at Utah Valley State College at 7 p.m. before returning home to play Air Force and New Mexico on Friday and Saturday nights.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
   Brigham Young vs #14 Univ. of Utah (Oct 23, 2004 at Salt Lake City, 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|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  1   1   8  .000| 32|  1   4|  0|  4| 0  3  1|  0|   3.5
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  6   1  14  .357|  1|  0   2|  0|  6| 1  2  1|  0|   8.0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  2|  2   3  19 -.053|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3| 10   3  17  .412|  0|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  1  1|  0|  12.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  7   4  22  .136|  0|  0   3|  1|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   7.5
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  5   2  10  .300|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  7  1|  0|   8.5
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3|  3   2   8  .125|  0|  0   2|  2|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 3  VARNER, April.......  2|  7   1  14  .429|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|   8.0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  1|  0   0   1  .000|  5|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  17 115  .217| 39|  3  14|  4| 33| 1 16  4|  0|  54.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  7  48  .167   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  5  31  .161   Brigham Young....... (0) 24 20 29  11-9, 4-4 MWC
   3  17  5  36  .333   Univ. of Utah....... (3) 30 30 31  16-3, 8-0 MWC
    Univ. of Utah          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  TOONE, Amie.........  3|  1   2   6 -.167|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   2.5
 5  BORTOTO, Liana......  3| 19   7  37  .324|  0|  1   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0|  20.0
 6  KARTCHNER, Kelsie...  3|  6   2  15  .267| 23|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  3  1|  0|   7.5
 8  NEUMEIER, Tracy.....  3|  0   0   4  .000| 27|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  LEICHLITER, Danielle  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  1   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 16 HENDERSON, Lyndsey..  3| 15   6  28  .321|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  0|  18.0
 4  SOMMERFELDT, Shelly.  3| 13   3  21  .476|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 1  1  0|  0|  14.5
 12 ELLETT, Katrena.....  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 14 DANGERFIELD, Connie.  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   0|  2| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 15 TOONE, Emillie......  3|  1   2   5 -.200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  0|   3.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 56  23 119  .277| 52|  4   5|  3| 49| 2 14  1|  0|  69.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  8  44  .205   Site: Salt Lake City, Utah (Crimson Court)
   2  20  8  36  .333   Date: Oct 23, 2004   Attend: 908   Time: 1:28
   3  19  7  39  .308   Referees: Verna KLUBNIKIN, Bruce GRANT, Quinette DUNN
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores      14   2  18    34
                        Lead changes     6   3   8    17