BYU Pulls Out Tough Win

LAS -- The BYU women's volleyball team came up with a big win Friday night at UNLV, defeating the Rebels in five games to take sole possession of third place in the Mountain West Conference. Big nights from redshirt freshman Lindsey Evans and senior Lindsey Metcalf helped lift the Cougars to 15-9 overall and 7-4 in MWC play.

"It was a very important win for us," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "This really gives us a good start to the weekend. We're thrilled."

The match started out well for the Cougars as they hit .400 and held UNLV to just .194 hitting while cruising to the 30-22 game one victory. However, the Rebels took control of games two and three, jumping out to early leads and keeping the Cougar offense in check to record 35-33 and 30-26 victories. BYU stormed back in game four, holding the Rebels to a dismal .109 hitting efficiency and forcing a fifth game by virtue of a 30-26 win. Game five was all Cougars as they took the lead early and never looked back enroute to a 15-10 victory and the match win.

"The third game was pretty ugly but we came out and did the job in the fourth and fifth games. We struggled passing but we were able to work through it and calm ourselves down."

While several Cougars made significant contributions in the match, the key difference-makers for BYU were Evans and Metcalf. Earning the start at the libero spot, Evans recorded a career-high 33 digs, the first Cougar to record more than 30 digs in a match since Korie Rogers in 1998. Evans was just two digs shy of being the first BYU player to post 35 or more digs in a match since Socorro Leal in 1984. With 13 kills, 18 digs and 10 blocks, Metcalf recorded the first triple-double of her career and posted season-highs in both the kills category and the blocks category while tying her season-high in digs.

Setter Lauren Richards notched her MWC-leading tenth double-double of the season with 61 assists and 11 digs along with senior April Varner, who had 13 kills and 16 digs. Erica Lott led the way for BYU with 16 kills, while playing in only three games, and Lexi Brown had the best hitting efficiency of the night with a .571 mark on 13 kills, one error and 21 attempts.

BYU returns to action Saturday night at San Diego State with a 7 p.m. PST start time. The Aztecs are currently 3-21 overall and 3-8 in the MWC. The Cougars swept SDSU in the last matchup between the two teams and own a 28-15 all-time series advantage over the Aztecs.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
            Brigham Young vs UNLV (Nov 05, 2004 at Las Vegas, Nev.)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VARNER, April.......  5| 13   5  48  .167|  3|  0   0|  1| 16| 0  1  1|  0
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  5|  5   1   9  .444| 61|  3   3|  0| 11| 1  4  0|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  5| 13   3  26  .385|  4|  1   2|  1| 18| 2  8  1|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  2|  3   2  14  .071|  0|  1   4|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  5| 13   1  21  .571|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  2|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5|  9   3  29  .207|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  9  0|  0
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  4|  2   4   9 -.222|  0|  1   1|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 16   6  28  .357|  0|  0   0|  2|  3| 1  0  0|  0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2| 33| 0  0  0|  0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 74  25 184  .266| 69|  7  12|  7| 92| 4 26  4|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  2  25  .400   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  20  7  47  .277   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 33 26 30 15  15-9, 7-4
   3  17  6  55  .200   UNLV................ (2) 22 35 30 26 10  12-9, 6-5
   4  15  7  35  .229
   5  10  3  22  .318
    UNLV                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  KING, Nicki.........  5|  4   0  11  .364| 54|  3   1|  0|  9| 1  2  0|  0
 2  LUMSDEN, Brittani...  5| 12   9  37  .081|  0|  1   1|  1| 18| 0  0  0|  0
 8  BANKS, Michelle.....  2|  3   1   5  .400|  1|  0   1|  3|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 9  PENCHEVA, Mariana...  5| 17   7  41  .244|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  1  0|  0
 10 MIRAMONTES, Lauren..  5| 14   6  43  .186|  0|  1   1|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0
 14 ALADJOVA, Maria.....  5| 20  11  57  .158|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 5  KOOCHI, Kristin.....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  WALKER, Jada........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  1| 19| 0  0  0|  0
 12 KEITH, Tarin........  4|  4   6  25 -.080|  3|  2   1|  2|  7| 0  1  0|  0
 16 OKAMOTO, Marisa.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 74  40 219  .155| 61|  7  11|  7| 72| 2  6  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  8  36  .194   Site: Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
   2  19  9  52  .192   Date: Nov 05, 2004   Attend: 634   Time: 2:35
   3  18  7  66  .167   Referees: Tom Pingel, Ken Beckham
   4  16 11  46  .109
   5   6  5  19  .053