Seniors Honored in BYU Win

PROVO -- BYU posted its 12th sweep of the season Friday night with a 30-28, 30-28, 30-28 win over the visiting Eastern Washington Eagles. Led by senior April Varner, playing in her last home match, the Cougars kept their NCAA hopes alive and moved to 19-11 on the season, winning eight of their last ten matches.

"I don't think we were as sharp tonight as we have been, but we did what we needed to do to win and that's the important part," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We're playing really well right now and we've done what we can. Hopefully things will work out for us."

Varner led the Cougars with a match-high 15 kills while Kim Wilson added 14. Lindsy Hartsock recorded nine blocks, reaching 200 for the season, and Lindsey Evans led the Cougar digging effort with 10. Lauren Richards notched eight kills on 10 attempts and only one error to tie her career-high hitting percentage with a .700 mark. As a team, the Cougars out-blocked the Eagles 10-7, marking the 24th time BYU has recorded more blocks than its opponents in a match.

Three Cougar seniors were honored during the match for their contributions as Lindsey Metcalf, April Varner and Mandi Kiholm played their final home matches. Kiholm was a spark off the bench for the Cougars in her two seasons, recording a career-high five blocks against New Mexico and posting two kills in Friday's match. Varner finished the season ranked seventh in the Mountain West Conference in digs with 2.60 per game and led BYU in digs five times. Metcalf, who received All-MWC honors this season, finished ninth in the league in hitting percentage with a .282 mark and led the Cougars in digs eight times and blocks five times this year.

"Kiholm did a very nice job when we needed her to and gave up a lot to come here from UVSC, which we appreciate," Lamb said. "Varner is a real team player and hard worker who came on strong at the end of the season after an injury early on. Metcalf is an awesome athlete who was solid for us all around this year."

The Cougars are now hoping for an at-large NCAA invite to extend their season and mark the 22nd postseason appearance in the history of the program. The NCAA brackets will be announced Sunday at 4:40 MST on ESPNNews. Fans can turn go to the women's volleyball home page at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/ for the latest tournament information.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
           Eastern Washington vs Brigham Young (Nov 26, 2004 at BYU)
    Eastern Washington     |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  ALBERS, Deanna......  3| 10   6  23  .174|  1|  2   0|  2|  6| 0  1  0|  0|  12.5
 6  ALBERS, Christina...  3|  1   0   5  .200| 36|  1   1|  0|  5| 0  1  2|  2|   2.5
 9  SONDERSEN, Keva.....  3| 10   3  19  .368|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  2  0|  0|  12.0
 11 MELLOR, Lizzy.......  3|  9   6  26  .115|  0|  2   2|  0| 14| 0  1  0|  0|  11.5
 12 KITTERMAN, Megan....  3| 10   2  16  .500|  1|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|  12.0
 15 JENSEN, Ashley......  3|  2   1   9  .111|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
 3  PAGE, Brittney......  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 4  POIRIER, Coco.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 JOHNSON, Angie......  3|  5   2  14  .214|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 14 VERDOLJAK, Andrea...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  20 114  .237| 44|  5   5|  4| 38| 2 10  2|  2|  59.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  4  40  .375   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  7  33  .182   Eastern Washington.. (0) 28 28 28  20-9
   3  15  9  41  .146   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  19-11
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VARNER, April.......  3| 15   4  34  .324|  0|  0   1|  1|  7| 0  1  0|  0|  15.5
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  8   1  10  .700| 46|  2   4|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  2|  11.0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  4   2  12  .167|  7|  1   2|  1|  6| 1  3  0|  0|   7.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3| 14   5  23  .391|  0|  1   2|  2|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3|  7   2  18  .278|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  1|  0|   7.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  9   4  22  .227|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  9  0|  0|  13.5
 2  KIHOLM, Mandi.......  1|  2   1   6  .167|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 59  19 125  .320| 55|  4  11|  5| 40| 1 18  2|  2|  73.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  4  40  .450   Site: BYU (Smith Field House)
   2  22  9  45  .289   Date: Nov 26, 2004   Attend: 1079   Time: 1H 40M
   3  15  6  40  .225   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Annette Cottle, Karen Marshall
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       4   4   4    12
                        Lead changes     3   4   3    10