Offense Propels BYU to Sweep over New Mexico

PROVO -- Led by a strong offensive effort, No. 16 BYU recorded its fifth straight sweep and 15th consecutive win while defeating New Mexico, 30-15, 30-18, 30-22, on Elaine Michaelis Court. With the victory, BYU improves to 8-0 in the Mountain West Conference standings and 15-0 overall, while the Lobos fall to 3-5 and 11-7.

"I was very impressed with what we did offensively," BYU coach Jason Watson said after the victory. "We were able to spread the ball around quite nicely. Lauren (Richards Evans) made some good decisions out there, especially early in the match."

The Cougars dominated the match from its outset, jumping out to a 22-9 lead in game one. BYU doubled the Lobos on the scoreboard, 30-15, when Lauren Richards Evans killed a Lobo overpass to finish the game. Erica Lott and Rachel Dyer did a lot of the Cougar scoring in the opening game, recording six and five kills, respectively. Dyer was nearly perfect, putting down 5-of-6 attempts, to help the Cougars hit an extremely efficient .516.

BYU stayed hot in the second game, hitting .560 while holding the Lobos to a .000 attack percentage. Chelsea Goodman provided the big lift with six game-two kills in seven attempts while posting two blocks on the other side of the net. Despite BYU's statistical edge, New Mexico battled BYU to a 15-15 tie at the halfway point. BYU, however, soon took control, scoring five straight points during a 15-3 run to claim the game.

Trying to hold off a Cougar sweep, the Lobos came out in the third game with a lot of fight, taking an 8-5 lead. After BYU responded with three straight points to even the tally, both teams traded points to a 14-14 tie before BYU seemed to shift gears with several scoring runs to close out the game and the match, 30-22.

The Cougars hit .424 for the match with 50 kills and only 14 errors while the Lobos hit a negative percentage with 22 errors and only 21 kills. Senior rightside hitter Lexi Brown Patterson recorded a career-best .800 attack percentage for the Cougars, putting down eight kills in 10 attempts without an error. Nearly every Cougar had a solid night offensively as Richards Evans hit .714 with six kills, Lindsy Hartsock hit .625 with five kills, Dyer hit .500 with eight kills, Goodman hit .381 with 11 kills and Lott had a team-leading 12 kills with a .148 attack efficiency.

"We all really came together," Patterson said. "There is a lot of team unity this year. Jason (Watson) never lets us get casual with what we are doing out there."

BYU will host Utah Valley State Tuesday in the Smith Fieldhouse before returning to MWC play next weekend with home matches against UNLV and San Diego State.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
    New Mexico vs #16 Brigham Young Univ. (Oct 15, 2005 at Smith Fieldhouse)
    New Mexico             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  COX, Kim............  3|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  1   2|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 4  KWASIGROCH, Sarah...  3|  1   1   7  .000| 17|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  3
 6  RYAN, Nicole........  3|  7   5  24  .083|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  0
 8  SONDRUP, Chelsea....  3|  4   4  15  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0
 9  WEBER, Samie........  3|  3   3  15  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 12 MILLER, Michelle....  3|  5   6  18 -.056|  0|  0   2|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 3  THERKELSEN, Kelly...  3|  1   2  10 -.100|  2|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  4  0|  0
 7  TRIPP, Gayle........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 21  22  91 -.011| 20|  4  10|  4| 15| 1 12  0|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   8  7  34  .029   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   7  7  28  .000   New Mexico.......... (0) 15 18 22  11-7; 3-5 MWC
   3   6  8  29 -.069   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 30  15-0; 8-0 MWC
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3| 11   3  21  .381|  1|  1   1|  1|  6| 0  2  0|  0
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  3|  6   1   7  .714| 38|  0   3|  0|  5| 1  3  0|  2
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  3|  8   0  10  .800|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 12   8  27  .148|  2|  2   1|  1|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  5   0   8  .625|  1|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  1
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  8   2  12  .500|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 50  14  85  .424| 46|  4  11|  4| 38| 1 14  0|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  3  31  .516   Site: Smith Fieldhouse (Elaine Michaelis)
   2  18  4  25  .560   Date: Oct 15, 2005   Attend: 1074   Time: 1 H 27 M
   3  13  7  29  .207   Referees: John Martin, MAILE JEWKES, Karen Marshall