Cougars Win Battle with Rebels

PROVO -- No. 15 BYU battled through a tough challenge from UNLV in its third match of the week, defeating the Rebels 23-30, 30-24, 30-25 and 30-28 Saturday night on Elaine Michaelis Court. The Cougars remain perfect on the season with an 18-0 record and 10-0 mark in Mountain West Conference play after going 3-0 this week.

"This was by far the toughest match we have had in conference play," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "I was proud of the way our team battled."

The casualties of the tough four-game battle were scattered throughout the final stats sheet as BYU overcame its worst hitting night of the year at .122 and UNLV managed only a .038 attack. BYU did record a season-high 17 team blocks as five Cougars had five or more block assists, with sophomore outside hitter Erica Lott putting up a career-best seven blocks while seniors Lindsy Hartsock (nine blocks) and Lexi Patterson (five blocks) had season-high performances at the net.

Lott led BYU with 18 kills while fellow sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Goodman followed with 17. Lott (11) and Goodman (12) were also two of four Cougars with double-digit digs, joining setter Lauren Richards Evans (15) and libero Lindsey Evans, who posted a match-high 19 defensive gems.

BYU started the match scoring the first three points, but game one quickly turned in UNLV's favor as the Rebels ran off seven consecutive points during a 10-1 run. UNLV maintained a seven-point advantage at 15-8 when BYU was finally able to string several points together with a 5-1 rally, closing the gap at 16-13. The Cougars, however, would get no closer the rest of the way. After a Lauren Miramontes hitting error brought BYU to within three for the third time at 26-23, the Rebels scored the last four points -- their fourth run of three or more points during the game -- to earn the 30-23 win.

The Rebels started quickly in the second game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before BYU was able to get on the scoreboard. Trading points to a UNLV 12-7 advantage, BYU finally seemed to find its gear, scoring 11 of the next 14 points, including seven in a row. The run gave the Cougars their first lead since 3-0 in game one and brought the crowd of 1,958 into the match. BYU built the lead to its winning margin of six points to even the match heading into the break.

A spark for the Cougars in the second game came from Lott, who recorded a game-high seven kills along with four digs and three blocks.

"Erica's assignment tonight was to defend UNLV's rightside attack," Watson said. "She responded to that challenge very well. She worked hard in practice and it's nice for her to get a return on that investment during the match."

The third game was a tough battle as neither team was able to pull away. BYU's biggest lead was three points and UNLV's largest margin was two by the time they shared the scoring at 22-22. That's when Goodman's sixth kill of the game started a scoring run of four straight Cougar points to give BYU the push for the 30-25 win. Richards Evans recorded the game-winner when her dig of a UNLV attack overshot the net and found an open spot in the Rebel court.

After leading 17-16 in game four, BYU created some needed cushion for the win with a 9-3 run that included kills by Goodman, Lott and freshman middle blocker Rachel Dyer. That cushion came in handy when it took the Cougars until their fourth match-point opportunity to finally put away UNLV, 30-28. Even then, the final point of the match came with some fortune to BYU as UNLV's Melody Nua was called for a blocking error for being into the net when Goodman's down-the-line attack was just wide of the line.

The Rebels drop to 5-3 in the conference standings and 9-11 overall with the loss. Maria Aladjova and Miramontes led UNLV with 14 and 13 kills, respectively, against the Cougars.

BYU will step out of MWC play on Tuesday to face in-state foe Weber State before traveling to TCU on Friday.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU COUGARS
                     UNLV Rebels vs #15 Brigham Young Univ.
                     (Oct 22, 2005 at Smith Fieldhouse BYU)
    UNLV Rebels            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  LUMSDEN, Brittani...  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  0   0|  0| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  NUA, Melody.........  4|  6   3  16  .188| 44|  0   2|  0|  9| 1  3  1|  2|   8.5
 8  BANKS, Michelle.....  4|  5   4  22  .045|  2|  2   1|  0|  9| 0  1  0|  0|   7.5
 9  PENCHEVA, Mariana...  4|  4   6  17 -.118|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 10 MIRAMONTES, Lauren..  4| 13  10  52  .058|  1|  0   0|  0|  6| 3  4  0|  0|  18.0
 14 JOHNSON, Jennifer...  2|  3   5  12 -.167|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   3.0
 4  CUNNINGHAM, Camille.  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  2   1|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 5  KOOCHI, Kristin.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  ALADJOVA, Maria.....  4| 14   9  41  .122|  0|  0   2|  0| 11| 1  0  0|  0|  15.0
 7  WALKER, Jada........  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0| 16| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 FLAHAVEN, Ashley....  4|  7   6  24  .042|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   7.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 52  45 186  .038| 49|  4   7|  0| 75| 5 10  3|  2|  66.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  9  42  .143   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10 13  55 -.055   UNLV Rebels......... (1) 30 24 25 28  9-11, 5-3  MWC
   3  10 13  43 -.070   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 23 30 30 30  18-0,10-0  MWC
   4  17 10  46  .152
    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|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  4| 17   9  53  .151|  0|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  0  1|  0|  17.0
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  4|  2   4  13 -.154| 51|  0   2|  0| 15| 1  5  1|  1|   5.5
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  4|  8   3  25  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  5  0|  0|  10.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 18  10  51  .157|  0|  0   1|  1| 11| 1  6  2|  0|  22.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4|  7   3  18  .222|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  9  0|  0|  11.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  4|  5   6  19 -.053|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  5  0|  1|   7.5
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   3|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  3| 19| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 PARKER, Catherine...  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 57  35 180  .122| 54|  0  11|  4| 72| 2 30  4|  3|  74.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  9  39  .077   Site: Smith Fieldhouse BYU (Elaine Michaelis)
   2  16 10  52  .115   Date: Oct 22, 2005   Attend: 1958   Time: 2H 28 M
   3  13  9  43  .093   Referees: KEN TALYOR, TERI JACKSON, KAREN MARSHALL
   4  16  7  46  .196
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       1   1  10   8    20
                        Lead changes     1   1   4   3     9