Cougars Fall at No. 6 USC in NCAA Second Round

LOS -- No. 22 BYU had its season come to an end Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to the host No. 6 USC Women of Troy at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, 25-30, 37-39, 19-30. The Cougars concluded their season with a 25-6 record while the Women of Troy advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen with a 27-4 mark.

"I thought we came out well, with purpose and resolve," BYU head coach Jason Watson said. "We fought diligently. USC is a very nice volleyball team and they played particularly well tonight."

Junior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman paced BYU with 14 kills while junior rightside hitter Erica Lott and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Dyer each added 12 kills. The Cougars hit .267 for the match while USC boasted a strong offensive attack at .333, led by outside hitter Diane Copenhagen's 16 kills.

USC took control of game one by breaking a 10-10 tie with an 8-3 run to take an 18-13 advantage. The Cougars were not able to get closer than three points the rest of the way before falling 30-25 after USC's Katelyn Bishop put down a kill off a Cougar overpass.

Fueled by four Erica Lott kills, the Cougars scored eight of game two's first 11 points and kept that margin while building a 15-10 lead. USC then responded with five straight scores to even the tally, but it wasn't until a second five-point Women of Troy run that USC was able to take its first lead of the game at 26-25. But the two teams were just getting going, as neither side could outdistance the other while the score pushed well into the 30s. BYU had three game-point chances but was unable to put one away, and USC was unsuccessful on five game-winning opportunities before finally converting for the 39-37 triumph.

BYU's 37 points are the most ever scored by a BYU team in a game loss during rally scoring.

The sixth-ranked Women of Troy came out strong in game three to take a commanding 18-10 lead and never looked back to earn the 30-19 win. USC hit .300 in the decisive game while holding BYU to a .029 attack.

BYU seniors Lindsy Hartsock and Kim Sorensen played in their final match as Cougars with Hartsock hitting .667 with six kills in nine attempts, while Sorensen added eight scoring swings for BYU. Hartsock led BYU with four blocks. Junior Annie Pinegar led BYU with 15 digs to finish the season with a 384 total, which ranks fourth all-time on BYU's single-season list.

The Cougars completed the season in the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd time in the 26-year existence of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. The Cougars rank 11th all-time for the most NCAA wins with a 28-23 tournament record.

"The season we were able to put together was representative of the direction we want the program to go," Watson said. "We feel like we have work to do but we are going to get better."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
        #23 BYU Cougars vs #6 USC (Dec 01, 2006 at Los Angeles, Calif.)
    BYU Cougars            |     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| 14   5  33  .273|  2|  0   1|  3|  8| 1  2  1|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  3|  8   5  24  .125|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  1|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 12   5  27  .259|  0|  0   3|  2|  4| 0  3  1|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  6   0   9  .667|  1|  1   2|  1|  0| 0  4  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  3|  0   0   0  .000| 45|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  1
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 12   6  23  .261|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  2| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 52  21 116  .267| 51|  2   8| 10| 38| 1 14  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  4  30  .400   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  24  6  52  .346   BYU Cougars......... (0) 25 37 19  25-6
   3  12 11  34  .029   USC................. (3) 30 39 30  27-4
    USC                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Gysin, Jessica......  3| 12   2  20  .500|  2|  0   0|  2|  4| 2  0  1|  0
 6  Bishop, Katelyn.....  3|  6   4  13  .154|  0|  3   1|  0|  3| 1  3  1|  0
 7  Kaczor, Asia........  3| 15   6  32  .281|  1|  3   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 9  Carico, Taylor......  3|  5   0   7  .714| 44|  1   1|  0|  3| 2  2  1|  2
 10 Johansen, Bethany...  3|  5   3  11  .182|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 12 Copenhagen, Diane...  3| 16   3  40  .325|  2|  1   0|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  1
 2  Seilhamer, Debora...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  2   0|  0| 17| 0  0  0|  1
 32 Dillon, Alli........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 59  18 123  .333| 51| 10   3|  2| 36| 5  8  3|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  6  32  .344   Site: Los Angeles, Calif. (Galen Center)
   2  29  8  61  .344   Date: Dec 01, 2006   Attend: 389   Time: 1:40
   3  13  4  30  .300   Referees: Rick Olmstead, Eric Asami
                        ID-516737