Cougars Post Big Win Over No. 10 Wisconsin

PROVO -- With a feisty crowd of 3,880 packed in the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday night, the No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team upset No. 10 Wisconsin 3-2 (26-30, 30-25, 30-15, 26-30, 15-13) at the BYU Molten Classic.

The Cougars' opening-round match of the tournament coincided with BYU freshman orientation, bringing in the fourth-largest crowd in BYU women's volleyball history.

"The crowd gave me chills all night," Cougar senior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman said. "They're a huge part of playing here at BYU. It's good to win in front of that many people."

BYU put on a show for the fans as five players finished with double-digit kills on a .324 team hitting percentage. The Cougars also had 30 blocks.

"This was a great match for the sport of women's volleyball," BYU head coach Jason Watson said. "I thought Rachel Dyer and Bryn Porter were amazing. This win was huge for our program."

Junior middle blocker Dyer did more than just provide defense for the Cougars. Dyer, who had a career-high 20 kills in the match, tallied seven winners in the final game, five of which came as the Cougars' first five points of the contest. Junior outside hitter Bryn Porter added a career-high 13 kills.

The Cougars started a little slow, dropping game one 30-26, but responded with energy in the following two games. Game three was the turning point for the Cougars as they won 30-15, in large part due to the play of Erica Lott and Goodman, who combined for nine kills in the game.

Despite being down two games to one, Wisconsin wouldn't go down without a fight. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner had eight kills in the fourth game and finished with a match-high 22 kills. The Badgers rallied around Dolgner came out with a 30-26 win after an early five-point deficit.

But the fifth game was all BYU. The Cougars got out to an early 5-1 lead and never looked back. Sophomore Ashton Hansen finished off the match with an emphatic kill, giving her a career-high 10 winners.

BYU setter Kiana Rogers started for the first time in her career and dished out 63 assists.

With the win, the Cougars improve to 3-0 on the year while the Badgers drop to 3-1. BYU will face American on Saturday at 12 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse before taking on Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. to complete the tournament. Live stats will be available for both matches.

Northern Iowa Sweeps American

In the opening match of the BYU Molten Classic Friday Northern Iowa handed American University its first loss of the year (30-25, 30-22, 30-26). UNI's record improved to 3-1 while AU dropped to 4-1.

UNI was led by a balanced attack as the Panthers had three players with double-digit kills. Outside hitter Amy Sampson led Northern Iowa with 17 kills while outside hitter Laura Rowen and middle blocker Danielle Brazda pitched in with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Brazda also led UNI with nine blocks and a hitting percentage of .429.

The American Eagles saw a stellar performance from junior outside hitter Rubena Sukaj as she recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs. Coming into the match Sukaj was averaging a very impressive 5.5 kills per game. The Eagles also had a solid effort from outside hitter Christina Nash as she had 13 digs.

In the first game the Panthers jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they led the whole game winning 30-25. Brazda set the tone in that game as she recorded six kills and one block. AU had a total of 24 digs in the game and was led by outside hitter Ivana Cebakova with eight digs.

The second game saw much of the same for the Panthers and Eagles. UNI won the game 30-22 and led by as many as eight points. As a team the Panthers had eight blocks and 14 digs. American?s Sukaj had seven kills for the second straight game.

AU started off the third game quick as the Eagles got on top of UNI 3-0. The game see-sawed back and forth from there with both teams fighting for the lead. But just as in the first two games, UNI eventually came out on top winning 30-26.

UNI will see its next action on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Wisconsin before facing BYU at 7 p.m. AU will take on the Cougars at 12 p.m. and the Badgers at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
     #10 Wisconsin Badgers vs #15 BYU Cougars (Aug 31, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Wisconsin Badgers      |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Simpson, Jackie.....  5|  7   0  13  .538| 53|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  2|   9.0
 7  Dolgner, Brittney...  5| 22   8  46  .304|  3|  0   2|  1|  9| 0  2  1|  0|  23.0
 9  Dykstra, Katherine..  4|  3   1   8  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   3.5
 12 Reineke, Taylor.....  5| 12   4  32  .250|  0|  0   4|  0|  2| 1  8  0|  0|  17.0
 15 Jeffers, Audra......  5| 13   3  32  .312|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  1|  1|  15.0
 19 DuPont, Caity.......  3|  3   3  15  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 1  Salow, Morgan.......  4|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0|   5.5
 2  Kuzma, Kim..........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  Klingsporn, Nikki...  2|  0   1   3 -.333|  3|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Berkley, Amanda.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Wack, Allison.......  4|  6   7  19 -.053|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   7.0
 13 Wack, Jocelyn.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  3   3|  0| 17| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 14 Mills, Megan........  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 70  29 179  .229| 66|  5  13|  2| 58| 2 20  3|  3|  87.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  41  .341   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15 11  39  .103   Wisconsin Badgers... (2) 30 25 15 30 13  3-1
   3  10  7  41  .073   BYU Cougars......... (3) 26 30 30 26 15  3-0
   4  22  7  44  .341
   5   5  0  14  .357
    BYU Cougars            |     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....  5| 16   9  47  .149|  2|  1   2|  0| 13| 0  3  0|  0|  18.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  5| 10   3  18  .389|  3|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  8  1|  0|  14.0
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  5|  4   1   7  .429| 63|  0   1|  0|  8| 2  3  1|  0|   7.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 16   6  32  .312|  0|  1   5|  0| 15| 0  6  1|  0|  20.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  5| 13   3  36  .278|  2|  0   4|  0|  8| 0  3  0|  0|  14.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 20   2  30  .600|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  7  0|  1|  23.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  5| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 79  24 170  .324| 71|  2  13|  5| 69| 2 30  3|  1|  98.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  6  44  .273   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  14  5  27  .333   Date: Aug 31, 2007   Attend: 3880   Time: 2h 32m
   3  18  4  34  .412   Referees: Tom Given, Maile Jewkes, Karen Marshall
   4  14  5  38  .237
   5  15  4  27  .407