Cougars Pick Up Win at TCU

FORT WORTH -- The BYU women's volleyball team got off to the right start in the crucial month of November with a four-game (30-27, 24-30, 31-29, 30-23) win at TCU on Thursday night to improve to 16-6 overall and 8-4 in the Mountain West Conference.

"We certainly ended better than we started tonight, which is one of the things we always want our team to do," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "TCU was good tonight. They played particularly well and challenged us from the beginning. This was a good win for us."

Erica Lott and Bryn Porter each tallied 15 kills to lead four Cougars in double figures. Chelsea Goodman posted her 50th career double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs while Annie Pinegar led the BYU defense with 17 digs. Rachel Dyer posted 13 kills to go along with a team-high seven blocks. Lott surpassed her season high with four service aces to help BYU score 10 points from the service line, marking the second time in three matches the Cougars have posted double-digit aces.

After an early 3-3 tie in game one, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run sparked by a kill from Lott. BYU managed to stay one step ahead of the Horned Frogs throughout the game, leading by as many as four points, until a late TCU push tied things up at 24-24. The game was still knotted at 27-27 before Porter and Lott put down back-to-back winners to create a game-point opportunity for the Cougars. BYU wasted no time in securing the 30-27 game-one victory with a block from Lott, Porter and Dyer.

TCU jumped out to an early lead in game two, but it was once again the Cougars who led most of the way through the first half despite a close battle. The Horned Frogs finally managed to take a lead at 18-17 with a block and kept up the momentum with a 4-0 run to take a 21-17 advantage. The lead held at 25-20 until Porter began to heat up, getting back-to-back points from the outside and from the service line before a block from Goodman cut the lead to just two points. But it was not enough as the Cougars fell 30-24.

Game three was a battle from start to finish as BYU pulled out the 31-29 win. The Cougars led late at 25-21, but it was the Horned Frogs who earned the first game-point opportunity at 29-28. Lott kept BYU alive with a kill to even the score, and back-to-back service aces from Pinegar sealed the game.

Perhaps sensing victory on the horizon, the Cougars came out firing in game four. After leading at 14-12, BYU put together an 8-0 run capped by consecutive aces from Lott to take a commanding 22-12 advantage. From there, the Cougars cruised to the 30-23 win.

"I thought Lott played particularly well tonight," said Watson. "She went on a nice serving run in game four that really turned it for us and gave us some nice momentum in a difficult venue for us to compete in."

BYU will play its final road match of the regular season on Friday night as the Cougars take on New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M., at 7 p.m. GameTracker and BYU All-Access will be available for the match.