No. 2 Hawai'i Rolls Over Cougars

PROVO -- In a match-up of former Western Athletic Conference rivals, BYU lost to No. 2 Hawai'i 23-30, 19-30, 17-30 Tuesday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars drop to 14-18 on the season, while the Rainbow Wahine boost their record to 29-1.

"We were really flat tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "With the exception of a few matches this year, one thing about this team is we've competed really hard."

The Cougars were led by freshman Kim Wilson who had a team-high nine kills (.286) and Lindsey Metcalf who had eight kills (.103).

The first game started closely as the Rainbow Wahine's player-of-the-year candidate outside hitter Kim Willoughby had trouble getting on track. A kill by Wilson pulled the Cougars within two points at 14-16, but that was as close as the Cougars would draw as Hawai'i, aided by a four point run, took control of the game behind the duo of Willoughby and outside hitter Lily Kahumoku.

The Cougars held a brief two-point lead at 6-4 after a Wilson kill, but the Rainbow Wahine used a 6-2 run, on the strength of a pair of kills and aces by Willoughby, to take a 10-8 lead. Hawai'i would not look back in scoring 20 of the next 31 points to take the game. The Cougars hit .371 for the game, but the Rainbow Wahine controlled play in hitting .625.

In game three Hawai'i ran out to a quick eight point lead (16-8) and hit a blistering .424 while holding the Cougars to a .000 attack percentage. Hawai'i sealed the match on a Nohea Tano kill.

The Cougar block was staunch as usual as the two teams tied with seven blocks each. The Rainbow Wahine out-hit the Cougars .426 to .158, and displayed extensive court coverage in outdigging BYU 40-19.

As they have all season Willoughby and Kahumoku led the Rainbow Wahine with a match-high 20 kills and 11 kills, respectively. Willoughby also had a match-high five service aces with eight digs while hitting .484.

"This is definitely not the same team we saw on the weekend," Lamb said. "We just didn't have much left tonight."

The Cougars will close their season against No. 12 Arizona Friday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

                              Volleyball Box Score
               Hawaii vs BYU Cougars (Nov 26, 2002 at PROVO, UT)
    Hawaii                 |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  VAKASAUSAU, Margaret  3|  0   0   0  .000| 26|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 3  WILLOUGHBY, Kim.....  3| 20   5  31  .484|  2|  5   4|  0|  8| 0  1  0|  0
 5  TANO, Nohea.........  3|  7   1  12  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  0  0|  0
 8  ECKMIER, Melody.....  3|  3   1   4  .500|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0
 9  KAHUMOKU, Lily......  3| 11   5  25  .240|  0|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0
 14 DUGGINS, Lauren.....  3|  8   0  13  .615|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  3  1|  0
 2  BOOGARD, Susie......  2|  4   2   7  .286|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 4  CAREY,Jennifer......  3|  1   0   2  .500| 24|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  1|  0
 7  ILUSTRE, Hedderr....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 15 VILLAROMAN, Melissa.  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  14  94  .426| 53|  8   7|  1| 40| 2 10  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  8  29  .207   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  22  2  32  .625   Hawaii.............. 30 30 30  29-1
   3  18  4  33  .424   BYU Cougars......... 23 19 17  14-18
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  4   1   9  .333| 27|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  1
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  8   5  29  .103|  1|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3|  5   3  13  .154|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  4  1|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  4   1  10  .300|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  4  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  3|  9   3  21  .286|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  2|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  3   4  10 -.100|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  2  2|  0
 3  VARNER, April.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 10 WEBB, Erin..........  1|  2   2   8  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  3|  0   0|  3|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  4|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 35  19 101  .158| 31|  1   7|  8| 19| 0 14  5|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10  7  26  .115   Site: PROVO, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  16  3  35  .371   Date: Nov 26, 2002   Attend: 813   Time: 1h 30m
   3   9  9  40  .000   Referees: KIM NORMAN, MYLIE JEWKES, KAREN MARSHAL

PROVO -- After a stirring run that ended just short of a championship in the Mountain West Conference Volleyball Tournament last week, the BYU women's volleyball team will end its season with matches against No. 2 Hawai'i Tuesday and No. 12 Arizona Friday. Both matches will be played in the Smith Fieldhouse and are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

The match against the Rainbow Wahine will be broadcast live on K-BYU (channel 11), BYU-TV and BYU-Radio. A live online video and audio stream of the match will be available through the BYU women's volleyball homepage at www.byucougars.com. The match is also being billed as Blue Hogi Yogi Night and fans can obtain free ticket vouchers to the match at any participating Utah Valley Hogi Yogi's. Friday's match against the Wildcats is Senior Night where BYU senior's Allison Larson and Michelle Mahaffey will be recognized.

The Cougars (14-17) will miss the NCAA Tournament for the just the second time in 21 years and have never had more than 17 losses in a season (In 1979 BYU was 21-17-3).

A season in which five Cougars have seen the injury list and another four have missed parts of the season due to other reasons, BYU has put together an inexperienced lineup against a competitive schedule.

BYU has played seven teams ranked that have been ranked in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll at some point this season. This weekend's matches will mark the eighth and ninth team's the Cougars have played against top-25 competition this year.

Cougar rightside hitter and all-MWC team selection Larson is finishing the year strong as BYU's most effective offensive threat. She has led BYU in kills in four of its past seven matches, along with team-highs of 10 kills and a .421 attack percentage against Utah in the MWC finals. On the year Larson has led the Cougars in kills 13 times while leading the team in attempts only once. She averages a team-best 2.83 kills per game while hitting .221.

BYU's resurgent play in the MWC Tournament was correlated to their improved defensive play. The Cougars out-blocked all three of their opponents last week by a combined 42.5-24.0. Junior Carrie Bowers led the Cougars with 21 blocks (1.62 bpg) on the week and junior Uila Crabbe led the team with 49 digs (3.78 dpg).

The Rainbow Wahine (28-1), coming off a championship at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament last week, were undefeated until losing to No. 4 Stanford, Nov. 10. They are led by the dynamic junior outside hitting tandem of Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku. All-American Willoughby is second nationally in averaging 6.33 kpg (.368) and Kahumoku a former All-American averages 5.28 kpg (.354).

The Wildcats (16-10) had the top-rated recruiting class of 2001 and have won eight of their past 11 matches after having started the season 8-7. Arizona is led by freshman Kim Glass who leads the team with 4.87 kpg and 0.44 sapg.