PROVO -- The sixth-ranked UCLA Bruins came back after losing the first game to defeat the BYU Cougars, 24-30, 30-26, 29-31, 30-18 in the final match of the 2004 BYU/Utah Challenge.

"We've made some progress," BYU assistant coach Jason Watson said after the match. "We just need to go from here and continue to improve. We hope to be better by November."

BYU setter Lauren Richards led the Cougar attack with a triple double. She had season-high 10 kills while adding 47 assists and 12 digs. Three other Cougars contributed double digit kills with Erica Lott recording 18, Lindsy Hartsock 12, and Lexi Brown 11. Hartsock and Lindsey Metcalf each had seven blocks.

Brittany Ringel's 21 kills and Krystal McFarland's 51 assists led UCLA. Chrissie Zartman chipped in a game-high 16 digs and Nana Meriwether added 10 kills and seven blocks.

As a team, BYU hit .212 on the match (67-31-170) with UCLA hitting .249 (64-21-173). The Cougars 70 digs and 12 team blocks while the Bruins had 53 digs and 10 team blocks.

The Cougars were in control early, jumping out to a 6-3 lead in game one. UCLA closed the gap at 7-6 and kept the game close until two Lindsey Metcalf blocks helped extend BYU's lead from 19-17 to 22-17. From there the Cougars cruised to a 30-24 win, the final point coming on a Bruin service error. Richards, Hartsock, and Brown led a balanced Cougar attack with four kills each and Hartsock and Metcalf kept the UCLA hitters at bay with three kills apiece.

The Bruins rebounded from the game one loss to take a 7-1 lead in the second. BYU closed the gap to two at 6-8 behind two Lott kills. The score remained close until UCLA went on a 7-1 run to extend the lead to 21-13. Ringel had five kills for the Bruins while Meriwether had three. As the team, UCLA out-blocked the Cougars 6-0. Lott paced BYU in the second with seven kills.

Both squads came out hungry in the third game, as the score remained close throughout. BYU was able to take a 15-13 lead on a Hartsock kill but the Bruins came back on a 7-3 run capped by a Ringel kill. Down 22-20, the Cougars went on a 4-0 run that included a Richard's ace. With the score tied at 28, Kim Wilson came up with a big kill to give BYU the one point advantage. But UCLA came back with a three-point run to take the game and go up two games to one. Ringel had eight kills in the third to boost the Bruins.

UCLA carried its momentum over from game three into the fourth and jumped out to a 14-4 lead. The Cougars would close the gap to seven at 8-15 but the Bruins were too much as they took the game 30-18, winning the match in four.

BYU fell to 5-4 on the season while UCLA improved to 7-2. The Cougars will open Mountain West Conference play with a match against Utah in the Smith Fieldhouse Friday September 24, 2004. The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Hartsock is looking forward to the match with Utah.

"Utah is a good team and it's always a touch match," Hartsock said.

 

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
      UCLA Bruins vs Brigham Young Univ. (Sep 18, 2004 at BYU, PROVO UTAH)


    UCLA Bruins            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  RINGEL, Brittany....  4| 21   3  50  .360|  0|  1   1|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  1
 2  BARBA, Nancy........  1|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 9  CARTER, Katie.......  3|  4   6  19 -.105|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 10 MURPHY, Brynn.......  4|  9   3  31  .194|  0|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0
 11 LYMAN, Colby........  4|  7   3  23  .174|  6|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  0
 12 McFARLAND, Krystal..  4|  7   1  12  .500| 51|  1   1|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  1
 7  MERIWETHER, Nana....  4| 10   1  19  .474|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  6  1|  0
 15 CULLEN, Heather.....  3|  5   3  17  .118|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 20 FINE, Jessica.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 23 ZARTMAN, Chrissie...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  0   4|  1| 16| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 64  21 173  .249| 61|  3  11|  2| 53| 1 18  1|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  8  35  .143   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  5  44  .227   UCLA Bruins......... (3) 24 30 31 30  7-2
   3  20  5  55  .273   Brigham Young Univ.. (1) 30 26 29 18  5-4
   4  16  3  39  .333
    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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  4| 10   6  25  .160| 47|  2   6|  0| 12| 1  0  1|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4|  7   2  25  .200|  5|  0   1|  3|  9| 2  5  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  4|  9   5  31  .129|  2|  0   2|  0|  9| 0  1  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  4| 11   6  27  .185|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 1  1  1|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 18   8  38  .263|  1|  0   5|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4| 12   3  22  .409|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  7  0|  0
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  0   0|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 21 KEMP, Annie.........  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 67  31 170  .212| 61|  2  16|  3| 70| 4 16  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  4  34  .382   Site: BYU, PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  18 10  45  .178   Date: Sep 18, 2004   Attend: 1106   Time: 2 H 10
   3  19  6  48  .271   Referees: ANNETTE COTTLE, DAPHNE NELSON, KAREN MARSHALL
   4  13 11  43  .047

BYU Welcomes #6 UCLA Into Provo

PROVO -- The Cougars continue a seven-game homestand this weekend as they co-host the BYU/Utah Challenge. With matches against Northern Colorado, Saint Mary's and #6 UCLA, BYU will look to improve its 4-2 season record.

"Each team we play this weekend will be good," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We are going to have to be consistently good in every phase of the game. That's what good teams do -- they play their best game every night."

BYU is 2-1 at home this season after a Mizuno Classic showing in which the Cougars defeated Memphis and Central Florida but lost in five games to Oklahoma.

Redshirt freshman Erica Lott and junior Kim Wilson, both outside hitters, earned BYU Mizuno Classic All-Tournament Team honors over the weekend. Lott recorded double-digit kills in two of the three Mizuno matches with 13 against Memphis and a career-high 19 against Oklahoma. She also notched ten service aces for the Tournament. Wilson, who leads the Cougars in kills per game with 3.86, also recorded 13 kills against Memphis and 20 against Oklahoma, marking the second straight weekend that Wilson has recorded 20 or more kills in a match.

BYU will open the Challenge against Northern Colorado Friday morning at 10 a.m. All Provo District students will receive free admission to the match as school is not in session and a 2-for-1 pass for one of the two remaining weekend games.

The Cougars will then take on Saint Mary's Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and UCLA Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The Saint Mary's matchup will be featured on BYU Radio and live stats will be available for all matches by going to the schedule page of the BYU Women's Volleyball homepage at byucougars.com/volleyball_w.

The following is a look at the teams that will take the floor against BYU this weekend:

In just their second year of Division I status, the Northern Colorado Bears are 5-3 to start the 2004 season. The reigning Division I Independent National Champions have notched wins over BYU Mountain West Conference rivals Air Force and Wyoming while falling to New Mexico. Outside hitter Erin Deffenbaugh earned AVCA Independent National Player of the Week Honors along with Bears setter Corrinne Chapin, who picked up Setter of the Week accolades.

Saint Mary's comes to Provo a perfect 8-0 to start the 2004 season, the best start in school history, after notching wins over BYU opponent Utah State and then-No. 6 Stanford. The Gaels have won six consecutive non-conference tournaments dating back to the 2003 season and are listed No. 26 in this week's USA Today / CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll.

The UCLA Bruins are looking to bounce back from a five-game loss at #11 Hawai'i last week after starting the season 6-0. The Bruins swept then-No. 15 Texas A&M and then-No. 17 Santa Clara and were ranked as high as No. 3 before suffering a setback at the hands of the Rainbow Wahine. UCLA is the only team the Cougars will face this season with which they have a losing series record at 5-22-1. Bruins head coach Andy Banachowski will be looking for his 970th win this weekend and is the NCAA Division I leader in overall victories, ahead of former BYU head coach Elaine Michaelis. BYU is 116-123 all-time against ranked opponents.