LAS -- The top-seeded Cougars began their quest for the 2005 Mountain West Conference Women's Volleyball Championship title Thursday with a sweep over eighth-seeded TCU, marking BYU's 13th three-game win of the season.

"I was very pleased with our performance over time tonight, especially in coming from behind and going on a 20-8 run to win game three," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "Both Lindsy Hartsock and Rachel Dyer were very efficient, and it was good to get Lexi Patterson involved. She has been steadily improving and continues to progress."

Dyer led 21st-ranked BYU with 11 kills on the night while All-MWC outside hitter Chelsea Goodman added 10 kills and a career-high five blocks. Patterson hit .583 to lead the Cougars while MWC Player of the Year Lindsy Hartsock hit .500, her 15th match hitting .500 or better. As a team, BYU hit .330 while allowing TCU to hit just .164.

Game one began with a long rally, which was ended by a kill down the middle from Chelsea Goodman. The point set the tone for the rest of the game as TCU fought hard but could not overcome the talent and experience of BYU. The Cougars led by as many as four points throughout the first half of the game, never seriously threatened but unable to pull away. A kill from Lindsy Hartsock provided the spark as BYU went on to score 14 of the last 21 points to win the game 30-21.

The Horned Frogs demonstrated their resilience in game two, coming out strong and taking their first lead of the match at 4-3. The two teams traded points from there until a Cougar kill at 8-8 sparked an 11-1 BYU run which allowed the Cougars to take control of the game. However, a 5-0 TCU spurt cut the lead in half and forced BYU to take a timeout to talk about it. The Cougars came out of the break composed and focused, rebuilding a nine-point lead, which they would maintain all the way to the 30-21 victory.

Redshirt freshman setter Amy Schlauder began game three hoping to get some experience after playing in just seven matches this season. The Cougars fell behind early 7-2 and continued to trail as TCU built up a 10-point lead at 20-10. Senior setter Lauren Richards Evans re-entered the game at this point and quickly got the Cougar offense going. BYU slowly climbed its way back into the game, outscoring the Horned Frogs 16-6 and finally tying the match on a kill down the middle from Chelsea Goodman. After trading points, a TCU miscue gave the Cougars match-point at 29-28, which BYU won on a Horned Frog hitting error, completing the comeback to win the game.

With the quarterfinal win, BYU now advances to the semifinals of the MWC Tournament with a 24-2 overall record. The Cougars will take on the winner of Thursday night's match between Tournament-host UNLV and San Diego State, both of which the Cougars swept in the season series this year. The match will begin at 8 p.m. PST and will be televised live on CSTV.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU COUGARS
    TCU Horned Frogs vs #21 Brigham Young Univ. (Nov 24, 2005 at Las Vegas)
    TCU Horned Frogs       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BARRY, Loren........  3|  1   2   5 -.200|  0|  2   3|  2|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 8  NEMETH, Agi.........  3|  4   1  11  .273|  1|  0   3|  0|  2| 1  0  0|  1|   5.0
 12 HAMPTON, Nirelle....  3|  1   1  12  .000| 35|  2   2|  0|  4| 0  0  1|  2|   3.0
 13 KIRK, Devon.........  3|  6   3  18  .167|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  1|  0|   6.0
 15 ESTEP, Erin.........  3|  3   1   5  .400|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 23 VAUGHN, Anna........  3| 10   6  25  .160|  0|  1   2|  0|  0| 1  0  0|  0|  12.0
 1  WHITFIELD, Talaya...  3| 10   4  21  .286|  1|  0   3|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0|  10.0
 4  CORLEY, Calli.......  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  2   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 5  GEHRKE, Pamela......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 33 SMITH, LeMeita......  2|  5   4  12  .083|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  1|  0|   5.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 40  23 110  .155| 37|  7  14|  3| 40| 2  0  3|  3|  49.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 2.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11  7  36  .111   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  8  36  .167   TCU Horned Frogs.... (0) 21 21 28  16-18
   3  15  8  38  .184   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 30  24-2
    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|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3| 10   3  28  .250|  0|  1   4|  0|  8| 0  5  0|  0|  13.5
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  3|  3   0   7  .429| 26|  0   2|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  2|   4.0
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  3|  8   1  12  .583|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|   9.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  7   3  20  .200|  1|  0   0|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  7   1  12  .500|  3|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0|   8.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 11   3  17  .471|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  13.0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  2   1|  3|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  1|  1   1  10  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  6|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  12 106  .330| 37|  3   9|  7| 40| 0 16  0|  2|  58.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  4  35  .343   Site: Las Vegas (Cox Pavilion)
   2  14  2  34  .353   Date: Nov 24, 2005   Attend: 422   Time: 1 H 44M
   3  17  6  37  .297   Referees: GLEN SAPP, PATSY MALTA

PROVO -- No. 21 BYU heads to the Mountain West Conference Tournament this week in Las Vegas as the No. 1 seed for the first time since the league's inaugural year in 1999. With the regular-season title already in hand, the Cougars are looking to make a strong showing and improve their 23-2 overall record by winning the tournament title that has eluded them since 2000.

"We look forward to the start of the Mountain West Conference Tournament," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "Our program has shown improvement over the course of the regular season and we feel good about our direction heading into the postseason."

Play for BYU begins on Thursday at 4 p.m. PST when the Cougars face the winner of Tuesday's play-in-game between the eighth-seeded TCU Horned Frogs and the ninth-seeded Air Force Falcons. BYU will then take on either fourth-seeded and tournament-host UNLV or fifth-seeded San Diego State on Friday at 5 p.m. The Cougars swept the season series with all four of their potential quarterfinal and semifinal opponents. The championship match will be played Saturday night at 8 p.m.

The Cougars have never lost in the opening round of the MWC Tournament and have advanced to the championship match in three of the league's six years. BYU is 10-5 all-time in the tournament and 2-1 as the No. 1 seed.

BYU will be playing for more than just the MWC tournament title this week as they look ahead to seeding in the NCAA Tournament, which begins Dec. 1 at locations to be determined. The Cougars have a good chance of hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament if they perform well this week.

For the second year in a row, CSTV will provide coverage of the 2005 MWC Volleyball Championship, airing seven of the eight matches being played. Live coverage is available for every match of the Tournament with the exception of Tuesday's play-in-game, which will not be aired, and Friday's first semifinal, which will be aired tape-delayed at 10 p.m. PST. Bill Doleman will call the play-by-play while BYU's own Amy Gant will provide color commentary.

Fans of the Cougars can catch the action on the Sports Tier of Comcast Cable (Channel 269) or on the Digital Basic package of the Bresnan cable system (Channel 411). The Tournament will also be aired on DirecTV (Channel 610) and Dish Network (Channel 152). Live stats for all of BYU's tournament matches are available by going to the schedule page of BYU's women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.