CENTERBURG -- BYU showed it is ready to be ranked among the top collegiate volleyball teams with an emotional come-from-behind win Saturday over No. 14 Ohio State to take the Buckeye Classic tournament title. The Cougars gave their all in a five-game roller coaster as they stared down defeat and won the last three games of the match to begin the season 7-0 for the first time since 1987.

"It's an awesome win for us," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "The team is thrilled. It's what we came out here to do. We wanted this matchup with Ohio State. It's been on the forefront of our minds. It's just a great win."

Three Cougars were named to the all-tournament team with junior middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock garnering MVP honors after following up her 12-kill outing against Duke with 20 kills on .500 hitting against the Buckeyes. Sophomores Erica Lott and Lindsey Evans were also named all-tournament as Lott put down 19 kills on the night to bring her two-match total to 41 and Evans picked up 22 digs against Ohio State and totaled 49 for the weekend.

BYU came out slow and quickly lost a lopsided game one by a score of 19-30. Game two was a battle all the way to the end when the Buckeyes prevailed by a score of 32-30, forcing the Cougars into survival mode. But BYU responded in game three, jumping out to an early 11-4 lead and never looking back enroute to a 30-24 victory. The Cougars looked to do more of the same in game four, earning game point at 29-26 but could not put away the Buckeyes, who tied the game at 29-29. But BYU's Rachel Dyer refused to accept defeat, putting up the game-winning block to give the Cougars the 31-29 victory.

And so the match between two of the country's best teams came down to one game - 15 points. And it was all BYU. The Cougars left nothing to chance in game five, dominating the Buckeyes and coming up with the 15-10 win to notch their biggest victory of the season so far.

"What turned it was our ability to stay consistent and put some pressure on their offense in the last three games," said Watson. "That certainly allowed us to get back into this match. The win is secondary to the nature in which our team competed and how they were extremely good over time."

With an undefeated run through nonconference play, the Cougars will open up Mountain West Conference action next weekend, traveling to New Mexico on Friday night and Air Force on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.

"This was a wonderful end to a great nonconference start for us," said Watson. "We're as prepared as I hoped we would be going into conference play next weekend."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
    Brigham Young Univ. vs #14 Ohio State (Sep 17, 2005 at Centerburg, Ohio)
    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....  5| 21   7  59  .237|  0|  0   0|  1|  9| 0  1  0|  0|  21.5
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  2   3|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  1|  0   1   2 -.500| 11|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 19   8  47  .234|  1|  0   2|  1|  8| 1  2  2|  0|  21.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5| 20   2  36  .500|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  2  2|  0|  22.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 12   2  22  .455|  3|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  2  1|  0|  14.0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  5|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   0|  0| 22| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  5|  6   3  15  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0|   7.5
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  5|  3   0   5  .600| 56|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  0  1|  1|   3.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 81  23 187  .310| 74|  2  12|  3| 78| 3 10  7|  2|  91.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  7  38  .158   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  5  45  .267   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 19 30 30 31 15  7-0
   3  18  3  35  .429   Ohio State.......... (2) 30 32 24 29 10  7-2
   4  25  7  54  .333
   5   8  1  15  .467
    Ohio State             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Dahms, Brittany.....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Meyer, Danielle.....  5| 28   8  53  .377|  1|  0   1|  0| 14| 0  0  0|  0|  28.0
 7  Stevens, Ami........  5| 17   6  42  .262|  3|  1   1|  0| 22| 0  1  1|  0|  18.5
 11 Miller, Amanda......  5|  9   1  23  .348|  3|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  2  2|  1|  10.0
 13 Main, Marisa........  5|  6   1  19  .263| 65|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  1  0|  3|   6.5
 15 Kiel, Ashley........  5| 13   3  37  .270|  4|  1   2|  0| 15| 1  0  0|  0|  15.0
 1  Kastein, Rebecca....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 5  Britenriker, Nicole.  5|  9   7  23  .087|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  1|  0|  11.0
 9  Jones, Felicia......  1|  0   2   4 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 82  28 201  .269| 79|  3   5|  2| 77| 1  8  4|  4|  90.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  3  39  .359   Site: Centerburg, Ohio (Centerburg H.S.)
   2  19  9  43  .233   Date: Sep 17, 2005   Attend: 802   Time: 2:30
   3  19  6  45  .289   Referees: Brian Hemelgarn, Denis Bergstedt, Chandler, Stevens
   4  19  5  54  .259
   5   8  5  20  .150

PROVO -- BYU will face its toughest test of the 2005 season when the Cougars compete in the Buckeye Classic tournament this weekend, taking on Duke Friday night before facing off against Pittsburgh or No. 14 Ohio State on Saturday. With a 5-0 record and No. 27 national listing, the Cougars are anxious to prove that they belong in the top 25.

"This is another challenging week," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "Not only do we go on the road, but we are competing against a very talented tournament field. It's a great opportunity for us to compete outside our region. I'm excited to see how we do"

The Cougars are coming off of an exciting but emotional week as they notched two more victories to remain perfect in 2005. After a sweep of Idaho State last Wednesday, BYU took on instate rival Utah State, dropping game one before earning the come-from-behind win. Sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Goodman earned Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 5.14 kills per game for the week, including a career-high 20 against the Aggies.

In order to continue its run through the collegiate volleyball ranks, BYU will first have to get past the 5-1 Blue Devils, who are riding a four-match winning streak. Middle blocker Carrie Demange is currently averaging 4.50 kills per game while outside hitter Tealle Hunkus has picked up 4.14 digs per game this year.

If the Cougars prevail, they will face the winner of Ohio State/Pittsburgh for the tournament title. Tournament-host Ohio State is currently 6-1 and ranked No. 14 nationally with its only loss coming against No. 1 Nebraska. The Panthers are 7-4 on the year, including a 2-2 neutral court record.