ALBUQUERQUE -- Despite an outstanding night from outside hitter Chelsea Goodman, the No. 18 BYU women's volleyball team fell to New Mexico Friday night, 29-31, 27-30, 30-21, 30-23 in Albuquerque. The loss is just the fourth of the year for the Cougars, who fall to 19-4 overall and 9-3 in the Mountain West Conference.

"Tonight was a disappointing result," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "Our resolve now is to prepare to play a TCU team on the road that is every bit as challenging as New Mexico." BYU will play at TCU Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT.

Goodman recorded her MWC-leading 14th double-double of the year in the match with 22 kills and 11 digs while setter Amy Schlauder posted the second of her career with 52 assists and a career- and team-high 17 digs. Two other Cougars reached double-digit digs as Annie Pinegar posted 15 and Erica Lott recorded 13. Lott also notched 11 kills while Lindsy Hartsock tallied 10 and led BYU with five blocks.

New Mexico jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in game one before a dump from Cougar setter Amy Schlauder generated some BYU momentum and got the offense going. However, after taking their first lead of the game at 9-8, the Cougars allowed the Lobos to go on a 10-3 run to take an 18-12 advantage. BYU responded with a 7-2 scoring spree of its own thanks in part to three kills from Erica Lott to get back to within two points. The two teams traded scores from there as BYU continued fighting to retake the lead but could never quite get there, finally falling 31-29 despite seven kills from Goodman.

Game two began much as game one ended with both squads battling for every point and staying neck-and-neck through the first third. BYU again took a 9-8 lead, but this time it stuck as Bryn Porter entered the game and posted two quick kills to keep the Cougars going. But the Lobos weren't fazed by the fresh face and, after a 16-15 BYU advantage, responded by churning out seven straight points to take a 22-16 lead as the Cougars struggled in transition. Goodman put a strike down the left line to end the UNM run, but the Cougars found themselves trying to overcome what proved to be an insurmountable lead. BYU got back to within one point twice but one game point was all the Lobos needed to get the 30-27 win.

The tide quickly turned in game three after an early 9-6 Lobo lead as Rachel Dyer pounded one down the middle to spark a 13-4 BYU run. Everyone got involved in the Cougar effort as players scrambled for every ball and laid everything out on the court while taking a 19-13 lead. However, UNM responded with some feistiness of its own in scoring six straight to tie things up at 19-19. But Porter once again got in on the action with back-to-back kills as BYU scored 11 of the last 13 points to take game three, 30-21.

Still playing with their backs against the wall in game four, the Cougars clawed to a 9-8 lead early only to watch it disappear with a 4-1 Lobo run. UNM kept the pressure on and maintained a slim advantage at 21-17. A team effort brought BYU back to within one at 22-21 but five straight Lobo points put the game out of reach for the Cougars, who fell 30-23.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
    #18 BYU Cougars vs New Mexico Lobos (Nov 03, 2006 at Albuquerque, N.M.)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  4| 22   9  63  .206|  0|  1   3|  2| 11| 0  3  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  2|  2   2  14  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  1|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 11   6  31  .161|  2|  0   3|  1| 13| 0  3  2|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4| 10   1  19  .474|  3|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  5  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  4|  2   2   8  .000| 52|  0   0|  1| 17| 0  2  1|  1
 44 DYER, Rachel........  4|  7   5  22  .091|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  3   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  4|  0   1   2 -.500|  1|  1   1|  4| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  3|  9   4  23  .217|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 63  30 182  .181| 60|  7  11|  9| 65| 0 18  4|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14 10  50  .080   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  6  48  .250   BYU Cougars......... (1) 29 27 30 23  19-4, 9-3 MWC
   3  14  5  42  .214   New Mexico Lobos.... (3) 31 30 21 30  8-17, 4-9 MWC
   4  17  9  42  .190
    New Mexico Lobos       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  THERKELSEN, Kelly...  4| 13   5  35  .229|  4|  0   2|  1|  5| 0  4  0|  3
 4  KWASIGROCH, Sarah...  4|  1   0   5  .200| 52|  4   2|  0| 14| 0  3  1|  1
 5  INGRAM, Joelle......  4|  4   0  12  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  5  0|  0
 6  MORRIS, Rose........  4| 12   8  37  .108|  0|  0   0|  0| 13| 1  1  0|  0
 9  SUITER, Allison.....  4|  7   5  22  .091|  0|  1   2|  0|  4| 0  3  0|  0
 10 FAIRCHILD, Jeanne...  4| 24   6  50  .360|  0|  2   3|  5| 11| 1  0  0|  0
 1  TRIPP, Gayle........  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   1|  1| 20| 0  0  0|  0
 15 HEASTY, Jennifer....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 61  24 162  .228| 56|  9  11|  7| 68| 3 16  1|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15 10  46  .109   Site: Albuquerque, N.M. (Johnson Center)
   2  18  4  38  .368   Date: Nov 03, 2006   Attend: 385   Time: 2:00
   3  11  7  38  .105   Referees: Tana Martin, Rory Arisumi
   4  17  3  40  .350   ID-431501

PROVO -- The No. 18 BYU women's volleyball team will hit the road this weekend as the Cougars travel to face New Mexico on Friday at 7 p.m. MT and TCU on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT in more Mountain West Conference action.

"This is a challenging weekend for our team," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We need to be prepared to go on the road and face two very competitive volleyball programs. November is a crucial month as teams vie for postseason opportunities. Every match we have left is critical to our postseason expectations."

With a 19-3 overall record and 9-2 MWC mark, BYU is currently tied for second place in the league standings with Colorado State with five regular-season league matches remaining, including a Nov. 17 showdown at CSU. With all of their starters back in the lineup, the Cougars will look to set themselves up for postseason play over the next three weeks with wins down the stretch.

In preparing for postseason action, BYU will benefit from the play of several team and MWC leaders. Of the seven overall statistical categories tracked by the league, Cougar players lead the league in four of them (hitting percentage -- Rachel Dyer; kills -- Chelsea Goodman; assists -- Amy Schlauder; points -- Chelsea Goodman) and are second in one other (blocks -- Lindsy Hartsock). Goodman is also ranked seventh in aces. BYU packs one-two punches in two categories as Dyer and Hartsock rank first and second, respectively, in hitting percentage; and Goodman and Lott rank first and second, respectively, in kills

The Lobos are 7-17 overall this season and 3-9 so far in Mountain West Conference play with their lone road win coming at Air Force. Sophomore outside hitter Jeanne Fairchild leads the Lobo attack with 3.01 kills per game. Sophomore libero Gayle Tripp ranks fourth in the league with 4.36 digs per game while the UNM block is led by sophomore Joelle Ingram at 1.11 per game. As a team, the Lobos hit .144 while allowing opponents a .207 mark.

The Horned Frogs are 17-10 overall and 5-7 so far this season in Mountain West Conference play, including a five-game loss at BYU earlier this season. Junior middle blocker Anna Vaughn currently leads TCU and is seventh in the league with 3.54 kills per game on .350 hitting, fourth in the conference. Vaughn also leads the team in blocks averaging 1.04 bpg. Libero Calli Corley is third in the MWC with 4.53 digs per game. As a team, TCU hits .236 on the year while holding opponents to a .192 mark. The Horned Frogs also lead the conference in aces as four of their players rank in the top ten in league play.

Fans will be able to follow live stats of both matches via GameTracker, which is available by going to the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/. The match is also scheduled to be broadcast live over the Internet to all CSTV XXL subscribers.