PROVO -- In a match fraught with emotion for two of BYU's best, the No. 21 Cougar women's volleyball team defeated Wyoming, 30-21, 30-27, 30-22, Saturday in BYU's final home match of the year. A crowd of 1,748 was on hand to say good-bye to seniors Lindsy Hartsock and Kim Sorensen as both played their final matches in the Smith Fieldhouse.

"These nights are always very emotional," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "It's a situation where we want to be so good for our seniors on their last night that it makes the actual match difficult. Defensively, we were very, very good. Offensively, we were good when we needed to be."

For the 15th time this season, Chelsea Goodman led BYU in kills with 20 on a career-high .531 hitting percentage. Rachel Dyer pounded out a career-high 12 blocks, helping BYU post 17 on the night, and Annie Pinegar paced the Cougars with 20 digs. Hartsock finished with four kills and five blocks while Sorensen posted five kills, four digs and four blocks.

"Kim and Lindsy represent the first class I have seen enter and graduate so for me personally, this was an incredibly special night," Watson said. "These two student-athletes represent more than just good volleyball players. They represent everything good about student-athletes at BYU. We couldn't ask for better representatives of this institution."

"Playing volleyball here at BYU has changed my life," said Hartsock, a 2005 All-American. "Going through the trials we have has made us stronger as a team. This has just been an incredibly special experience."

The match began with a long rally that ended when Hartsock and Erica Lott combined for a block on the rightside, a play that would end up being a theme of game one as the pair combined for three blocks. Three points later, with the score tied at 2-2, Sorensen wowed the home crowd with a stinger from the left. But the Cowgirls weren't about to let the emotion of the night get to them as they rolled out to an 8-5 lead.

After three straight Wyoming hitting errors knotted the score at 8-8, the Cougars fell behind again at 12-9 but mounted a 5-1 run to take their first lead of the game at 14-13 on a kill from Lott. It was a lead BYU would never relinquish as the Cougars closed out the game 30-21 on the strength of eight team blocks.

Hartsock and Lott hooked up two more times in the first three points of game two as the Cougars took a 3-0 lead out of the gate. Wyoming stormed back and came within one point of BYU at 6-5 and, although they couldn't take the lead at that point, continued fighting and finally got the advantage at 16-15. However, a 6-1 BYU run turned the tide and the score, 21-17, in the Cougars' favor. The momentum swing proved to be enough as BYU took the game 30-27.

Goodman recorded her 10th kill of the match after a long rally to begin game three, but with their backs against the wall, the Cowgirls responded with three straight points to take an early 3-1 lead. After BYU tied the game up, a battle ensued between the two teams as neither was able to fully take control and each responded to the other's challenge. However, holding a slim 9-8 lead, the Cougars came alive with five straight points to go up 14-8. Goodman continued to rock with 10 more kills in the game as BYU built a lead that would prove insurmountable for the Cowgirls, cruising to the 30-22 win.

The Cougars will conclude the regular season next week as they travel to face Colorado State on Friday night and Air Force on Saturday night. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. and can be followed via live stats or live video.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
   Wyoming Cowgirls vs #21 BYU Cougars (Nov 11, 2006 at SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU)
    Wyoming Cowgirls       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  MEYERS, Annie.......  3|  8   8  39  .000|  2|  1   0|  2| 10| 0  0  1|  0
 5  SEELE, Andrea.......  3|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SMITH, Rachel.......  3| 11  11  45  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 9  WEISHAHN, Tasha.....  3|  3   1   5  .400| 34|  1   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  1
 11 LEE, Carissa........  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 15 SCOTT, Lauren.......  3|  8   2  14  .429|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 2  WEYDERT, Michelle...  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  KAGARISE, Jessica...  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 KENT, Nicki.........  3|  1   2   8 -.125|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 16 ELEY, Samantha......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  1   1|  0| 16| 0  0  0|  0
 17 SRAJER, Jess........  3|  7   7  20  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  34 143  .056| 38|  4   8|  2| 47| 0  2  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 1.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11 13  50 -.040   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18 12  50  .120   Wyoming Cowgirls.... (0) 21 27 22  11-14; 5-9; MWC
   3  13  9  43  .093   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  22-4; 11-3; MWC
    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....  3| 20   3  32  .531|  0|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  9   4  30  .167|  0|  2   1|  2|  8| 0  9  2|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  4   2  16  .125|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  3|  1   0   1 1.000| 40|  0   1|  1|  5| 0  2  1|  0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  7   2  15  .333|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 1 11  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  3|  5   3  25  .080|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  4  0|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0| 20| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 46  15 120  .258| 41|  2   9|  4| 49| 1 32  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  4  38  .263   Site: SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU (ELAINE MICHAELIS)
   2  14  6  35  .229   Date: Nov 11, 2006   Attend: 1748   Time: 1H 36M
   3  18  5  47  .277   Referees: VERNA KLUBNIKIN, TOM GIVEN, KAREN MARSHALL

Senior Night To Honor Hartsock and Sorensen

PROVO -- In what will be the final two home matches of the season, the No. 21 BYU women's volleyball team (20-4, 10-3 MWC) will host Nevada on Thursday night at 5 p.m. before taking on Wyoming Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars' match against the Cowgirls will also be Senior Night as BYU honors its two outgoing seniors.

"Our goal is always to end better than we start, and this weekend will be a great chance for us to make that happen as we approach the end of the regular season," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "There are still a lot of things to be decided both in the conference race and with respect to the NCAA Tournament. We plan on being heavily involved in both discussions and need to play well this weekend in order to do that."

BYU's Senior Night celebration will pay tribute to the outstanding careers to two Cougar greats - Lindsy Hartsock and Kim Sorensen. Hartsock, a 2005 All-American, is a three-time All-Mountain West Conference selection in addition to receiving 2003 Freshman of the Year and 2005 Player of the Year honors. She is on pace to finish fourth all-time at BYU in career blocks, career block assists and career block average. The 2004 Collegiate Volleyball Update Magazine Blocker of the Year is third all-time in season blocks per game (1.86 in 2004) and season hitting percentage (.444 in 2005). Sorensen, a 2004 All-MWC selection, has been named to multiple all-tournament teams during her BYU career and has ranked in the top 10 in the MWC statistical categories several times.

Both seniors, who represent the first class Coach Watson has ever coached throughout their college careers, will be honored prior to the match.

"Our senior class has certainly risen to the challenge to end better than we start," said Watson. "They will always be special to me. We began our careers together at BYU. It has passed by too quickly. I am honored to have been a part of their athletic careers and look forward to watching them continue to push our team to a great finish."

The weekend will also be the last time the Cougars will appear on Elaine Michaelis court this regular season. BYU is 10-1 this season at home with an attendance average of 2,038, which ranks 11th in the nation. The Cougars began their home season hosting a Cougar women's volleyball record 4,050 fans in their win over No. 4 Stanford. BYU fans broke that record on Sept. 29 as 4,455 Cougar faithful packed the Smith Fieldhouse to see the Cougars take on in-state rival and then-18th-ranked Utah. BYU is now 458-82 (.848) all-time at home and 20-1 on Elaine Michaelis Court over the last two years.

BYU will step out of MWC play to begin the week taking on Nevada. The Wolfpack is 15-10 this season and 9-4 in the WAC, including a sweep of BYU-opponent Utah State and a three-game loss at UNLV. Nevada is led by junior Teal Ericson with 4.13 kills per game. Sophomore libero Allison Hernandez paces the Wolfpack with 2.96 dpg. Junior middle blocker Karly Sipherd leads the Nevada block with 1.30 bpg and hits a team-leading .285. As a team, the Wolfpack hit .192 while allowing opponents a .203 mark.

League play will resume for the Cougars on Saturday against Wyoming. The Cowgirls are 11-12 overall and 5-7 so far in conference play including a five-game loss at BYU earlier this season. Junior Rachel Smith leads the team and is sixth in the conference in kills per game with 3.65. Freshman libero Micah Lines ranks sixth in the league putting up 3.77 digs per game. Senior Andrea Seele leads the Cowgirl block with 1.05 per game. As a team, Wyoming hits .189 while allowing opponents a .210 efficiency. The Cowgirls are third in the league in digs with 16.13 per game.

Fans of BYU women's volleyball can catch all the action of this weekend's match via live stats or a live Internet video stream available to all BYU Cougars All-Access and/or CSTV XXL subscribers (Saturday ONLY). Links for both can be found by going to the Schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at www.byucougars.com.