Goodman Named MVP of Molten Classic; Lott and Dyer Named All-Tournament

PROVO -- The No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team completed the weekend in style with a sweep of Northern Iowa, 30-27, 30-26, 30-18 Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. The victory, along with Cougar wins over American and No. 10 Wisconsin, allowed BYU to defend its Molten Classic title with a 3-0 record in the two-day event.

"Each match we have played this season has challenged us to raise our level," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "These kinds of matches are important for what we want to be able to accomplish throughout the season."

Tournament MVP Chelsea Goodman continued to work her magic for the Cougars as she posted match highs of 15 kills and 16 digs while tying her personal best with six blocks. She was joined on the All-Tournament team by Rachel Dyer, who tallied 11 kills on .526 hitting against the Panthers to go along with six rejections, and Erica Lott. NIU's Danielle Brazda, another All-Tournament honoree, paced the Panthers with 11 kills.

"This was a great tournament for us," said Goodman. "We got to play some really nice teams. This match took a lot of energy since we were so tired. It's important for us to play these kinds of matches so we're ready for the NCAA Tournament and playing back-to-back matches against some very nice teams."

BYU posted a .330 hitting percentage on the night while holding UNI to a .195 mark. The Cougars also held a 13-10 block advantage and a 50-47 kill margin.

After an emotional five-game victory Friday night over the 10th-ranked Badgers and an earlier match Saturday against the Eagles, BYU struggled to find its rhythm early in game one. However, after an 11-6 Panther lead, the Cougars came to life, scoring seven of the next eight to go up 13-12.

Both teams put together scoring runs from there but neither was able to capitalize on the momentum, resulting in a 21-21 tie. The trend continued as the two squads neared the 30-point mark until an emphatic kill straight down the middle from Hansen and a Panther hitting error gave BYU the 30-27 win.

"Our ability to turn things around in a game is a credit to our team," said Watson. "We do a nice job of competing over time. It's not a matter of being down. The next play is always the most important."

Despite the near-miss in game one, Northern Iowa came out firing in the second frame, keeping the Cougars playing catch-up through the first half. Back-to-back kills from Goodman brought the fans to their feet and tied things up at 13-13 before Bryn Porter put down consecutive cross-court kills of her own to give BYU its first lead of the game at 17-16. The Panthers battled back to a 21-21 tie, but a 5-0 Cougar scoring spurt gave BYU a lead it would not relinquish en route to the 30-26 victory.

The Cougars sensed victory in game three and responded accordingly with an early 8-4 lead. It was all BYU from there with a resounding 30-18 game-three win on the strength of a 12-4 run to close out the match. The BYU block did the talking in the third frame as the Cougars put up five rejections, including three in a five-point span and five from Dyer, while holding UNI to a .083 hitting percentage.

BYU, now 5-0 on the season, will compete in the Stanford Invitational this Thursday, Friday and Saturday hosted by the No. 2 Cardinal. All three of the Cougars' matches will be available on BYU Radio. More information can be found by going to the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

Wisconsin Sweeps American to Close Out Tournament

The No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers completed a Saturday sweep with a 30-21, 30-23, 30-20 win over American to close out the BYU Molten Classic. UW also swept Northern Iowa earlier in the day after falling to the host Cougars on Friday night, finishing the tournament 2-1.

American's Rubena Sukaj recorded a match-high 13 kills while Wisconsin's Morgan Salow and Audra Jeffers also posted double-digit winners with 11 apiece. The Badgers' Jocelyn Pack paced both teams with 12 digs. On the night, Wisconsin tallied a .353 hitting percentage while holding the Eagles to a .165 mark and notching a slight 11.0-10.5 blocking edge.

Game one saw the Badgers jump out to an early 8-5 lead before a 7-1 Eagle run featuring two service aces from senior Tara Stradling reversed the deficit at 12-9. But Wisconsin stormed back with nine straight points to take an 18-12 lead thanks in part to five Eagle hitting errors. American's Rubena Sukaj finally got the side-out for her team with a kill down the line but the damage was done as Wisconsin cruised to game point at 29-16. American held the Badgers at bay for the next five points but finally succumbed at 30-21 on a kill from Caity DuPont.

The second game was a battle early on until Wisconsin once again proved its dominance with a 6-0 scoring run that gave the Badgers the lead for good. The Eagles fought back to within three at 23-20, but Wisconsin responded with some fight of its own to post a 30-23 win. Game three was a replica of the second frame as an 8-8 tied became a commanding 16-8 Badger lead from which the Eagles could not recover. DuPont and Jeffers added five kills each while leading Wisconsin to the 30-20 win.

Wisconsin setter Jackie Simpson and outside hitter Brittney Dolgner were both named to the BYU Molten Classic All-Tournament team.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
         Northern Iowa vs #15 BYU Cougars (Sep 01, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Northern Iowa          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Belzung, Kristin....  3|  8   3  16  .312| 30|  1   2|  0|  9| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
 4  Stelken, Ashten.....  3|  8   5  22  .136|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  3  1|  0|  10.5
 8  Rowen, Laura........  3|  8   4  23  .174|  2|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0|   8.5
 14 Aschoff, Shannon....  3|  5   5  18  .000|  3|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0|   7.0
 18 Brazda, Danielle....  3| 11   5  24  .250|  0|  1   4|  0|  1| 0  6  0|  0|  15.0
 19 Schmitz, Melissa....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 1  Blankenship, Ellie..  3|  0   0   1  .000|  5|  0   3|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Bakker, Brittany....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  3|  2| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 9  Grunder, Kayla......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Sampson, Amy........  3|  7   1  18  .333|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   7.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  23 123  .195| 42|  2  11|  4| 41| 1 18  2|  2|  59.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  9  45  .156   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  20  6  42  .333   Northern Iowa....... (0) 27 26 18  3-3
   3  11  8  36  .083   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  5-0
    BYU Cougars            |     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| 15   5  31  .323|  1|  2   2|  0| 16| 1  5  0|  0|  20.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  3|  9   0  12  .750|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0|  11.5
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  3|  1   0   4  .250| 39|  1   0|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  9   6  25  .120|  1|  1   2|  0|  9| 0  2  2|  0|  11.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  3|  5   2  18  .167|  1|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 11   1  19  .526|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 2  4  0|  0|  15.0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 50  14 109  .330| 45|  4   7|  2| 48| 3 20  2|  0|  67.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  8  45  .200   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  18  3  34  .441   Date: Sep 01, 2007   Attend: 906   Time: 1h 31m
   3  15  3  30  .400   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Maile Jewkes, Ryan Mortensen

PROVO -- The No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team will open its 2007 home season this weekend hosting the BYU Molten Classic on Friday and Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. No. 10 Wisconsin highlights the four-team field along with 2006 NCAA Tournament participants American and Northern Iowa.

"This is an important week for our program," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We get to open our home schedule with 3 nationally competitive programs. The challenge for our team will be to improve upon the lessons learnt last weekend."

The event will begin Friday at 4 p.m. with American taking on Northern Iowa before the featured match between the Badgers and Cougars at 7 p.m., which will be televised live on BYUTV. Saturday's action begins at 10 a.m. with Wisconsin facing Northern Iowa and BYU playing American at 12 p.m. The evening block will see Wisconsin vs. American at 5 p.m. before BYU and Northern Iowa play in the 7 p.m. nightcap. Live stats will be available for all six matches.

BYU went 12-1 in the Smith Fieldhouse last year and set a new program attendance record with an average of 1,902 fans, 13th in the nation. The Cougars are now 460-82 (.849) all-time at home and 22-1 on Elaine Michaelis Court over the last two years. With a 995-274-5 all-time record in the 39-year recorded history of BYU women's volleyball, the Cougars are just five victories away from becoming the fourth program in volleyball history to post 1,000 wins.

Wisconsin is 3-0 so far in 2007 after claiming the InnTowner Invitational title last weekend with sweeps of UW-Milwaukee, Gardner-Webb and Syracuse. Sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner paces the Badgers with 4.88 kills per game while adding 2.12 digs per contest. The Badgers, who hit .271, are holding their opponents to a dismal .012 offensive efficiency while besting foes in every statistical category.

American is off to an undefeated 3-0 record in 2007 after capturing the D.C. Volleyball Challenge Crown with sweeps of Georgetown and George Mason and a five-game come-from-behind victory over George Washington. Junior outside hitter Rubena Sukaj, a native of Albania, leads the Eagles averaging 5.5 kills per game, including 27 against GW, on .326 hitting. As a team, the Eagles are hitting .295 while holding opponents to a .113 offensive mark. American bests its opponents in every statistical category.

The Eagles' participation in the BYU Molten Classic marks the return of former BYU All-American setter Lauren Richards Evans to the Smith Fieldhouse. Evans finished her Cougar career in 2005 third all-time at BYU in career assist average (12.29) and total assists (4,056). She was hired as an assistant with the Eagles prior to the 2006 season.

Northern Iowa jumped out to a 2-1 start in 2007 after claiming the UNI Invitational crown last weekend. The Panthers swept Western Michigan and Wright State to open the year before falling at Kentucky in five games. Two UNI players are averaging over three kills per game as junior middle blocker Ashten Stelken is posting 3.73 kpg and sophomore outside hitter Shannon Aschoff is right behind with 3.27 kpg. As a team, the Panthers are hitting .279 while holding opponents to a .141 offensive mark. UNI bests its opponents in every statistical category.

The Cougars began the 2007 season last weekend winning the Hawkeye Challenge with a sweep of Marquette (30-23, 30-27, 30-22) on Friday and a five-game victory over Iowa on Saturday. BYU had to fight hard to begin the year 2-0, though, as the Hawkeyes won the first two games (30-21, 30-21), forcing a spectacular Cougar comeback (30-19, 30-26, 15-13) to secure the win. Three Cougars received All-Tournament honors for helping the Cougars claim the Hawkeye Challenge crown. Chelsea Goodman was named the tournament MVP while Rachel Dyer and Bryn Porter were named to the all-tournament team.