LARAMIE -- Mountain West Conference play started with a victory for the No. 24 BYU women’s volleyball team as the Cougars recorded a sweep (25-14, 25-19, 27-25) of Wyoming Thursday night. With the win, BYU is now 8-2 on the year.

“This is a really good win for us,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “We did it in three sets, and we got a lot of contributions from a lot of different players. It’s really not just winning but how we win that’s important, and we did a good job of controlling the match.”

Senior Rachel Dyer and junior Kayla Walker led the way for BYU with 10 kills each. Dyer put down her 10 winners on 12 swings with no errors to tie for the sixth-best match hitting percentage in BYU history at .833. Junior Morgan Lloyd paced the Cougars with 13 kills while senior Bryn Porter added 12 and Melissa Lake posted 10. BYU tallied nine aces in the contest, including the match-winner from Lloyd, as she and Dyer each recorded three.

The Cougars dominated from start to finish in set one with an incredible offensive performance. Five Cougars racked up kills in the first seven BYU points as the Cougars began the match hitting at a blistering .600 pace. After an early 5-5 tie, a 10-3 run established control for BYU. From there, the Cougars sprinted to the finish for a 25-14 victory. Six players recorded kills for BYU in a balanced attack while the Cougar defense held the Cowgirls to just .061 hitting in the set.

Set two looked to be a repeat performance as the Cougars ran out to an 8-1 lead with a 7-0 run on the serve of Dyer. The advantage stayed in BYU’s favor to a 16-8 score, and the set looked to be well in hand. However, the Cowgirls slowly began to find momentum with a 7-1 run that cut the advantage to just two points at 17-15. But too many Wyoming errors combined with too much BYU firepower prevented the Cowgirls from completing the comeback. After seeing their lead all but disappear, the Cougars responded with four straight points, including back-to-back aces from Kiana Rogers, to go up 21-15. From there, the two teams traded points until BYU secured the 25-19 win.

Sensing victory, the Cougars once again started strong in set three, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. The advantage grew to 17-9 with solid play all the way around. With the Cougars up 19-13 and on the way to victory, Goulding elected to go to her bench as junior Marisa Boaz made her season debut and redshirt freshman Casey Speredon made her BYU debut. The Cowgirls capitalized on the line up changes and subsequent adjustments and cut the last to just three points at 19-16. BYU pushed back to get to match point 24-21, but the Cowgirls weren’t done on their home floor as they fought off three match points to knot the score at 24-24 and send the set into extra play. However, two points later with the score tied at 25-25, Walker came up with a kill to give BYU another chance and Lloyd made good with a service ace to seal the match.

“It’s good to get everyone some playing experience,” said Goulding. “You never know who you’re going to have to rely on, so it’s good that everyone has some conference playing experience now.”

BYU will next be in action on Saturday in an MWC showdown at No. 15 Colorado State. The match will begin at 7 p.m. and can be heard live on BYU Radio.

Fans can join the official BYU Women’s Volleyball Texting Group by texting “WVB” to 83043. Members of the group will get updates about game times and special promotions.

PROVO -- The No. 24 BYU women’s volleyball team (7-2) will begin Mountain West Conference play this week on the road, playing at Wyoming on Thursday and at No. 15 Colorado State on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. and be broadcast live on BYU Radio.

“We’ve learned a lot about ourselves during our preseason tournaments,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “We know we have some work to do, but we’re ready to put it out there and start conference play. The MWC will be tough this year, and Colorado State has done very well so far, but I think when we play our best, we can match up against anyone.”

BYU was picked to finish third in the MWC this season behind CSU and Utah in a vote of the league’s head coaches and selected media. The Cougars (12-4) were tied with UNLV for second last year behind the Rams, finished second behind Utah in 2006 and won the league title in 2005. BYU has a 100-32 (.785) regular-season record in nine years of MWC play. Overall, the Cougars have a winning record against every team in the league with an all-time record of 321-76-1 (.808) against conference teams.

The Cougars went 2-1 last weekend to finish second at the InnTowner Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin. BYU started the event on Friday with a four-set win over Boise State followed by a sweep of Central Michigan Saturday morning. The Cougars faced the No. 14 Badgers in the tournament finale on Wisconsin’s home floor and led two sets to one before falling in five sets. Seniors Rachel Dyer and Bryn Porter were named to the All-Tournament Team (see below). In addition to solid performances from their starters, the Cougars got lifts off the bench from sophomore rightside hitter Christina Measom, who posted a career-high eight kills on .700 hitting against the Chippewas, and sophomore defensive specialist Melissa Lake, who led BYU with 18 digs against Wisconsin.

Including six matches over the last two weeks and two upcoming contests this week, the Cougars are currently in the middle of an eight-match road stretch. All in all, BYU will play 10 of its first 14 matches of the 2008 season away from the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Wyoming Cowgirls are 1-8 overall this season after earning their first victory with a sweep of Cleveland State on Saturday. Two of their eight losses came against nationally ranked teams Hawaii and Minnesota. Sophomore rightside hitter Dani Bedore leads the team with 2.83 kills per set after transferring from South Carolina. Bedore’s 0.57 blocks per set is third for Wyoming. Three other Cowgirls – Lauren Whitney (2.63), Jenna Arneson (2.17) and JennaRae Jester (2.09) top two kps to balance out the Wyoming offense. Senior libero Carissa Lee paces the team with 3.09 digs per set while sophomore middle blocker Chantilly Watson posts a team-best 0.92 bps.

The Colorado State Rams are 8-1 so farin 2008 and ranked No. 15 nationally after an upset of No. 8 Florida on Friday. CSU’s only loss was a four-set setback against Pepperdine. Two Rams pace the CSU offense as senior outside hitter Jaime Strauss tallies a team-best 3.23 kills per set while reigning MWC Player of the Year Mekana Barnes, a senior middle blocker, is right behind with 3.12 kps. Barnes is also hitting .351 on the year and notches a league-leading 1.59 blocks per set. Junior middle blocker Tessa Nelson is second on the team anad sixth in the conference with 1.13 bps, helping Colorado State lead the MWC in blocks at 3.17. Junior libero Katelin Batten records a team-best 3.50 digs per set.

In addition to coverage on BYU Radio, both matches will be available via CSTV All-Access and Game Tracker. Links to all of these options can be found by going to the BYU women’s volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

Fans can join the official BYU Women’s Volleyball Texting Group by texting “WVB” to 83043. Members of the group will get updates about game times and special promotions.