COLUMBIA -- BYU women’s volleyball suffered its first loss of the 2009 season, falling 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 20-25, 12-25) to host Missouri in the finale of the Tiger Classic. The Cougars are 2-1 to start the year while the Tigers are 3-0.

“It’s never easy to lose but I have a lot of confidence in our team and where we’re going,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “We’re going to pick ourselves up, learn from this experience and be a better team because of it.”

Kayla Walker paced BYU with 11 kills while Christina Measom added 10 kills on .389 hitting. Kiana Rogers dished out 36 assists and dug eight balls while Nicole Warner had a team-best eight blocks. Christie Carpenter chipped in nine kills, three service aces and five digs.

Walker and Measom earned all-tournament honors. Walker averaged 3.70 kills and 1.9 digs per game while Measom 1.90 kills and 0.90 blocks while hitting .350.

Rosa Medrano led Missouri with a match-high 14 kills and Caitlyn Van posted a match-best 18 digs to lead the Tiger defensive effort.

Missouri jumped out to a 4-0 lead in set one before the Cougars got kills from Walker and Carpenter for their first two points of the game. A Walker kill pulled the Cougars within one at 11-10 and BYU tied the score on the next play. The score was tied again at 16-all on a Tiger hitting error but Missouri scored the next three points and went on to win the set 25-21.

Walker opened set two with a kill to give the Cougars their first lead of the match. Missouri posted the next two points but BYU reeled off the next five points — including kills by Walker, Measom and Rogers — to force a Tiger timeout. The Cougars led the rest of the way and with the score 16-14, BYU blew the set open with an 6-0 run. The run started with a Missouri hitting error and Thurston followed with a kill and a bock. Warner sandwiched another Thurston kill with two of her own to make it 22-14.

The Tigers got a kill from Weiwen Wang to end the run but BYU finished the set with kills by Warner and Thurston and an ace by Christie Carpenter to win 25-15.

The momentum quickly shifted to Missouri in game three as the Tigers scored the first three points and held the lead throughout the set. An ace by Carpenter pulled BYU within two at 14-12 but the Tigers responded with a 4-1 run and went on to win set three 25-20.

Missouri carried the momentum into set four, scoring the first three points and going on to win 25-12.

BYU plays at Utah State on Tuesday, Sept. 1, before hosting the Nike Classic on Sept. 4 and 5 in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team
Miranda Kitts - Ole Miss
Jessica Weynand - Texas State
Christina Measom - BYU
Kayla Walker - BYU
Catie Wilson - Mizzou
Lei Wang-Francisco - Mizzou
MVP - Rosa Medrano - Mizzou
  Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
            BYU Cougars vs Missouri (Aug 29, 2009 at Columbia, Mo.)
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  MEASOM, Christina...  4| 10   3  18  .389|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  4|  3   0   6  .500| 36|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  1
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  4|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  4| 11   8  38  .079|  0|  0   1|  1|  8| 0  3  0|  0
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  4|  9   8  36  .028|  0|  3   2|  2|  5| 0  3  1|  0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  4|  4   5  18 -.056|  0|  1   0|  0|  2| 1  7  1|  0
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  3| 19| 0  0  0|  0
2  HANNEMANN, Heather..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 PHILLIPS, Camilla...  1|  1   1   3  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1
16 LAU, Stephanie......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
20 SPEREDON THURSTON,Ca  4|  9   2  25  .280|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  3  0|  1
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 47  28 146  .130| 47|  4   6|  8| 51| 2 20  2|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  7  28  .214   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  4  47  .191   BYU Cougars......... (1) 21 25 20 12  2-1
   3  14  5  35  .257   Missouri............ (3) 25 15 25 25  3-0
   4   7 12  36 -.139
   Missouri               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Lei Wang-Francisco..  4|  2   0   2 1.000| 35|  2   1|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  1
2  Brittney Brimmage...  3|  2   1   6  .167|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
4  Amanda Hantouli.....  4|  2   0  10  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  3  0|  0
6  Julianna Klein......  4|  6   7  23 -.043|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  0
7  Rosa Medrano........  4| 14  10  43  .093|  0|  3   2|  2|  7| 0  1  0|  0
15 Catie Wilson........  4|  8   2  14  .429|  1|  1   0|  0|  2| 1  4  0|  0
3  Caitlyn Vann........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  2   0|  1| 18| 0  0  0|  0
8  Kate Harris.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  Paola Ampudia.......  3|  5   2  15  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 2  1  0|  0
10 Priscilla Armendariz  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0
12 Annie Lopez.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
13 Weiwen Wang.........  3|  6   0  18  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 45  22 131  .176| 45|  8   4|  4| 63| 3 16  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  6  34  .206   Site: Columbia, Mo. (Hearnes Center)
   2  11  8  39  .077   Date: Aug 29, 2009   Attend: 1621   Time: 1:49
   3  13  3  31  .323   Referees: Jose Jones, Daryl Korinek, Kent Brockman
   4   8  5  27  .111

PROVO -- The BYU women’s volleyball team will kick off the 2009 season this weekend traveling to the Tiger Invitational held at the University of Missouri. The event will feature six matches in total with the Cougars competing Friday at 3 p.m. MT against Ole Miss and twice on Saturday against Texas State at 9 a.m. MT and Missouri at 5:30 p.m. MT.

“We are opening the season with some great opponents,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “It will be an exciting weekend and we know each team will come to play. It will really give us a chance to measure where we are and what we must do to get where we want to go. The girls are ready and anxious to get on the court and to prove themselves.”

Senior rightside hitter, Kayla Walker, will lead the Cougars in the Tiger Invite. She was named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Conference Team, leading the Cougars with 285 kills last season. Anchoring the team in the back row is libero Melissa Lake Wright, who led with 253 digs in 2008.

BYU is 33-6 all-time in season openers (no match-by-match records for 1971) and has not lost a season opener since 1999. The team leads Ole Miss 2-0 in the all-time series, the last meeting was the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament where the Cougars won 3-0. BYU also leads the all-time series against Missouri 1-0, with the only meeting coming in 2008, which was a five-set win for the Cougars. Saturday’s meeting against Texas State will be the first in history.

The Ole Miss Rebels finished the 2008 campaign with a 14-15 mark and a 10-10 record in Southeastern Conference play. Led by sophomore Katie Norris, who paced the team with 321 kills in 2008 despite only starting 15 matches, the Rebels have one of the youngest teams in the SEC with only one senior on their roster. The lone senior - Caitlin Weiss - finished second on the team with 205 kills during the 2008 season.

The Texas State Bobcats come into the 2009 season as the defending Southland Conference Champion. Overall, Texas State finished with a 23-14 record in 2008, including a 14-2 mark in league play. The Bobcats are led by senior Jessica Weynand, who led the team in kills (372), digs (365) and service aces (35).

Missouri returns five starters and its libero from last season as nearly 70-percent of the team's point production returns to the floor, highlighted by Julianna Klein, who finished 2008 with a team-best 446.0 points. The Tigers also return 91-percent of their season dig total as all three back-row regulars - libero Caitlyn Vann, Annie Lopez and Priscilla Armendariz - each return for another season. The trio accounted for 1,052 digs in 2009, accounting for 62-percent of the returning defense. Each of the nine players returning in 2009 saw action in at least 22 of Mizzou's 30 matches in 2008.

Live stats will be available for all six matches; visit the Mizzou women’s volleyball schedule page on the Mizzou women’s volleyball home page by clicking HERE to access these links.