LINCOLN -- In an arena packed with over 4,000 fans the BYU women’s volleyball team (4-5) fell to No. 5 Nebraska (7-1) in four sets (25-18, 21-25, 10-25, 21-25).

“The team that showed up tonight is the team I’d like to see every night,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “If we play our conference games like we did tonight we’ll be a very competitive team. The girls really lit up with the exciting crowd.”

Kayla Walker led on the attack with 14 kills and added six digs. Moved back to middle Christina Measom tallied 12 kills, pacing the team at .409 hitting. Kiana Rogers had 39 assists and Chelsea Goodsell and Melissa Lake Wright had 13 and 14 kills, respectively. Nicole Warner led the teams in blocks with five and also hit at .385.

Measom had three-straight kills in set one to put the Cougars up 3-0. Walker next had two-straight kills to put the score at 4-2. After two attack errors on Nebraska, the Cougars found themselves with a five-point lead at 7-2. BYU’s next three points came from two Nebraska attack errors and a service error to bring the score to 10-6. Later Measom tallied a kill to bring the score to 23-16, the largest lead of the set, and the Cougars kept the margin to finish off the Huskers with the last two kills from Walker and Warner to win the first set 15-18. As a team, BYU hit at .680 compared to Nebraska’s .346 for set one.

Nebraska opened up set two with two-straight points and kept the two-point deficit until pulling away with a 5-0 run ending at 6-11. The Cougars then tallied a 6-3 run to knot the score at 18, Nebraska asking for a timeout. Coming out of the timeout the Huskers went on a 7-3 run to win set two 25-21.

Coming out strong with a 4-1 run to begin the third was the Huskers and the Cougars just couldn’t keep up, only scoring 10 points in the whole set (25-10).

The Huskers and the Cougars tied the score eight different times in the fourth set, the last tie coming at 19 with a kill from Christie Carpenter. The Huskers finished the match off with a 6-2 run, BYU’s only last points coming from Nebraska service errors.

BYU will finish the Ameritas Players Challenge Saturday at 3 p.m. MT, taking on Virginia.

 Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                BYU vs #5 Nebraska (Sep 11, 2009 at Lincoln, NE)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  MEASOM, Christina...  4| 12   3  22  .409|  0|  0   3|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0|  13.0
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  4|  1   1   6  .000| 39|  0   1|  0| 10| 1  1  0|  0|   2.5
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  4| 14   9  43  .116|  1|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  4  0|  0|  16.0
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  4|  8   3  23  .217|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   8.0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  4|  6   1  13  .385|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0|   8.5
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  4|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  1   1|  3|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
2  HANNEMANN, Heather..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
6  GOODSELL, Chelsea...  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  2|  1   1|  1| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
20 SPEREDON THURSTON,Ca  4|  7   1  20  .300|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0|   8.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 48  19 131  .221| 44|  2   7|  6| 49| 1 14  0|  1|  58.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  1  25  .680   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  6  30  .267   BYU................. (1) 25 21 10 21  4-5
   3   6  5  40  .025   Nebraska............ (3) 18 25 25 25  7-1
   4  10  7  36  .083
   Nebraska               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Anderson, Sydney....  4|  7   0   9  .778| 49|  0   1|  0| 10| 0  0  1|  0|   7.0
4  Licht, Lindsey......  4|  7   4  19  .158|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  4  0|  0|   9.0
6  Wilberger, Jordan...  4|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  1  1|  0|   4.5
8  Delano, Brooke......  4| 12   2  20  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  5  0|  0|  14.5
19 Mueller, Tara.......  4| 13   6  30  .233|  3|  3   1|  0| 11| 1  1  0|  0|  17.5
44 Werth, Hannah.......  4| 12   4  31  .258|  2|  0   2|  1|  7| 1  1  0|  0|  13.5
2  Banwarth, Kayla.....  4|  0   0   1  .000|  4|  2   1|  0| 20| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
7  Mancuso, Gina.......  4|  5   2  16  .188|  1|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 60  20 136  .294| 59|  6   7|  2| 57| 2 12  2|  0|  74.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  4  26  .346   Site: Lincoln, NE (NU Coliseum)
   2  17  6  32  .344   Date: Sep 11, 2009   Attend: 4124   Time: 1:50
   3  16  3  38  .342   Referees: Gary Houghton, Joan Powell
   4  14  7  40  .175
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       0   4   0   8    12
                        Lead changes     0   0   0   4     4

PROVO -- Coming off a second-place finish at the BYU Nike Classic, the BYU women’s volleyball team (4-3) travels to Nebraska Thursday-Saturday for the Ameritas Players Challenge hosted by the Huskers. The Cougars will take on No. 8 UCLA (5-1), No. 5 Nebraska (5-1) and Virginia (4-2).

The Cougars will play UCLA at 4:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nebraska at 7 p.m. CT on Friday and Virginia at 4 p.m. CT.

“Not many get to play in front of a crowd like what they have in Nebraska and we are looking forward to a great experience,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “It is going to be an awesome opportunity to end our preseason tournament play with Nebraska, UCLA and Virginia. It is going to prepare us well to open conference in the next couple of weeks.”

BYU downed Weber State in three in the second match of the Nike Classic, but brought Cal Poly and Kansas State to five sets, dropping one to Kansas State – the winner of the tournament. Despite a second-place finish in the Nike Classic, two Cougars, Kayla Walker and Christie Carpenter, were named to the all-tournament team.

Senior rightside hitter Walker led her team, posting her first double-double of the season with 14 kills and 17 digs against the No. 23-ranked Kansas State Wildcats at the Nike Classic. The Cougars went 2-1 in the tournament placing second as a result of Walker’s solid play each game as she was named to the All-Tournament team. Against Weber State, she led the offense with nine kills, downing the Wildcats in three. Against Cal Poly Walker had 22 kills and hit at .314. Earlier in the week against instate-rival Utah State, Walker posted a career-high 25 kills, hitting at .288 and also tallying nine digs and two blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Carpenter posted seven kills five digs and six blocks against Cal Poly in the first match of the tournament and improved each game. Against Weber State she had five kills, three service aces, five digs, one solo block and three blocking assists. In the tough battle against No. 23 Kansas State, Carpenter tallied five kills, one service ace, four digs and four blocks.

Saturday against Kansas State was a night of records for the Cougars as Walker recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 17 digs. Nicole Warner tallied a career-high in kills with 12, while sophomore Casey Speredon Thurston also landed a career-high with nine kills. Morgan Lloyd Sorensen also recorded a career-high 24 digs.

The Cougars will look to keep improving set by set this weekend playing against two more ranked teams before the regular conference season starts Sept. 17 when they will host San Diego State at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.