BYU Drops Match to No. 7 Stanford

STANFORD -- BYU's seven-match winning streak ended late Saturday night at the Pac-10/Mountain West Volleyball Challenge when the Cougars lost 15-11, 15-7, 15-10 to seventh-ranked Stanford. The win extended the Cardinal winning streak at Maples Pavilion to 31 straight matches.

"We played at times really well and were very competitive, but we are just not consistent enough right now to play with teams that are playing at that level," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "Stanford is a national championship contender. We are good enough to be playing at that level later in the season but we're not there yet."

Stanford out hit the Cougars .311 to .227 to gain the three-game win. BYU was led by senior outside hitter Mari Carpenter and sophomore middle blocker Nina Puikkonen with 12 kills apiece. Senior outside hitter Caroline Bower added nine kills and junior rightside hitter Melissa Layton contributed eight.

BYU's All-American setter Anna-Lena Smith hit .600 with six kills to go along with 43 assists. Carpenter followed in hitting percentage for the Cougars at .375 (12-3-24), and Bower had a team-high 10 digs. Smith and Puikkonen each added four blocks but the Cougars were out blocked by the Cardinal, 11-6, for the match.

Stanford was led by three-time All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year Kerri Walsh, who hit .429 on her way to 15 kills while adding eight digs and two blocks. Freshman sensation Logan Tom of Salt Lake's Highland High School added 12 kills and eight digs for the Cardinal.

With the loss, 10th-ranked BYU drops to 7-2 on the year while the Cardinal improve to 8-1. BYU will begin its Mountain West Conference season Friday and Saturday when it travels to take on Air Force and New Mexico.