Cougars Swept by Lady Razorbacks

PROVO -- The BYU women's volleyball team was swept Thursday 31-33, 26-30, 23-30 by Arkansas in front of 713 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse. The loss drops the Cougars to 5-7 while the Lady Razorbacks improve to 9-2.

Arkansas was relentless in their play as it turned down every BYU run. The Cougars managed to stay close throughout the match, but could never sustain their attack.

"I'm disappointed tonight," head coach Karen Lamb said. "I'm disappointed on how we failed to compete tonight. We didn't take a step forward like we have continued to do throughout our other matches this season."

In the pivotal first game, BYU took a 27-22 lead on a kill by Laura Nielsen, but Arkansas stormed back to tie the game at 29-29, before taking a 32-31 lead and clinching the game.

"It was important to win that first game," Lamb said. "After Arkansas won it, it gave them a lot of confidence."

The Cougars hit a team best .171 in the second game, but the Lady Razorbacks hit a match-high .412. BYU managed to stay close to Arkansas throughout the game, but its effort to edge the Lady Razorbacks were continually rebuffed.

BYU committed 12 hitting errors in the third game to hit .021 as Arkansas cruised to the win.

The Cougars were led by nine kills apiece from Allison Larson and Carrie Bowers, they also each racked up a team-high seven blocks each. Nielsen recorded eight kills while hitting a team-high .313.

Arkansas was led by 6-foot-5 middleblocker Sara Kincaid who had a match-high 14 kills while hitting .458. Libby Windell had 13 kills with a match-high .478 attack percentage while also compiling seven blocks.

"We'll come back tomorrow and play hard," Lamb said. "We will play better and compete harder than we did tonight."

The Cougars will be back in action Friday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse as they welcome Illinois. Friday night will be team night, where an entire team can get into the game for $10 with a current roster. The men's volleyball team will also be at the match.

                              Volleyball Box Score
              Arkansas vs BYU Cougars (Sep 19, 2002 at Provo, Ut)
    Arkansas               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  DOCEKALOVA, Iva.....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 6  KINCAID, Sara.......  3| 14   3  24  .458|  0|  1   1|  0|  5| 0  5  0|  0
 10 VELIKANOVA, Anna....  3|  9   5  28  .143|  0|  0   4|  2| 10| 0  2  0|  0
 13 TARNAUSKAITE, R.....  3|  2   1   7  .143| 44|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  1
 33 WINDELL, Libby......  3| 13   2  23  .478|  0|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  7  0|  0
 34 HAASER, Jennifer....  3|  9   9  31  .000|  0|  0   1|  1| 12| 1  2  0|  0
 4  COENS, Michelle.....  3|  6   2  12  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  6  0|  0
 9  CASTRO, Paula.......  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0| 14| 0  0  0|  0
 12 KOUMAROVA, Michaela.  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 55 BUNTING, Jamie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  22 127  .252| 47|  2  10|  3| 55| 1 24  0|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23 11  55  .218   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  3  34  .412   Arkansas............ 33 30 30  9-2, 0-0 SEC
   3  14  8  38  .158   BYU Cougars......... 31 26 23  5-7, 0-0 MWC
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  3   0   8  .375| 36|  2   2|  0|  4| 1  1  1|  1
 3  VARNER, April.......  3|  7   8  38 -.026|  1|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  0  1|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  7   2  27  .185|  2|  0   1|  0| 14| 0  1  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  9   7  24  .083|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  7  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  1   1   2  .000|  3|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  8   3  16  .312|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3|  9   7  22  .091|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  7  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 44  28 138  .116| 42|  3   5|  2| 46| 1 18  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  7  50  .160   Site: Provo, Ut (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  16  9  41  .171   Date: Sep 19, 2002   Attend: 713   Time: 1hr 40m
   3  13 12  47  .021   Referees: Tom Given, Bruce Grant, Karen Marshall