Aztecs Win Close Battle With Cougars

PROVO -- In a spirited match that could have gone either way, the San Diego State took advantage of a depleted BYU women's volleyball team 30-26, 31-29, 31-29 Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. BYU's record falls to 4-5 in the Mountain West Conference and 9-14 overall, while San Diego State improves to 7-2, 16-10.

"We had our moments at times tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "It was a match that could've gone either way, but we just can't get any breaks now."

The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the first game and reeled off a 4-0 run to lead 7-1 on a double block by Allison Larson and Laura Nielsen on Melissa Cansdale. BYU stretched its lead to eight at 13-5 before SDSU stormed back. Largely on the strength of a 4-0 run of their own, the Aztecs chipped away at the Cougar lead. The Aztecs would come within one point four times before breaking through and tying the game at 23-23. San Diego State used another 4-0 run to take control of the game and win it on a kill by Zlatina Anguelova.

Game two and three featured many furious rallies, which had both teams scrambling for balls. The second game was close throughout as the Aztecs held the lead in the early going. SDSU had its largest lead at 9-14, but Cougar freshman Kim Wilson, coming off a career performance Friday with 17 kills, started a BYU rally with three kills to close the gap to 21-22, before Larson tied the game with a kill on the ensuing rally. BYU would fall behind again 23-26, but fought back to tie the game at 28-28 as a free ball sent over the net by Lindsey Metcalf hit the floor in the heart of the SDSU defense, forcing an Aztec timeout. The Cougars let the game slip away in the end, though, with back-to-back attacking errors.

In the critical third game, the Cougars block came to life as BYU picked up five team blocks in the game. BYU built up a lead after being tied 1-1, and widened its lead to 12-6 on a Nielsen kill. The Cougars would hold the lead until the Aztecs slowly came back to eventually tie the game at 26-26. Larson pushed the Cougars to game point with a kill after a lengthy rally at 29-28. Anguelova then took control and continued her strong play on the night with back-to-back kills to put the Aztecs up 30-29 and giving them control of the match.

Still bothered by the lingering effects of a sprained ankle, sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Metcalf had her fourth double-double of the year with a career-high 20 digs and tying a career best with 13 kills to go with five blocks and a .250 attack percentage. Junior defensive specialist Uila Crabbe did her part in keeping long rallies going by putting up 15 digs.

With BYU's main offensive force, April Varner out with a severely sprained ankle, Wilson followed up her career performance Friday night with a team-high 15 kills. Nielsen continues her solid play coming off a broken foot as she tied a career-high with 11 kills while hitting a team best .308.

Junior middle blocker Carrie Bowers, visibly in pain with two stress fractures in her feet, tied the team high with five blocks, while leading the team and tying a career-high with two service aces.

"I'm proud of how our team competes," Lamb said. "We have a lot of injuries and players that are hurting, but we don't make excuses. Lindsey isn't 100% yet but she had a great night with 20 digs, 13 kills and five blocks. Laura is coming off her broken foot and playing well."

SDSU was led by two players with double-doubles, but it was Anguelova who was the difference maker. She had match highs of 20 kills with a .415 attack percentage to go with 11 digs. Melissa Cansdale had 10 kills to go along with 11 digs.

"We tried to block her (Anguelova) and make adjustments," Lamb said. "But she's a nice player and found ways to get the ball down."

BYU has two regular season road conference matches remaining and will be away next weekend as it travels to play New Mexico Friday and Air Force Saturday.

                              Volleyball Box Score
           San Diego State vs BYU Cougars (Oct 26, 2002 at Provo, UT)
    San Diego State        |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  AKPORIAYE, Nicole...  3|  9   2  23  .304|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  9  0|  0
 7  CURRIER, Rochelle...  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 WRIGHT, Melissa.....  3|  1   2   6 -.167| 45|  1   0|  0|  8| 0  3  0|  1
 11 SCHAUERMANN, Megan..  3|  2   4  13 -.154|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  5  0|  0
 15 ANGUELOVA, Zlatina..  3| 20   3  41  .415|  0|  1   0|  1| 11| 2  2  0|  1
 16 MCPARTLAND, Aspen...  3|  8   6  26  .077|  1|  1   0|  0|  8| 2  1  1|  0
 6  CANSDALE, Melissa...  3| 10   4  25  .240|  2|  0   0|  1| 11| 1  0  0|  0
 8  GREGG, Robyn........  3|  1   1   5  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SANDE, Natalie......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 51  22 140  .207| 48|  3   2|  5| 48| 6 20  1|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  8  36  .167   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  7  49  .184   San Diego State..... 30 31 31  16-10,7-2 MWC
   3  21  7  55  .255   BYU Cougars......... 26 29 29  9-14,4-5 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   2   9  .111| 43|  1   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  1
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3| 13   5  32  .250|  1|  0   1|  1| 20| 1  4  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  2   6  14 -.286|  1|  2   1|  0|  1| 1  4  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  3| 15  10  39  .128|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3| 11   3  26  .308|  0|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  3  2|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   1|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3|  9   5  20  .200|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 53  31 140  .157| 50|  5   5|  3| 55| 2 14  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14 13  40  .025   Site: Provo, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  20 10  50  .200   Date: Oct 26, 2002   Attend: 638   Time: 1H 30M
   3  19  8  50  .220   Referees: KEN TAYLOR, TOM GIVEN, KAREN MARSHAL