Cougars Take Down Wildcats in Four

OGDEN -- After a slow start, the BYU women's volleyball turned it up a notch to defeat instate rival Weber State 3-1 (27-30, 30-24, 30-20, 30-24) Tuesday night at the Dee Events Center. With the win, the Cougars improve to 52-0 all-time versus the Wildcats.

BYU improves to 13-4 overall, while WSU drops to 5-10.

"It's always hard to play here," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "The surroundings are difficult to get used to and Weber is always fired up to play us."

April Varner posted her second consecutive double-double with a match-highs of 15 kills and 16 digs. Lauren Richards displayed her stellar all-around game by dishing out 46 assists and collecting seven kills, six digs, four blocks and three aces.

Defensively, BYU put up 67 digs. Four players recorded double-digit digs, led by Varner's 16. Melanie Togo put up a career-high 15, followed by Carrie Bowers and Uila Crabbe, who had 12 a piece. Laura Nielsen had a match-high six blocks.

WSU was led by Stephanie Birch, who had 15 kills.

"We weren't as sharp tonight as we've been, but we weren't awful either," Lamb said. "We were a little flat-footed to start, but we were more effective as the match wore on."

BYU will return to Mountain West Conference play on Friday, when it hosts Utah at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                       2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
            BYU Cougars vs Weber State (Oct 07, 2003 at Ogden, Utah)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  4|  7   3  14  .286| 46|  3   5|  0|  6| 0  4  0|  7
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  1|  0   2   8 -.250|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  4| 12   5  28  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 1  1  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  4| 12   7  34  .147|  2|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  5  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4|  4   1   6  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  3  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  4   1  10  .300|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  6  0|  0
 3  VARNER, April.......  4| 15   6  44  .205|  3|  0   2|  1| 16| 0  1  0|  0
 4  TOGO, Melanie.......  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   0|  1| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3|  5   3  14  .143|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 59  28 160  .194| 52|  4  12|  2| 67| 2 24  0|  7
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  8  45  .178   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14 12  50  .040   BYU Cougars......... 27 30 30 30  13-4
   3  13  2  29  .379   Weber State......... 30 24 20 24  5-10
   4  16  6  36  .278
    Weber State            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Lindsay B. Harris...  4|  8   3  32  .156|  1|  1   2|  0|  1| 1  4  0|  1
 4  Jamie Kartchner.....  4|  0   2   3 -.667| 22|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  1
 6  Kris Hollingsworth..  4|  6   7  27 -.037|  3|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0
 11 Stephanie K. Birch..  4| 15   7  41  .195|  0|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  1  0|  0
 13 Penny W. Argyle.....  4|  2   4   8 -.250|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 1  2  0|  0
 14 Michelle Smith......  4| 11  13  46 -.043|  1|  0   2|  1| 14| 1  2  0|  0
 2  Kaylie Kortsen......  4|  6   4  18  .111|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  1
 5  Lisa Lykins.........  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Ashley Hesleph......  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 9  Jill Alsup..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 Stacy White.........  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Kayli H. Valenzuela.  4|  0   0   1  .000| 13|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  3
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 48  40 179  .045| 40|  2   7|  4| 59| 3 12  0|  6
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  8  44  .182   Site: Ogden, Utah (Dee Events Center)
   2   8 12  52 -.077   Date: Oct 07, 2003   Attend: 712   Time: 1:57
   3  14 13  42  .024   Referees: Ann L. Fruechte, Maile Jewkes
   4  10  7  41  .073