Rebels Swept Away by Offensive Cougars

BYU Hits a Season-High .439 in Sweep of UNLV

PROVO -- Led by a relentless attack that improved with each passing game, the BYU women's volleyball team swept UNLV 3-0 (30-21, 30-23, 30-20) Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win improves the Cougars to 15-5 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain West Conference, while UNLV drops to 8-10, 2-5.

After hitting at a .360 clip in the first game, BYU hit .474 in the second and .514 in the third for a cumulative .439 percentage in the match -- their best hitting night on the season. BYU only committed seven attack errors in the three games.

The Cougars were led by the outside hitting tandem of Kim Wilson and Lindsey Metcalf, who each put down match highs of 18 kills. It represented a career high in kills for Metcalf and Wilson also contributed 12 digs for her third consecutive and seventh overall double-double of the season.

"We started and played very well tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We passed really well, we dug really well and we continued to communicate on the court."

Friday night's serving star Lindsey Kearl started the Cougars off on the right foot in the first game with her strong serving. BYU took advantage as Laura Nielsen and Lauren Richards put down consecutive kills, followed by Metcalf who put down back-to-back kills to give the Cougars a quick 4-0 lead. BYU would hold the lead throughout and led by as many as ten points in the game (16-6). Wilson was all over the court as she put down eight kills, while putting up eight digs, both game highs.

BYU also held the lead throughout the second game in getting out to a 4-1 lead, powered by two Metcalf kills. UNLV would stay close until a decisive 4-0 BYU run gave the Cougars a commanding 18-9 lead. Wilson again put down eight kills, the last of which ended the game.

UNLV took its first lead of the match at the start of the third game after consecutive kills by Sheila Ocasio-Clemente and Leiana Oswald. The Cougars proceeded to take the lead after an immediate 5-0 run, including three Metcalf kills, for a 5-2 advantage. BYU wouldn't look back, although the Rebels kept the game close, drawing to within two points on numerous occasions. After a Metcalf attack error drew the Rebels to within two at 16-14, BYU took off on a 7-0 run, on the back of Lexi Brown's serving, which helped to induce five consecutive UNLV attack errors. Brown would also figure prominently to end the match, as she put down the last three Cougar points, all kills, to seal the match.

Richards had another stellar all-around night in leading the BYU attack. She dished out 46 assists and put down eight kills of her own with a .538 attack percentage. Richards also collected eight digs and two blocks.

Defensively, Uila Crabbe continues to stake her claim as the best libero in the MWC, as she put up a match-high 18 digs. Nielsen tallied a match-high six blocks.

"I want to complement Uila on her leadership," Lamb said. "She comes prepared to win every night and is playing at a very high level right now. She's vocal when she needs to be, but she is a great example."

The Cougars will start the second half of their MWC schedule next week when they travel to play Wyoming Friday and No. 20 Colorado State Saturday.

"We have to continue to start like we did tonight," Lamb said. "Our offense will only continue to improve as we add some new wrinkles. Our goal is to win the conference championship and we need some help, but we have to take care of things on our end first."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                       2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
            UNLV vs BYU Cougars (Oct 18, 2003 at Brigham Young Univ)
    UNLV                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  KING, Nicki.........  3|  2   0   5  .400| 37|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  1  0|  0
 3  ASSUNCAO, Patricia..  3| 10   5  33  .152|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 4  OSWALD, Leiana......  3|  7   5  32  .062|  1|  0   2|  0|  9| 1  0  0|  0
 8  BANKS, Michelle.....  3|  0   2   9 -.222|  0|  0   1|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 9  OCASIO-CLEMENTE, S..  3| 15   3  30  .400|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 15 KIRSCHNER, Christina  2|  3   1  12  .167|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  KOOCHI, Kristin.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 11 DUNKLAU, Stacy......  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 KEITH, Tarin........  1|  2   4   6 -.333|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 14 JOHNSON, Michelle...  2|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 18 FRANCHINI, Nina.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  21 134  .157| 41|  1   7|  1| 47| 1  4  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  6  47  .149   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  6  45  .178   UNLV................ 21 23 20  8-10,2-5 MWC
   3  15  9  42  .143   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  15-5,5-2 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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  8   1  13  .538| 46|  0   2|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  2
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3| 18   1  34  .500|  1|  0   0|  1|  6| 1  2  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3| 18   3  33  .455|  0|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  6   1  18  .278|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  2|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  4   1  14  .214|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  6  1|  1
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  1|  4   0   6  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KEARL, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   3|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  5|  0   0|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 61   7 123  .439| 54|  1   9|  1| 58| 1 16  1|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  3  50  .360   Site: Brigham Young Univ (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  21  3  38  .474   Date: Oct 18, 2003   Attend: 1313   Time: 1h 30m
   3  19  1  35  .514   Referees: GLENN SAPP, BRUCE GRANT, KAREN MARSHALL