Cougars Fall in Five

PROVO -- In one of the toughest matches of the year against an undefeated team listed No. 26, the BYU Cougars dropped a five-game match to visiting Saint Mary's in front of the largest home crowd this season.

"We made some service errors, which really made the difference in the third game," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We just need to be more consistent. We got a nice effort from some of our younger players. We are playing some tough teams, and I am encouraged about our prospects as they gain more experience."

Several Cougars had marquee nights as three players posted double-digit kills. Erica Lott notched 16 kills, her second-highest kills output of her career, as did Kim Wilson, the seventh time she has recorded double digits. Lindsy Hartsock had a career-high 12 blocks on the night and Stacie Powell, in just her second collegiate start, posted a career-high 12 digs.

BYU won everything but the game as the Cougars out-dug Saint Mary's 60-47, out-blocked them 15-10 and had 71 kills and a .308 combined hitting percentage compared to the Gaels' 55 kills and .110 hitting mark. But service aces once again, proved disastrous as BYU committed 16 while Saint Mary's only recorded 10. The Cougars have posted more service errors than their opponents in every game this season.

The Cougars dominated in game one, out-playing the Gaels in every aspect of the game to earn the 30-17 victory. BYU maintained its trademark offensive production as the Cougars posted a .323 hitting percentage and exhibited stifling defense in holding Saint Mary's to a -.029 percentage with 11 kills and 12 errors as well as posting five blocks.

The match only got better for the Cougars from there with game two being all BYU in a 30-14 victory, one of their most lopsided wins of the season. The Cougars picked up 19 kills in the game with only two errors to record an amazing .586 hitting percentage. On the other side of the net, the Gaels managed just seven kills and eight errors to once again post a negative hitting percentage (-.036).

Game three was tight as the Gaels tried to stave off the loss and climb back into the match. After getting down 13-9, Saint Mary's put together a 5-1 run to tie the game at 14. The two teams traded points from there with the Gaels maintaining a slight advantage, which proved to be enough to take game three 30-28.

In a huge role reversal, game four belonged solely to the Gaels as they held the Cougars to a dismal .025 hitting percentage and led by as many as 10 points. Despite fighting off four game points, the Cougars fell 30-23.

However, the Cougars were not about to give in. They roared back in game five and, in front of 1,775 screaming fans, took a 12-8 lead. But that would be all for BYU as the Gaels scored the next seven straight points to post a 15-12 victory.

With the loss, the Cougars drop to 5-3 on the season and will next be in action Saturday evening against No. 6 UCLA. At 6-2, the Bruins are coming off a five-game loss at Utah Friday night. The match will begin at 5 p.m. and conclude in time for kick-off of the BYU-USC football game at 8:15. Live stats will be available by going to the Schedule page of the BYU Women's Volleyball home page at byucougars.com.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                     Brigham Young University - Volleyball
  Saint Mary's College vs Brigham Young Univ. (Sep 17, 2004 at BYU PROVO, UT)
    Saint Mary's College   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  BOGASON, Lindsey....  5| 17   8  42  .214|  4|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 5  BIBLE, Mandy........  5|  0   2   4 -.500| 48|  0   1|  0| 13| 0  2  0|  0
 11 SALZMAN, Kaui.......  5| 13   6  36  .194|  0|  0   3|  2|  7| 1  3  0|  0
 18 O'CONNOR, Stacey....  2|  2   1  11  .091|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 21 KOLKKA, Cassandra...  5|  3   7  14 -.286|  0|  2   0|  1| 10| 0  1  0|  0
 22 COVERDALE, Mariko...  5|  6   5  19  .053|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0
 2  STIDHAM, Melissa....  5|  6   7  23 -.043|  1|  3   5|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 9  HOLLAND, Lauren.....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 10 KIRK, Christina.....  5|  8   0  13  .615|  0|  2   0|  0|  1| 2  2  0|  0
 13 HAYES, Chelsea......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 55  37 164  .110| 54|  7  10|  4| 47| 4 12  0|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11 12  34 -.029   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2   7  8  28 -.036   Saint Mary's College (3) 17 14 30 30 15  9-0
   3  15  7  39  .205   Brigham Young Univ.. (2) 30 30 28 23 12  5-3
   4  13  8  42  .119
   5   9  2  21  .333
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     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....  5|  7   4  16  .188| 56|  2   6|  0|  8| 0  4  2|  3
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  5|  9   3  19  .316|  4|  1   1|  2| 14| 0  5  1|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  5| 16   3  37  .351|  4|  0   3|  2|  9| 0  3  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  5| 14   5  33  .273|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 16   6  33  .303|  1|  1   5|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5|  9   1  21  .381|  1|  0   1|  0|  4| 2 10  0|  0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  3| 12| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 71  22 159  .308| 66|  4  16|  7| 60| 2 26  3|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  4  31  .323   Site: BYU PROVO, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  2  29  .586   Date: Sep 17, 2004   Attend: 1775   Time: 2H 20M
   3  21  5  40  .400   Referees: DAPHNE NELSON, TERRI JACKSON, KAREN MARSHALL
   4   9  8  40  .025
   5   8  3  19  .263