Varner Shines in BYU Victory

OREM -- With her second double-double of the year, senior April Varner led the Cougars past crosstown rival UVSC Tuesday night. BYU picked up the four-game win, 31-28, 25-30, 30-23, 30-26 with the help of Varner's match-leading 21 kills and team-leading 17 digs, both season-highs.

"It was a hard match," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "UVSC did a great job and made things tough for us but we stuck in there and got the job done. April was really solid the entire match and gave us a big lift tonight. I'm glad we got the win."

In what many thought would be an easy match for the Cougars, BYU ran up against a feisty UVSC squad looking to prove itself in just its second year of Division I volleyball.

The Cougars dropped their usual starting line-up in favor of some fresh faces as redshirt freshman Amy Hulse got her first collegiate start and fellow redshirt freshman Stacie Powell and true freshman Chelsea Goodman also saw the court to start the match. The Wolverines kept the game close, eventually tying the score at 29. But the Cougars kept their composure and two plays later, a Cougar block gave BYU the 31-29 win.

UVSC stormed back in game two, taking a commanding 17-8 lead. BYU slowly chipped away at the margin, coming within one at 24-25, but could not overcome three Cougar errors in the last six points, dropping game two 25-30.

With their usual starters on the court to begin game three, the Cougars kept the contest tight. A Lindsey Metcalf ace with the score tied at 15 sparked a 6-2 BYU run, giving the Cougars a four-point cushion, which they would ride to a 30-23 game three victory. The BYU defense starred in the game as it held the Wolverines to just .054 hitting and recorded three blocks.

Game four was all BYU as the Cougars took a 4-3 lead and never looked back, leading by as many as seven enroute to a 30-26 win. BYU had its best offensive production in game four as the Cougars fired on all cylinders and hit .394 on 18 kills.

Varner's season-best numbers were supported by many of her teammates as Kim Wilson and Lexi Brown recorded 11 digs apiece and three other Cougars notched double-digit kills, with Lauren Richards scoring 13, Stacie Powell tying her career-high with 12 and Lindsey Evans picking up 11. Richards also put up 61 assists to mark her ninth double-double of the season, which leads both the Cougars and the Mountain West Conference.

At 12-9 on the season and 4-4 in the MWC, BYU will step back into conference play this weekend with home matches on Friday night at 7 p.m. against Air Force and Saturday night at 7 p.m. versus New Mexico. The Cougars own a 13-1 series advantage over the Falcons, including a sweep earlier this season. Against the Lobos, BYU is 55-7 and has recorded sweeps in the last 19 straight matches between the two teams, dating back to 1995. Fans can find live stats for both matches by going to the BYU Women's Volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
           Brigham Young vs Utah Valley (Oct 26, 2004 at Orem, Utah)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3|  8   4  30  .133|  0|  0   2|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0|   8.5
 2  KIHOLM, Mandi.......  2|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 3  VARNER, April.......  4| 21   5  46  .348|  2|  1   1|  2| 17| 0  2  1|  0|  23.0
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  4|  4   1   8  .375| 61|  4   6|  1| 13| 0  3  0|  3|   9.5
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4|  5   0  11  .455|  0|  2   1|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  1|   8.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3| 11   6  29  .172|  1|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|  12.5
 8  HULSE, Amy..........  2|  4   0   7  .571|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0|   5.5
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3| 11   2  20  .450|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0|  12.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  1|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  1|   2.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4|  5   3  17  .118|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|   7.0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  21 175  .286| 64|  8  16|  5| 72| 0 20  3|  5|  89.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  55  .255   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  7  45  .200   Brigham Young....... (3) 31 25 30 30
   3  19  5  42  .333   Utah Valley......... (1) 29 30 23 26
   4  18  5  33  .394
    Utah Valley            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  ENDRES, Jessica.....  4|  8   3  25  .200|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 2  0  0|  0|  11.0
 2  KOELLIKER, Lacee....  4|  3   3  16  .000| 42|  0   2|  0| 10| 2  1  0|  1|   5.5
 3  WALLAUER, Alina.....  4| 15   8  39  .179|  1|  0   1|  2| 12| 0  0  0|  0|  15.0
 5  TAYLOR, Krystal.....  4|  7   5  26  .077|  0|  3   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  10.0
 6  OLSEN, Anne.........  4|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  WISCOMBE, Jamie.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  MCFARLAND, Stephanie  4|  4   2  11  .182|  2|  1   1|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 11 HOYT, Malia.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 HOYT, Maegan........  4|  1   1   5  .000|  3|  0   0|  3| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 14 BORGHETTI, Deise....  4| 16   7  44  .205|  0|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0|  16.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 54  29 167  .150| 49|  5   7|  8| 64| 4  2  0|  1|  64.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20 10  61  .164   Site: Orem, Utah (Activity Center)
   2  15  5  36  .278   Date: Oct 26, 2004   Attend:     Time:
   3  10  8  37  .054   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Maile Jewkes
   4   9  6  33  .091
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores      17   7  10   1    35
                        Lead changes     8   5   3   1    17