Cougars Get Job Done On the Road

SAN -- The Cougars racked up another victory Saturday night at San Diego State with their ninth sweep of the season and their fifth straight win to move to 16-9 overall and 8-4 in the Mountain West Conference.

"We're very excited," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We did a lot of really good things and were just determined to come on strong and get the win. It was a nice team win."

Despite the Aztecs' 3-22 record, game one was tight as neither team was able to go up by more than two points. Two kills by April Varner and one from Kim Wilson saved three SDSU game points as the squads battled past the 30-point mark. Finally, two consecutive blocks gave the Cougars a 36-34 game one win.

With the game one scare behind them, the Cougars fired on all cylinders the rest of the night. Game two was a lopsided 30-15 as BYU hit .500 on 12 kills, two errors and 20 attempts while stifling the Aztec offense, allowing just nine kills and forcing 11 errors to hold SDSU to -.063 hitting. BYU's Lindsy Hartsock served 11 straight points at one point, giving the Cougars a big lift.

BYU doubled up on the Aztecs in kills in game three, recording 20 to SDSU's 10 enroute to a 30-22 victory and the sweep.

"After the first game, we were able to get them out of their system more," Lamb said. "Serving was also a key to putting them away. Everyone just stepped up and did their job."

Junior Lexi Brown once again recorded double-digit kills with a team-high 11 while posting a career-high .733 hitting percentage. Hartsock also contributed 10 kills in the win. Wilson led the Cougars with 11 digs and Lindsey Metcalf led BYU in blocks for the second night in a row with six.

With a .327 hitting percentage on the night, the Cougars hit over .300 for the 12th time this season and are 11-1 in those matches. BYU also out-blocked the Aztecs 12-10 to mark the 19th game of the year in which the Cougars have out-blocked their opponent with a 15-4 record in those matches.

BYU will now return home for its final two matches before the MWC Tournament. The Cougars will host No. 9 Colorado State Friday night at 7 p.m. before facing Wyoming Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars were defeated by both teams earlier this year and are looking for revenge on the homecourt.

"We feel pretty good about ourselves right now," Lamb said. "We had two nice matches this weekend and we're doing some really nice things. We're ready to go after Colorado State on Friday."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
      Brigham Young vs San Diego Aztecs (Nov 6, 2004 at San Diego, Calif.)
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VARNER, April.......  1|  4   3  11  .091|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  3   2   6  .167| 48|  0   3|  0|  5| 2  2  0|  1
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  8   2  21  .286|  0|  0   1|  2|  3| 0  6  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3|  9   3  19  .316|  1|  3   1|  0| 11| 0  1  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3| 11   0  15  .733|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  5  1|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3| 10   3  18  .389|  0|  4   2|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  2|  8   5  18  .167|  0|  0   0|  2|  1| 0  1  1|  0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  18 110  .327| 50|  8   7|  5| 37| 2 20  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  7  47  .319   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  2  20  .500   Brigham Young....... (3) 36 30 30  16-9, 8-4 MWC
   3  20  9  43  .256   San Diego Aztecs.... (0) 34 15 22  3-22, 3-9 MWC
    San Diego Aztecs       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  MORIARTY, Kara......  3| 11   4  26  .269|  0|  0   1|  1|  5| 1  0  0|  1
 3  BOWKER, Ashley......  3|  2   4  10 -.200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 2  3  3|  0
 6  CASTILLO, Kristen...  3|  1   1   6  .000| 35|  3   1|  0|  8| 0  1  0|  1
 8  MAHAN, Lindsey......  3|  6   3  14  .214|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  1|  0
 9  STAPLEY, Melissa....  3| 10   6  35  .114|  1|  1   2|  1|  4| 0  1  2|  0
 10 DENT, Audra.........  3|  7   4  19  .158|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  5  1|  0
 12 DYKEMA, Kari........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  4|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 14 LOUIE, Barbara......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 17 XAVIER, Lucilla.....  1|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 18 METZGER, Nina.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 38  23 112  .134| 36|  5   5|  8| 31| 3 14  7|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  9  50  .200   Site: San Diego, Calif. (Peterson Gym)
   2   9 11  32 -.062   Date: Nov 6, 2004    Attend: 472   Time: 1:29
   3  10  3  30  .233   Referees: Glenn Sapp, Tom Saunders