Cougars Get Revenge to Conclude MWC Play

PROVO -- The Cougars finished regular-season Mountain West Conference play in style Saturday night with a sweep of the visiting Wyoming Cowgirls to secure a third place MWC finish. Avenging an earlier four-game loss, BYU coasted to an easy 30-18, 30-20, 30-23 victory.

"I'm really proud of our team," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "I wasn't sure what we had left after last night, but to win in three was wonderful. We came out and took care of business, which says a lot about where we've come from."

BYU's incredible Friday night performance in a five-game nail-biter with No. 10 Colorado State carried over into the Wyoming match as the Cougars recorded their highest single-game hitting percentage of the season in game one with a .543 mark. BYU also recorded six total blocks in the game while not allowing any blocks by Wyoming. Lindsy Hartsock, who leads the team and the MWC averaging just under two blocks per game, posted six.

Wyoming made some defensive adjustments in the second game, posting five blocks and cutting the Cougars' offensive efficiency in half, down to .250 in game two. However, BYU put up eight more kills than the Cowgirls, with five each from Lindsey Metcalf and Lexi Brown to take the victory.

The Cowgirls continued to fight back in game three, going from .083 hitting in the second game to .211 in the third, but the Cougar offense once again proved too much to handle as BYU recorded 21 kills, including seven from senior April Varner, to Wyoming's 12 and hit .375.

High marks for the Cougars included a career-high hitting percentage from Metcalf with a .611 mark on 12 kills and a season-high hitting efficiency from Varner with a .500 mark on a match-leading 17 kills and only one error. Lexi Brown added 11 kills, the eighth time in the last nine matches she has reached double-digits. Metcalf also had her third double-double of the year and second consecutive with 12 digs. Lindsey Evans led the Cougar digging effort with a match-high 14 digs while Kim Wilson added 11. Hartsock finished the match with a team-high seven blocks.

At 17-10 overall and 9-5 in MWC play, the Cougars now head to Fort Collins, Colo. for the conference tournament Nov. 18-20. As the third seed, BYU awaits either San Diego State or New Mexico in the first round. The brackets will be announced Sunday evening. Fans can follow BYU's tournament matches live on CSTV or by accessing live stats on the BYU Women's Volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

"We're looking forward to playing hard in the tournament," Lamb said. "This win gives us the confidence we need to go there and do well."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
     Wyoming Cowgirls vs Brigham Young (Nov 13, 2004 at BYU PROVO UT 84602)
    Wyoming Cowgirls       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  DOMAN, Amy..........  3|  2   1   4  .250| 30|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  2|   2.0
 5  SEELE, Andrea.......  3|  6   5  17  .059|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|   7.0
 6  TUCK, Andrea........  2|  3   5  16 -.125|  0|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 7  SMITH, Rachel.......  3|  9   2  29  .241|  0|  0   2|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   9.5
 9  MAYTORENA, Sara.....  3|  4   2  19  .105|  0|  1   0|  2| 10| 0  2  0|  0|   6.0
 13 HEGGIE, Shelby......  3|  5   1  19  .211|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  0|   7.0
 2  WEYDERT, Michelle...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 8  BOOTH, Rachael......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 HELLBAUM, Angie.....  3|  7   3  23  .174|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   7.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 36  19 127  .134| 33|  1   4|  5| 39| 1  8  0|  2|  42.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  8  41  .122   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  7  48  .083   Wyoming Cowgirls.... (0) 18 20 23  13-13; 6-8 MWC
   3  12  4  38  .211   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  17-10; 9-5 MWC
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VARNER, April.......  3| 17   1  32  .500|  2|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|  17.0
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  3   2   8  .125| 48|  1   4|  0|  6| 1  4  0|  4|   7.0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3| 12   1  18  .611|  3|  2   0|  0| 12| 0  3  0|  0|  15.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3|  7   4  23  .130|  1|  1   1|  1| 11| 0  1  0|  0|   8.5
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3| 11   1  17  .588|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|  13.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  7   2  18  .278|  1|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  7  0|  0|  11.5
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  1|  3   3   7  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   3.5
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0| 14| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 60  14 123  .374| 55|  5   5|  1| 57| 2 18  0|  5|  76.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  1  35  .543   Site: BYU PROVO UT 84602 (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  19  7  48  .250   Date: Nov 13, 2004   Attend: 1030   Time: 1 H 30 M
   3  21  6  40  .375   Referees: JOHN MARTIN, BRUCE GRANT, KAREN MARSHALL
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       4   9   1    14
                        Lead changes     1   4   2     7