Cougars' Title Hopes Dashed

FORT COLLINS -- BYU's Mountain West Conference title hopes were dashed Friday afternoon in a four-game semifinal loss to tournament host and second seed Colorado State. The 30-19, 22-30, 17-30, 25-30 defeat leaves the Cougars at 18-11 overall for the year and hoping for an at-large NCAA tournament invitation.

"We did our best, but came up short tonight," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "Colorado State played very well and is a good team. I'm disappointed in the loss but not in the heart this team has shown. We had a high level of play with good teamwork and chemistry. We just didn't get it done."

BYU came out of the locker room fired up and ready to take on the No. 8 Rams, whom the Cougars took to the wire last Friday night in Provo, falling in five tight games. BYU controlled game one the entire way, dominating Colorado State with 7.5 blocks while holding the Rams to -.056 hitting enroute to the 30-19 victory.

But starting with a service error on the first point of game two, the Cougars could not find their rhythm as the Rams improved their serving and passing and began stifling BYU on both sides of the ball. While still owning the overall blocking advantage for the match, the Cougars posted only nine blocks in the second, third and fourth games while the Rams recorded 15. Colorado State's offensive production also improved as the Rams hit over .300 in each of the last three games while the Cougars hit .229, .000 and .133 respectively.

Perhaps the biggest difference came in the digs category. While BYU outdug the Rams by 16 in last week's nail-biter, CSU was all over the floor in the semifinal match and seemed to dig every ball the Cougars sent over the net, ending up with a 13-dig advantage.

All-MWC sophomore Lindsy Hartsock led BYU with 12 kills while combining with All-MWC senior Lindsey Metcalf for a match-leading nine blocks apiece. Lindsey Evans led the defense for the Cougars with 15 digs while senior April Varner and All-MWC junior Kim Wilson each recorded 11.

Several Cougars also achieved milestones in the MWC tournament as Erica Lott recorded her 300th career kill, Hartsock posted her 400th career kill and 300th career block, Wilson notched her 300th kill for the season and Varner picked up her 500th career dig. With 44 assists in the match, All-MWC setter Lauren Richards reached 2,711 career assists, moving her into sixth place all-time at BYU.

The Cougars now return home for their final match against Eastern Washington on Friday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

"This team has really come together," Lamb said. "We still have another match to play and then we'll see what happens."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
    Brigham Young vs #8 Colorado State (Nov 19, 2004 at Fort Collins, Colo.)
    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.......  4|  7   5  27  .074|  0|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  1  0|  0|   7.5
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  4|  3   0   9  .333| 44|  2   1|  0|  3| 1  3  0|  1|   7.5
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4|  2   5  17 -.176|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  9  1|  0|   6.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  4|  9   6  35  .086|  3|  0   2|  0| 11| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  4|  9   5  20  .200|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  6  0|  0|  12.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4| 12   2  24  .417|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  9  0|  0|  16.5
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 2  KIHOLM, Mandi.......  2|  2   2   6  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  8   3  20  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   8.0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 POWELL, Stacie......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 52  29 161  .143| 48|  2   5|  2| 57| 1 31  1|  1|  70.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  4  36  .250   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  6  35  .229   Brigham Young....... (1) 30 22 17 25  18-11
   3  12 12  45  .000   Colorado State...... (3) 19 30 30 30  24-3
   4  13  7  45  .133
    Colorado State         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  ROGERS, Tess........  4| 14  13  44  .023|  0|  0   1|  0| 10| 2  0  0|  0|  16.0
 9  COURTNEY, Melissa...  4|  6   0  10  .600| 57|  0   1|  0| 11| 1  0  0|  1|   7.0
 10 SARAUER, Becky......  4| 15  10  45  .111|  0|  1   1|  0|  6| 1  2  0|  0|  18.0
 11 SHIRLEY-CAHOON,Katie  4| 13   2  26  .423|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  0|  14.0
 15 FRECH, Bri..........  4| 12   1  19  .579|  2|  1   1|  1| 13| 1  5  0|  1|  16.5
 17 DOWNS, Dre..........  4| 11   4  25  .280|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 3  5  0|  0|  16.5
 1  WHITNEY, Katherine..  4|  0   0   1  .000|  3|  0   3|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 16 KARLIK, Kristen.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  30 170  .241| 66|  2   8|  2| 70| 8 14  0|  2|  88.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11 13  36 -.056   Site: Fort Collins, Colo. (Moby Arena)
   2  19  7  39  .308   Date: Nov 19, 2004   Attend: 910   Time: 2:09
   3  18  3  42  .357   Referees: Verna Klubnikin, Patsy Malta
   4  23  7  53  .302   ID-316322
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       3   7   1   0    11
                        Lead changes     1   3   2   1     7