Cougars Begin With a Win

RENO -- In a night of firsts for several BYU players, the Cougars kept some traditions alive as they won their season-opener for the sixth straight year, defeating Nevada 3-2 (24-30, 30-20, 30-26, 23-30, 15-10) in Reno.

Three Cougars made their BYU debuts in the match as redshirt freshman Rachel Dyer and true freshman Janvier Beaumont took the court in a BYU uniform for the first time. Cougar head coach Jason Watson also took the floor for the first time as BYU's head coach after three seasons as a Cougar assistant.

"We wanted to open on the road in an environment that would challenge us, and Nevada certainly did that," said Watson. "I thought we were steady and poised on the road, which certainly helped us when things got tight. I'm proud of our team and what we were able to do on the road in a fairly difficult environment."

Sophomore Annie Kemp led the way for BYU on defense, recording a career-high 15 digs. Senior setter Lauren Richards Evans began the season with a double-double as she posted 44 assists and 14 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Erica Lott put up 18 kills while preseason MWC Co-Player of the Year Lindsy Hartsock added 11 along with five blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Goodman contributed a career-high 13 kills. Dyer recorded seven kills and four blocks and Beaumont added six digs in their respective BYU debuts.

"Rachel was steady tonight and made some great offensive plays for us," said Watson. Beaumont also helped us defensively. You wouldn't be able to tell she was a true freshman."

Kemp made the first start of her career, getting the nod at the libero spot. Dyer also started for the Cougars.

Nevada started the match on fire as the Wolf Pack took an early 15-4 lead in game one with the help of several Cougar hitting errors. BYU stormed back on an 12-2 run to cut the deficit to one, but would come no closer as Nevada went on to take game one 30-24. The Wolf Pack hit just .083 in the game, a credit to BYU's defense, but the Cougars could not take advantage as BYU hit -.050.

The first half of game two saw several lead changes as both teams fought to gain the advantage. With the game knotted at 11, Goodman put one away to give BYU the lead and spark a 10-3 run. The Cougars never looked back as they sailed to the 30-20 victory. BYU cut down the hitting errors from 12 in game one to just two in the second game and hit .216.

BYU had a rocky start to game three, falling behind by as many as five in the early stages of play, but the Cougars showed their resilience in roaring back to take an 18-17 lead and eventually winning the game 30-26.

Down two games to one, Nevada was not about to give up without a fight as the Wolf Pack stepped up its play in the fourth game. With a one-point lead at 14-13, Nevada ran off four quick points while BYU's hitting percentage plummeted. The Cougars tried to play catch-up but were unable to dent the Wolf Pack lead, falling 30-23.

Game five was a nail-biter as the two teams traded points nearly the entire way. With the Cougars leading 10-9, Goodman took over the game, recording two kills and two block assists in the last five points to lift BYU to a 15-10 game-five win.

With a 1-0 record, BYU now returns home for the BYU/UVSC Invitational on Sept. 1-2. The Cougars host Montana State Thursday night and Kansas Friday night in 7 p.m. starts. Live stats are available for both matches at the Cougars' homepage at www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
          Brigham Young Univ. vs Nevada (Aug 27, 2005 at Reno, Nevada)
    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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  5| 13   7  37  .162|  1|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  0
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  5|  2   2   6  .000| 44|  3   4|  0| 14| 0  5  1|  0
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  5|  5   2  23  .130|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 18   7  48  .229|  0|  2   2|  1|  4| 1  0  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5| 11   3  25  .320|  0|  2   3|  0|  2| 0  5  1|  1
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5|  7   7  22  .000|  3|  1   2|  0|  4| 0  4  1|  1
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   3|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 56  29 162  .167| 49|  9  16|  3| 57| 2 18  3|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  10 12  40 -.050   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  2  37  .216   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 24 30 30 23 15  1-0
   3  16  6  36  .278   Nevada.............. (2) 30 20 26 30 10  0-1
   4  11  7  31  .129
   5   9  2  18  .389
    Nevada                 |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Ericson, Teal.......  5| 11  11  43  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 6  Salave`a, Salaia....  5| 13  10  39  .077|  4|  1   3|  2| 10| 0  1  1|  0
 8  Johnson, Tristin....  5|  5   2   9  .333| 48|  0   2|  0| 11| 0  1  1|  2
 11 Davis, Brianne......  5|  6   3  11  .273|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  1|  0
 14 Holda, Lindsay......  5|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  1   1|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 24 Sorensen, Carly.....  5| 18   4  36  .389|  0|  0   6|  1|  0| 0  1  1|  0
 2  Hernandez, Allison..  5|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  1   2|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 5  Sipherd, Karly......  5| 10   5  29  .172|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 2  2  0|  0
 7  Aguilar, Carina.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Harms, Christine....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  1| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 20 Ryan, Erika.........  1|  0   2   2-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  4|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 64  37 171  .158| 57|  3  17|  9| 57| 2  6  4|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13 10  36  .083   Site: Reno, Nevada (Virginia Street Gym)
   2  13 11  40  .050   Date: Aug 27, 2005   Attend: 727   Time: 2:35
   3  14  6  41  .195   Referees: Kent Kitade, Kathy Rogers
   4  16  6  30  .333
   5   8  4  24  .167