No. 20 Cougars Down Utes

PROVO -- The fifth-largest crowd to ever watch a women's volleyball match in the Smith Fieldhouse had plenty to cheer about Wednesday as No. 20 BYU downed in-state rival Utah 24-30, 30-26, 30-24, and 30-25 on Elaine Michaelis Court.

With the win, BYU improves to 10-0 on the season and puts an end to Utah's 10-match winning streak against the Cougars dating back to 2001. BYU now leads the overall series 62-17. The victory gives BYU a 3-0 record in Mountain West Conference play, while Utah falls to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in the MWC.

The way the match started it didn't appear the 3,012 fans in attendance would see BYU maintain its unbeaten record. The Utes jumped out to a 9-4 advantage in game one and led by as many as seven points on three different occasions on their way to a 30-24 win. But just when it appeared BYU was about to suffer a second-straight setback in game two, the momentum of the match took a significant turn in the Cougars' favor.

BYU scored the first two points of the second game and was able to stay in front while building up a 23-19 advantage before Utah went on a 7-0 run to take a 26-23 lead. But the Cougars came roaring back with seven straight points to take the game, 30-26. During BYU's run, Lexi Brown Patterson, Erica Lott, Lauren Richards Evans and Lindsy Hartsock all scored, with the Cougars claiming the final two points on an Evans service ace and an emphatic, straight-down kill by Hartsock.

"We called a timeout in game two when they rallied to go up 26-23 and we said, 'that's enough, it's time for this streak to end,' and we all just rallied around that," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "A win like this helps confirm that we are on the right path in the way that we are playing and the attitude with which we approach matches."

The roar of the crowd picked up in game three as the Cougars never trailed while earning a 30-24 victory. Chelsea Goodman recorded five kills and Lott and Hartsock put down four apiece as the Cougars hit .333 and put up five blocks to help hold Utah to a .158 attack percentage.

BYU took a 12-6 lead in game four on the way to a 30-25 triumph and the 3-1 victory.

"This team has a lot of heart and determination," said Richards Evans, who recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 52 assists and 10 digs while adding a match-high three service aces.

Goodman put down a match-best 17 kills while adding a career-high 15 digs for her third-straight double-double outing. Lott contributed 16 kills and Hartsock 13 while libero Lindsey Evans had a match-high 20 digs.

"BYU played a nice match so I give them a ton of credit," Utah coach Beth Launiere said. "They stayed very composed after starting slow and got stronger as the match went on. They played solid all the way around."

Shelly Sommerfeldt led Utah with 16 kills while Lori Baird contributed 14 and Airial Salvo added 12 in a losing cause.

BYU will host new MWC-member TCU (10-4, 0-0 MWC) Friday at 7 p.m. The Utes will face the Horned Frogs on Saturday.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
           Utah vs Brigham Young Univ. (Sep 28, 2005 at Provo, Utah)
    Utah                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SOMMERFELDT, Shelly.  4| 16   8  45  .178|  0|  0   1|  0| 13| 1  1  0|  0|  17.5
 5  BAIRD, Lori.........  4| 14   5  26  .346|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 0  5  0|  0|  16.5
 9  LEICHLITER, Danielle  4|  8   5  23  .130|  0|  1   4|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  1|   9.0
 11 SALVO, Airial.......  4| 12   4  35  .229|  4|  0   3|  0| 15| 0  7  1|  0|  15.5
 12 KRUG, Shannon.......  4|  0   4   8 -.500| 44|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  1  1|  0|   0.5
 15 TOONE, Emillie......  3|  5   1   9  .444|  1|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 3  TINGEY, Amie........  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   1.5
 8  LOVELL, Kathryn.....  3|  5   1  12  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|   7.0
 16 ROBISON, Kate.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   5|  4|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 WEBB, Whitney.......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 19 PORTER, Karlie......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  7|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 60  29 161  .193| 57|  1  17|  5| 55| 2 20  2|  1|  73.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  5  28  .321   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  5  47  .277   Utah................ (1) 30 26 24 25  9-5, 1-2 MWC
   3  15  9  38  .158   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 24 30 30 30  10-0, 3-0 MWC
   4  13 10  48  .062
    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|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  4| 17  10  43  .163|  0|  0   2|  0| 15| 0  1  0|  0|  17.5
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  4|  3   1   8  .250| 52|  3   3|  0| 10| 1  4  0|  2|   9.0
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  4|  6   1  16  .312|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|   7.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  4| 16   5  38  .289|  0|  1   2|  1|  4| 2  3  0|  0|  20.5
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  4| 13   6  27  .259|  2|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  6  0|  0|  16.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  4|  6   4  16  .125|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0|   8.5
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0| 20| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 61  27 148  .230| 56|  5  15|  1| 59| 3 22  0|  2|  80.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  9  35  .171   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  16  5  39  .282   Date: Sep 28, 2005   Attend: 3012   Time: 2H 19M
   3  15  4  33  .333   Referees: John Martin, Annette Cottle, Karen Marshall
   4  15  9  41  .146