Five-Game Thriller Goes to CSU

PROVO -- Friday's BYU-Colorado State match in the Marriott Center was on-the-edge-of-your-seat excitement. Unfortunately for the host Cougars, it also proved to be only their second defeat of the season as they fell in a five-game thriller, 28-30, 23-30, 30-27, 30-28, 15-17.

Playing in the Marriott Center because of flooding to the Smith Fieldhouse last weekend, No. 16 BYU and reigning Mountain West Conference Champion Colorado State squared off in front of 3,507 fans, the fourth largest crowd to watch a BYU women's volleyball match and the second largest in the Marriott Center. It was a championship-like battle as CSU built a 2-0 lead before BYU evened the tally to set up a fifth-game showdown.

"This match was really a tale of two different games," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We didn't take care of any details in games one and two but played well in games three and four. We had chances in game five but just didn't get it done. It's very disappointing for our athletes who worked so hard to come back after getting down two games."

BYU's Rachel Dyer started the match putting down a game-best seven kills without an error to highlight a game-one offensive show that had BYU hitting .382 and the Rams hitting .349. BYU did not record a block during the game while Colorado State managed two team blocks as the Rams earned a 30-28 win. BYU trailed by only one point three different times during the game's final moments, but CSU was able to respond to each Cougar point in a game that had 12 ties and five lead changes.

The Rams kept up their offensive pace in the second game, boasting a .353 hitting percentage, while BYU cooled down with a .189 attack. With the game tied at 9-9, CSU put the Cougars on their heels with a 9-0 run. BYU responded with four straight points but would never catch CSU the rest of the game despite bringing the deficit to one at 22-21 on an Erica Lott kill. The Rams scored eight of the last 10 points to secure the 2-0 advantage at the break.

Do or die for the Cougars in game three, BYU responded with a gutty 30-27 victory. Trailing 9-5, BYU scored five straight points to regain the lead and was able to keep a slight advantage until a CSU service ace brought the Rams even at 20-20. A Lott kill sparked a 5-1 BYU rally to give the Cougars a multi-point cushion for the closing stretch. Leading 29-27, BYU pushed the match to a fourth game when CSU's Tess Rogers sent her kill attempt beyond the endline.

The Cougar block was impressive in the third game, helping hold the Rams to a .000 attack efficiency. BYU had 7.5 team blocks during the game, led by Lindsy Hartsock's five block assists and Lexi Brown Patterson's three shared blocks.

The noise and anxiety level of the large Cougar crowd grew in unison in the fourth game as the Cougars held on to force a decisive game five. Tied at 25-25, Goodman put down a kill followed by another BYU score on a slide set to Dyer. After a Ram hitting error, CSU scored three of the next four points to leave everyone on the edges of their seats with BYU at game point, 29-28. A long rally finally ended as Lauren Richards Evans pushed a two-handed attack to the back corner of the CSU court for the game-winner.

In the final game, BYU seemed to capture the momentum after a diving hustle play by Cougar defenders Annie Kemp and Janvier Beaumont saved a ball far beyond the endline. The Cougar attackers were then able to convert on the possession to give BYU a 5-4 edge and force a CSU timeout. BYU led 8-5 when the teams switched courts, but the Rams rallied with three straight points, including a controversial double-hit call, to even the score.

After BYU lost a 10-8 lead with two straight CSU points, it appeared the Rams would take the advantage when Beaumont's desperation third-hit save barely cleared the net and gave Ram middle blocker Dre Downs a clear shot for the kill. Downs, however, miss-hit the attempt to give BYU the point.

The score was tied at 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 before Colorado State got back-to-back kills for the 17-15 upset. The Rams' Tonya Mokelki recorded the winning point when Goodman's block of her rightside attack fell wide of the line.

Rogers led CSU with 24 kills while Downs added 17 and Mekana Barnes contributed 14. The Rams hit .194 for match compared to BYU's .256 attack percentage. BYU outside hitters Goodman and Lott paced the Cougars with 19 kills apiece while Dyer added 15 and a career-best .542 attack percentage with only two errors. Goodman contributed a career-high 19 digs and Hartsock added 10 blocks in the losing effort.

With the loss, BYU falls to 20-2 on the season and 11-2 in the MWC, while the Rams improve to 15-7 and 8-4. BYU will honor its seniors Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center when the Cougars host Wyoming in their final home match of the regular season.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU COUGARS
   Colorado State vs #16 Brigham Young Univ. (Nov 11, 2005 at BYU Provo, UT)
    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
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  FORNSTROM, Ashley...  5|  4   2  11  .182| 65|  2   4|  0|  6| 1  4  1|  1|   9.0
 3  BARNES, Mekana......  5| 14   7  36  .194|  0|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  6  0|  0|  17.0
 4  ROGERS, Tess........  5| 24  13  56  .196|  1|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0|  25.5
 8  BAUER, Casey........  5|  9   7  32  .062|  2|  0   2|  2| 11| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
 17 DOWNS, Dre..........  5| 17   6  38  .289|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  5  1|  0|  19.5
 18 PIEL,Amber..........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 1  STRAUSS, Jaime......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  MOKELKI, Tonya......  5|  9   4  23  .217|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  4  0|  0|  12.0
 9  WHITNEY, Katherine..  5|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  6   2|  1| 20| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 77  39 196  .194| 74|  9  12|  3| 61| 2 22  2|  1|  99.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  7  43  .349   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  4  34  .353   Colorado State...... (3) 30 30 27 28 17  15-7: 8-4 MWC
   3  14 14  42  .000   Brigham Young Univ.. (2) 28 23 30 30 15  20-2; 11-2 MWC
   4  17  7  47  .213
   5   8  7  30  .033
    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....  5| 19   7  44  .273|  1|  0   4|  3| 19| 0  2  0|  1|  20.0
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  5|  6   4  16  .125| 56|  0   4|  0|  8| 1  3  0|  4|   8.5
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  5|  5   3  17  .118|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  6  1|  0|   8.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 19   9  62  .161|  0|  1   2|  5|  8| 2  4  0|  0|  24.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  5|  6   0  13  .462|  2|  0   2|  0|  2| 0 10  0|  0|  11.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 15   2  24  .542|  3|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  18.0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0| 17| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 70  25 176  .256| 64|  3  14|  9| 65| 3 29  1|  5|  90.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  3  34  .382   Site: BYU Provo, UT (Marriott Center)
   2  15  8  37  .189   Date: Nov 11, 2005   Attend: 3507   Time: 2H 35M
   3  12  5  31  .226   Referees: CARLOS RODRIQUES, MAILE JEWKES, KAREN MARSHALL
   4  20  5  52  .288
   5   7  4  22  .136
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores      12   6   7   9   9    43
                        Lead changes     4   3   2   1   4    14