Cougars Clinch Conference Title

SAN -- No. 22 BYU clinched the Mountain West Conference Championship outright for the first time since 1999 Friday night by sweeping San Diego State 36-34, 30-26 and 30-26.

"Winning the title is something we haven't done in some time," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We feel that the hard work our athletes have done and the direction they have chosen to take this program has been justified. Credit should go to our athletes because they're the ones who have the magic."

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BYU started the match facing a relentless effort from San Diego State in the first game. The hard-fought game went back and forth before the Cougars finally took it 36-34, staving off several game points to tie their highest score since the inception of rally-point scoring in 2000. The following two games were smoother for the Cougars as they cruised to their 12th sweep of the season. Erica Lott led the way in the first game with nine kills while Lauren Richards Evans had 21 assists. The key in the Cougars' sweep though was their .379 hitting percentage with 11 blocks compared to a .236 hitting percentage with four and a half blocks for San Diego State. BYU is currently 18th in the nation in hitting percentage.

"Offensively, we did a wonderful job," said Watson. "We pass-served well, which allowed us to exploit some things. This was a great win leading up to the Mountain West Conference Tournament next week."

On this night of celebration, several Cougar players had other reasons to celebrate. Chelsea Goodman recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 16 kills and 11 digs behind a career-high .452 hitting percentage. Erica Lott also tied a career high with 22 kills while hitting .356. Lauren Evans added 48 assists while Rachel Dyer had seven blocks.

The victory improved BYU to 22-2 overall and 13-2 in the MWC. The Cougars will close out the regular season Saturday night at UNLV in a 7 p.m. start.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU COUGARS
   #22 Brigham Young Univ. vs SDSU AZTECS (Nov 18, 2005 at San Diego, Calif.)
    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....  3| 16   2  31  .452|  1|  0   2|  0| 11| 0  3  3|  0|  17.5
 5  EVANS, Lauren.......  3|  4   1   7  .429| 48|  2   3|  0|  5| 1  2  1|  2|   8.0
 9  PATTERSON, Lexi.....  3|  3   0   8  .375|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   4.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 22   6  45  .356|  0|  0   4|  0|  4| 0  1  2|  0|  22.5
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  3   1   9  .222|  1|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  0|   5.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  9   3  16  .375|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  7  1|  0|  12.5
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   3|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 KEMP, Annie.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  2|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 57  13 116  .379| 52|  2  15|  4| 34| 2 18  7|  2|  70.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  23  3  41  .488   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  7  37  .270   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 36 30 30  22-2, 13-2 MWC
   3  17  3  38  .368   SDSU AZTECS......... (0) 34 26 26  15-13, 7-8 MWC
    SDSU AZTECS            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6  CASTILLO, Kristen...  3|  2   0   3  .667| 24|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 8  MAHAN, Lindsey......  3|  4   3  13  .077|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 10 DENT, Audra.........  3| 11   3  21  .381|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  1|  0|  11.5
 11 GREENE, Melaine.....  3| 13   6  30  .233|  1|  0   2|  2|  8| 0  1  1|  0|  13.5
 12 NOLL, Lindsey.......  3|  5   3  16  .125|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 3  0  0|  0|   8.0
 23 MOLNAR, Brandice....  3| 13   5  30  .267|  0|  2   5|  0|  8| 0  0  1|  0|  15.0
 1  VERDENACCI, Angela..  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 2  LATHROP, Leah.......  3|  0   0   0  .000| 19|  0   2|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 3  BOWKER, Ashley......  1|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 5  CORDEIRO, Aime......  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  1|  2   4|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 9  STAPLEY, Melissa....  1|  3   1   5  .400|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   3.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 51  22 123  .236| 47|  4  14|  2| 37| 3  3  4|  0|  59.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  9  40  .300   Site: San Diego, Calif. (Peterson Gym)
   2  13  6  38  .184   Date: Nov 18, 2005   Attend: 382   Time: 1:38
   3  17  7  45  .222   Referees: Kim Pickering, Jesse Martinez