No. 17 BYU Falls at No. 9 Utah

SALT LAKE -- In a match filled with energy, excitement and long scoring runs, No. 17 BYU couldn't overcome No. 9 Utah on Crimson Court Friday, losing to the host Utes 24-30, 26-30, 27-30.

"I think this match came down to our ability to defend the first ball," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "When our serve-receive was on, we stayed in system and were able to exploit some things. We just didn't do a very good job on the first ball."

The battle between the in-state rivals and Mountain West Conference powers was played out in front of 1,100 screaming fans from both schools. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 19-3 on the year and 9-2 in the MWC while Utah improves to 20-2 and 11-0 in conference.

BYU was led by Chelsea Goodman's 18 kills while Erica Lott added 11. Annie Pinegar came up with 15 digs for the Cougars and Jenna Judkins contributed 11.

"We really got a lot from Chelsea Goodman and Jenna Judkins," Watson said. "Goodman came up big for us in tough situations, and Jenna did a very nice job defensively. Her ability to dig some balls got us into it in the third game."

The first game started out close until Utah went on an 8-0 run to build a 16-7 advantage. The Cougars fought back to within six points twice before the Utes rolled off eight of the next nine points to earn their first game-point opportunity at 29-16.

BYU, however, was not about to surrender the game as a Lott kill started an 8-0 Cougar run that reduced the deficit to five at 29-24. Judkins, who Watson earlier subbed into the game to improve his team's serve-receive and passing, recorded BYU's only ace of the game during the run while keeping Utah off balance from the service line. It wasn't until a Judkins' serve fell beyond the endline that the Utes walked away with the game.

Goodman put down five kills in game one without an error to hit .455, while Emillie Toone was the dominant attacker for the Utes in the first game with six kills and only one error.

The second game played out in similar fashion as Utah gained the momentum with an 8-0 run that turned an 11-9 BYU lead into a six-point Ute advantage. BYU then cut the deficit to five at 21-16 before Utah pushed its margin to nine at 26-17. The Cougars recorded nine of the next 12 scores to cut the lead to three at 29-26, but Utah received the winning point on an over call on the BYU block that required an officials conference to make sure the call was correct.

Utah took early control of the third game with a 6-1 start on the way to a 17-11 lead. But the Cougars responded with eight straight points during an 11-1 scoring run to build a 22-18 lead. The run was full of exciting plays that brought the many BYU fans in attendance to their feet. BYU claimed the lead at 18-17 after a long rally that had nearly every player on the floor keeping the ball alive before Lindsy Hartsock put down the kill. The next point, the eighth straight in the run, came after BYU defensive specialist Janvier Beaumont kicked in desperation to keep the ball off the floor, sending it to the Utah side of the net before the Utes hit it wide.

After a Utah score, Goodman provided the next three points to give BYU the four-point lead. Goodman used the block on an attack and then had her tip find the court before putting up a solo block to stop a Ute attempt.

Unfortunately for BYU, the Utes had another big run in their bag, outscoring the Cougars 12-5 on the strength of a 7-1 spurt to seal the 30-27 game-three win.

Utah was led by Airial Salvo's 14 kills, while Whitney Webb contributed 13 and Toone added 11. Utah hit .267 on the night while BYU attacked at a .197 clip.

BYU stays on the road for its next conference match at New Mexico on Nov. 3.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
     #17 BYU Cougars vs #9 Utah Utes (Oct 27, 2006 at Salt Lake City, UTAH)
    BYU Cougars            |     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....  3| 18   2  43  .372|  0|  1   1|  1|  7| 1  0  1|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  3|  7   7  35  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3| 11   7  25  .160|  1|  1   1|  4|  1| 0  0  1|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  4   2  10  .200|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  3|  2   1   7  .143| 38|  0   0|  1|  9| 1  3  0|  2
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  6   2  14  .286|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  1|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   3  .000|  1|  0   0|  2| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 16 LAU, Stephanie......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 48  21 137  .197| 42|  3   3|  9| 48| 4  6  3|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  8  44  .136   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  5  45  .267   BYU Cougars......... (0) 24 26 27  19-3, 9-2 MWC
   3  17  8  48  .188   Utah Utes........... (3) 30 30 30  20-2, 11-0 MWC
    Utah Utes              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  ANDERSON, Sydney....  3|  3   0   9  .333| 46|  3   1|  0|  9| 0  2  2|  1
 5  BAIRD, Lori.........  3|  6   4  15  .133|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  1  0|  0
 11 SALVO, Airial.......  3| 14   2  27  .444|  0|  6   2|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  0
 15 TOONE, Emillie......  3| 11   3  24  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  7  0|  0
 16 ROBISON, Kate.......  3|  1   1   3  .000|  1|  0   2|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 17 WEBB, Whitney.......  3| 13   3  24  .417|  2|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  5  0|  0
 8  LOVELL, Kathryn.....  3|  6   6  29  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 14 DANGERFIELD, Connie.  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 18 LAVARIAS, Lacey.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  19 131  .267| 50|  9   6|  3| 48| 2 17  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  44  .227   Site: Salt Lake City, UTAH (Crimson Court)
   2  19  6  41  .317   Date: Oct 27, 2006   Attend: 1100   Time: 1:37
   3  19  7  46  .261   Referees: Kim Pickering, Maile Jewkes, Quinette Dunn
                        ID-447368