No. 21 Cougars Sweep in Final Home Match

PROVO -- In a match fraught with emotion for two of BYU's best, the No. 21 Cougar women's volleyball team defeated Wyoming, 30-21, 30-27, 30-22, Saturday in BYU's final home match of the year. A crowd of 1,748 was on hand to say good-bye to seniors Lindsy Hartsock and Kim Sorensen as both played their final matches in the Smith Fieldhouse.

"These nights are always very emotional," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "It's a situation where we want to be so good for our seniors on their last night that it makes the actual match difficult. Defensively, we were very, very good. Offensively, we were good when we needed to be."

For the 15th time this season, Chelsea Goodman led BYU in kills with 20 on a career-high .531 hitting percentage. Rachel Dyer pounded out a career-high 12 blocks, helping BYU post 17 on the night, and Annie Pinegar paced the Cougars with 20 digs. Hartsock finished with four kills and five blocks while Sorensen posted five kills, four digs and four blocks.

"Kim and Lindsy represent the first class I have seen enter and graduate so for me personally, this was an incredibly special night," Watson said. "These two student-athletes represent more than just good volleyball players. They represent everything good about student-athletes at BYU. We couldn't ask for better representatives of this institution."

"Playing volleyball here at BYU has changed my life," said Hartsock, a 2005 All-American. "Going through the trials we have has made us stronger as a team. This has just been an incredibly special experience."

The match began with a long rally that ended when Hartsock and Erica Lott combined for a block on the rightside, a play that would end up being a theme of game one as the pair combined for three blocks. Three points later, with the score tied at 2-2, Sorensen wowed the home crowd with a stinger from the left. But the Cowgirls weren't about to let the emotion of the night get to them as they rolled out to an 8-5 lead.

After three straight Wyoming hitting errors knotted the score at 8-8, the Cougars fell behind again at 12-9 but mounted a 5-1 run to take their first lead of the game at 14-13 on a kill from Lott. It was a lead BYU would never relinquish as the Cougars closed out the game 30-21 on the strength of eight team blocks.

Hartsock and Lott hooked up two more times in the first three points of game two as the Cougars took a 3-0 lead out of the gate. Wyoming stormed back and came within one point of BYU at 6-5 and, although they couldn't take the lead at that point, continued fighting and finally got the advantage at 16-15. However, a 6-1 BYU run turned the tide and the score, 21-17, in the Cougars' favor. The momentum swing proved to be enough as BYU took the game 30-27.

Goodman recorded her 10th kill of the match after a long rally to begin game three, but with their backs against the wall, the Cowgirls responded with three straight points to take an early 3-1 lead. After BYU tied the game up, a battle ensued between the two teams as neither was able to fully take control and each responded to the other's challenge. However, holding a slim 9-8 lead, the Cougars came alive with five straight points to go up 14-8. Goodman continued to rock with 10 more kills in the game as BYU built a lead that would prove insurmountable for the Cowgirls, cruising to the 30-22 win.

The Cougars will conclude the regular season next week as they travel to face Colorado State on Friday night and Air Force on Saturday night. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. and can be followed via live stats or live video.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
   Wyoming Cowgirls vs #21 BYU Cougars (Nov 11, 2006 at SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU)
    Wyoming Cowgirls       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  MEYERS, Annie.......  3|  8   8  39  .000|  2|  1   0|  2| 10| 0  0  1|  0
 5  SEELE, Andrea.......  3|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SMITH, Rachel.......  3| 11  11  45  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 9  WEISHAHN, Tasha.....  3|  3   1   5  .400| 34|  1   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  1
 11 LEE, Carissa........  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   3|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 15 SCOTT, Lauren.......  3|  8   2  14  .429|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 2  WEYDERT, Michelle...  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  KAGARISE, Jessica...  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 KENT, Nicki.........  3|  1   2   8 -.125|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 16 ELEY, Samantha......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  1   1|  0| 16| 0  0  0|  0
 17 SRAJER, Jess........  3|  7   7  20  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  34 143  .056| 38|  4   8|  2| 47| 0  2  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 1.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  11 13  50 -.040   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18 12  50  .120   Wyoming Cowgirls.... (0) 21 27 22  11-14; 5-9; MWC
   3  13  9  43  .093   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  22-4; 11-3; MWC
    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| 20   3  32  .531|  0|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  9   4  30  .167|  0|  2   1|  2|  8| 0  9  2|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  4   2  16  .125|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  3|  1   0   1 1.000| 40|  0   1|  1|  5| 0  2  1|  0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3|  7   2  15  .333|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 1 11  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  3|  5   3  25  .080|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  4  0|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0| 20| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 46  15 120  .258| 41|  2   9|  4| 49| 1 32  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  4  38  .263   Site: SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU (ELAINE MICHAELIS)
   2  14  6  35  .229   Date: Nov 11, 2006   Attend: 1748   Time: 1H 36M
   3  18  5  47  .277   Referees: VERNA KLUBNIKIN, TOM GIVEN, KAREN MARSHALL