No. 20 Cougars Close Out Regular Season With Sweep

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The No. 20 BYU women's volleyball team recorded its 16th sweep of the year with a 30-15, 30-12, 30-22 win against the Air Force Academy Saturday in the last match of the regular season. The Cougars will look to take the momentum from the victory into the Mountain West Conference tournament starting Thursday.

"This was a very nice match for us to end our regular season with," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We're playing very well going into the MWC Tournament. We're focused and composed, and we know what we have to do next week to put ourselves in a position to do well in the NCAA Tournament."

The Air Force win came from a balanced effort by the Cougars as almost every player saw action at some point in the match. Bryn Porter and Rachel Dyer led the way with 11 kills apiece, while Kim Sorensen was not far behind with 10. As a team the Cougars posted a remarkable .438 hitting percentage for the match, one of the highest of the season, including an unheard-of .818 in the first game.

"This match was a great opportunity for us to play a lot of athletes and get everyone warmed up for next week," said Watson. "It's nice to know that our non-starters can come in and do a nice job for us when we need them to."

The MWC tournament will begin Thursday in Las Vegas hosted by UNNLV. The Cougars enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and will play the No. 7 seed San Diego State in their first match. BYU won both times the two teams met in the regular season with a four-game victory in San Diego and one of the team's 16 sweeps on the season in Provo.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
   #20 BYU Cougars vs Air Force Falcons (Nov 18, 2006 at USAF Academy, Colo.)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  BEAUMONT, Janvier...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  2|  4   1   7  .429|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  3| 11   2  24  .375|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  7   0   7 1.000|  1|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  3|  1   0   3  .333| 41|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 11   2  19  .474|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  1|  2   0   2 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Kim.......  3| 10   3  20  .350|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0
 8  VANDERSTEEN, Marisa.  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  2   0|  1| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 12 PARKER, Catherine...  1|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 49  10  89  .438| 44|  6   5|  2| 39| 1  8  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  0  22  .818   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  1  22  .500   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  24-4 (13-3 MWC)
   3  19  9  45  .222   Air Force Falcons... (0) 15 12 22  3-24 (0-16 MWC)
    Air Force Falcons      |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  BATCHELDER, Katie...  3|  9   4  20  .250|  0|  1   1|  2|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 5  BOOKER, Jocelyn.....  3|  3   3  10  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0
 9  STEWART, Kristina...  3|  7   6  24  .042|  1|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KALLABIS, Kim.......  3|  1   1   4  .000| 26|  0   3|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0
 15 PETTIE, Jasamine....  3|  4   5  17 -.059|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 21 HARRINGTON, Michelle  3|  4   2  17  .118|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 2  BINA, Ellen.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 7  DOLAN, Morgan.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 8  DUNN, Tara..........  2|  0   3   5 -.600|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 GERTON, Rebecca.....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  1   0|  4|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 22 SORBER, Hannah......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 28  24  98  .041| 28|  2   6|  6| 23| 0  4  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 2.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   9  6  27  .111   Site: USAF Academy, Colo. (Clune Arena)
   2   9 10  33 -.030   Date: Nov 18, 2006   Attend: 269   Time: 1:13
   3  10  8  38  .053   Referees: