Sweep Secures Tournament Title

Goodman Named MVP of Molten Classic; Lott and Dyer Named All-Tournament

PROVO -- The No. 15 BYU women's volleyball team completed the weekend in style with a sweep of Northern Iowa, 30-27, 30-26, 30-18 Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. The victory, along with Cougar wins over American and No. 10 Wisconsin, allowed BYU to defend its Molten Classic title with a 3-0 record in the two-day event.

"Each match we have played this season has challenged us to raise our level," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "These kinds of matches are important for what we want to be able to accomplish throughout the season."

Tournament MVP Chelsea Goodman continued to work her magic for the Cougars as she posted match highs of 15 kills and 16 digs while tying her personal best with six blocks. She was joined on the All-Tournament team by Rachel Dyer, who tallied 11 kills on .526 hitting against the Panthers to go along with six rejections, and Erica Lott. NIU's Danielle Brazda, another All-Tournament honoree, paced the Panthers with 11 kills.

"This was a great tournament for us," said Goodman. "We got to play some really nice teams. This match took a lot of energy since we were so tired. It's important for us to play these kinds of matches so we're ready for the NCAA Tournament and playing back-to-back matches against some very nice teams."

BYU posted a .330 hitting percentage on the night while holding UNI to a .195 mark. The Cougars also held a 13-10 block advantage and a 50-47 kill margin.

After an emotional five-game victory Friday night over the 10th-ranked Badgers and an earlier match Saturday against the Eagles, BYU struggled to find its rhythm early in game one. However, after an 11-6 Panther lead, the Cougars came to life, scoring seven of the next eight to go up 13-12.

Both teams put together scoring runs from there but neither was able to capitalize on the momentum, resulting in a 21-21 tie. The trend continued as the two squads neared the 30-point mark until an emphatic kill straight down the middle from Hansen and a Panther hitting error gave BYU the 30-27 win.

"Our ability to turn things around in a game is a credit to our team," said Watson. "We do a nice job of competing over time. It's not a matter of being down. The next play is always the most important."

Despite the near-miss in game one, Northern Iowa came out firing in the second frame, keeping the Cougars playing catch-up through the first half. Back-to-back kills from Goodman brought the fans to their feet and tied things up at 13-13 before Bryn Porter put down consecutive cross-court kills of her own to give BYU its first lead of the game at 17-16. The Panthers battled back to a 21-21 tie, but a 5-0 Cougar scoring spurt gave BYU a lead it would not relinquish en route to the 30-26 victory.

The Cougars sensed victory in game three and responded accordingly with an early 8-4 lead. It was all BYU from there with a resounding 30-18 game-three win on the strength of a 12-4 run to close out the match. The BYU block did the talking in the third frame as the Cougars put up five rejections, including three in a five-point span and five from Dyer, while holding UNI to a .083 hitting percentage.

BYU, now 5-0 on the season, will compete in the Stanford Invitational this Thursday, Friday and Saturday hosted by the No. 2 Cardinal. All three of the Cougars' matches will be available on BYU Radio. More information can be found by going to the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

Wisconsin Sweeps American to Close Out Tournament

The No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers completed a Saturday sweep with a 30-21, 30-23, 30-20 win over American to close out the BYU Molten Classic. UW also swept Northern Iowa earlier in the day after falling to the host Cougars on Friday night, finishing the tournament 2-1.

American's Rubena Sukaj recorded a match-high 13 kills while Wisconsin's Morgan Salow and Audra Jeffers also posted double-digit winners with 11 apiece. The Badgers' Jocelyn Pack paced both teams with 12 digs. On the night, Wisconsin tallied a .353 hitting percentage while holding the Eagles to a .165 mark and notching a slight 11.0-10.5 blocking edge.

Game one saw the Badgers jump out to an early 8-5 lead before a 7-1 Eagle run featuring two service aces from senior Tara Stradling reversed the deficit at 12-9. But Wisconsin stormed back with nine straight points to take an 18-12 lead thanks in part to five Eagle hitting errors. American's Rubena Sukaj finally got the side-out for her team with a kill down the line but the damage was done as Wisconsin cruised to game point at 29-16. American held the Badgers at bay for the next five points but finally succumbed at 30-21 on a kill from Caity DuPont.

The second game was a battle early on until Wisconsin once again proved its dominance with a 6-0 scoring run that gave the Badgers the lead for good. The Eagles fought back to within three at 23-20, but Wisconsin responded with some fight of its own to post a 30-23 win. Game three was a replica of the second frame as an 8-8 tied became a commanding 16-8 Badger lead from which the Eagles could not recover. DuPont and Jeffers added five kills each while leading Wisconsin to the 30-20 win.

Wisconsin setter Jackie Simpson and outside hitter Brittney Dolgner were both named to the BYU Molten Classic All-Tournament team.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
         Northern Iowa vs #15 BYU Cougars (Sep 01, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Northern Iowa          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Belzung, Kristin....  3|  8   3  16  .312| 30|  1   2|  0|  9| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
 4  Stelken, Ashten.....  3|  8   5  22  .136|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  3  1|  0|  10.5
 8  Rowen, Laura........  3|  8   4  23  .174|  2|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0|   8.5
 14 Aschoff, Shannon....  3|  5   5  18  .000|  3|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0|   7.0
 18 Brazda, Danielle....  3| 11   5  24  .250|  0|  1   4|  0|  1| 0  6  0|  0|  15.0
 19 Schmitz, Melissa....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 1  Blankenship, Ellie..  3|  0   0   1  .000|  5|  0   3|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Bakker, Brittany....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  3|  2| 0  0  0|  1|   0.0
 9  Grunder, Kayla......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Sampson, Amy........  3|  7   1  18  .333|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  1|  0|   7.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  23 123  .195| 42|  2  11|  4| 41| 1 18  2|  2|  59.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  9  45  .156   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  20  6  42  .333   Northern Iowa....... (0) 27 26 18  3-3
   3  11  8  36  .083   BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30  5-0
    BYU Cougars            |     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| 15   5  31  .323|  1|  2   2|  0| 16| 1  5  0|  0|  20.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  3|  9   0  12  .750|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0|  11.5
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  3|  1   0   4  .250| 39|  1   0|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  9   6  25  .120|  1|  1   2|  0|  9| 0  2  2|  0|  11.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  3|  5   2  18  .167|  1|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0|   5.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  3| 11   1  19  .526|  1|  0   2|  0|  0| 2  4  0|  0|  15.0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 50  14 109  .330| 45|  4   7|  2| 48| 3 20  2|  0|  67.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  8  45  .200   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  18  3  34  .441   Date: Sep 01, 2007   Attend: 906   Time: 1h 31m
   3  15  3  30  .400   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Maile Jewkes, Ryan Mortensen