Home Sweet Home For BYU Volleyball

PROVO -- After playing on the road over the last two weeks, the BYU women's volleyball team will return home this weekend as the Cougars host Air Force on Friday and Wyoming on Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. At 13-6 overall and 5-4 in the Mountain West Conference, BYU will be looking to get on a roll heading into the crucial month of November.

"November is a very important month for us so we want to play well this weekend and hopefully get some momentum on our side," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "It will be nice to be back in the Fieldhouse. We have some of the best fans in the country and look forward to playing in a fun atmosphere."

The Cougars have played just seven matches at home this season, going 5-2 in those contests, while posting an 8-4 mark in 12 matches away from Provo, Utah. BYU is coming off a loss at league-leader and No. 21 Colorado State last Thursday.

Senior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman continues to play a large role in the Cougars' success as she ranks among the top 10 in the MWC in kills, points and digs. She broke the league's career double-double record with 20 kills and 16 digs at CSU, marking her 48th career double-double. Junior middle blocker Rachel Dyer has also been a consistent contributor for BYU as she ranks seventh in the nation inn hitting percentage.

BYU will begin the weekend with a contest Friday night at 7 p.m. against Air Force, whom the Cougars swept earlier this season. The Falcons are 7-17 so far this year and 0-10 in the Mountain West Conference. Air Force began the year winning four of its first six matches to tie the second-best start in school history. With seven victories this year, the Falcons have more than doubled their win total from last year (3-25). Air Force is led by sophomore outside hitter Katie Batchelder with 2.78 kills and 2.49 digs per game.

The weekend will conclude with a match against Wyoming Saturday at 7 p.m., another one of BYU's eight three-game wins this year. The Cowgirls are 10-9 so far this year including a 4-6 mark in the Mountain West Conference coming off back-to-back wins against New Mexico and TCU. The Cowgirls are led by senior outside hitter Rachel Smith, who ranks second in the league with 4.60 kills per game while adding 2.44 digs per contest.

Both matches will be available live via GameTracker, and the Cougar-Falcon matchup will be streamed live over the Internet on BYU All-Access. Links for both can be found by going to the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.