Nail-Biter Sends BYU Into Semifinals

LAS -- In a classic nail-biter, the BYU women's volleyball team reversed its fortunes from a year ago with a five-game (33-35, 30-28, 28-30, 30-19, 16-14) victory over New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament Thursday. The Cougars (21-6) now advance to the semifinals where they second-seeded and tournament-host UNLV on Friday at 3:30 p.m. (PT) on The Mtn.

"Our athletes came into this match putting a lot of pressure on themselves after last year's quarterfinal loss," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "We had to battle that as well as a very good New Mexico team. We're just happy to be able to keep playing."

For just the third time this season, five Cougars recorded double-digit kills led by 21 from senior Chelsea Goodman. The three-time All-MWC selection also posted her 54th career double-double with 11 digs, one of four BYU players to tally double-doubles in the match. Erica Lott (18 kills, 12 digs), Bryn Porter (12 kills, 13 digs) and Amy Schlauder (63 assists, 14 digs) also notched double-doubles while Ashton Hansen recorded a career-high 15 kills to go along with nine blocks. Rachel Dyer posted 14 kills in the match.

After playing catch up early in game one, the Cougars responded with a 4-1 run to tie things up at 13-13 on back-to-back kills from Porter and Lott, and the fight was on. Neither team was able to lead by more than one point until Porter found the back corner to put BYU up 20-18. New Mexico quickly regained the lead at 22-21, but Porter once again came up big with two kills and a block to put the Cougars on top 25-22. The Lobos weren't done, though, as they scored six of the next eight to retake the lead at 28-27. Goodman put down kills on three of the next four balls to give the Cougars two chances to finish the Lobos off, but the game continued past the 30-point mark as neither team could come up with the answer. Finally, after four chances for the Cougars, New Mexico put up a block on its third game-point opportunity to take the first game, 35-33.

The Cougars came out strong in game two as Schlauder recorded the first Cougar ace of the match during a 6-0 start. New Mexico finally got on the scoreboard with three straight scores, but BYU continued to dominate, running up a 10-point lead at 22-12. However, the Lobos turned the momentum in their favor with a 5-0 run to cut the lead in half. As the game inched closer to the end, New Mexico continued to pressure, getting within one point at 28-27. However, BYU got the scores it needed to close out the game, 30-28, on a block by Lott and Hansen.

An early 5-3 Cougar lead in game three quickly turned into a 9-6 Lobo advantage as New Mexico went on a 6-1 run. BYU finally retook the lead at 17-16 on a kill from Goodman, but the Lobos came right back to go up 22-19. Despite a close ending and four kills from Hansen, New Mexico pulled it out 30-28 to go up two games to one in the match.

Game four was a battle early on until the Cougars opened up a 14-9 lead with a 5-1 run. The advantage grew to eight points at 21-13 as the BYU offense worked fast and hard. The Cougars were relentless on both sides of the ball while cruising to an emphatic 30-19 game-four victory. Goodman posted six kills in the game while Hansen tallied four blocks and four winners on six swings.

With one game to 15 points left for all the marbles, the Cougars found themselves trailing 5-3 early. However, after a BYU timeout, Porter and Dyer put down back-to-back winners followed by a Lobo hitting error to give the Cougars a 6-5 lead. The advantage grew to 10-7 until the Lobos scored six of the next seven to go up 13-11. BYU responded with two straight scores to tie things up at 13-13 before Lott put down a kill through the block to cap a 3-0 run and give the Cougars a match-point chance at 14-13. New Mexico saved the point with a kill down the line but sent the next ball long to give BYU another chance to seal the match. The Cougars made good on this one as Porter put up a block to give BYU the 16-14 win.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                Wyoming vs. BYU
            New Mexico vs BYU Cougars (11-22-07 at Las Vegas, Nev.)
    New Mexico             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  MEETER, Lisa........  5| 20  12  58  .138|  1|  3   5|  2|  7| 0  1  0|  0|  23.5
 4  KWASIGROCH, Sarah...  5|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  4   2|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 7  MICHAELSEN, Jade....  5|  4   1  13  .231| 50|  1   1|  1|  5| 0  5  2|  2|   7.5
 9  SUITER, Allie.......  2|  1   1   4  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 13 PHILLIPS, Kelsi.....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 BECK, Kerri.........  5| 11   4  19  .368|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 4  5  0|  0|  17.5
 1  TRIPP, Gayle........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  5   3|  2| 26| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 3  MIDDLETON, Melissa..  2|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 6  MORRIS, Rose........  5| 12   4  35  .229|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  1|  0|  13.0
 8  CRAWLEY, Kat........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 FAIRCHILD, Jeanne...  5| 10   7  37  .081|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 14 LEHNE, Anna.........  3|  3   3  12  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  1|  0|   4.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 62  32 181  .166| 58| 13  15|  7| 60| 4 20  4|  2|  89.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  5  42  .190   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13 10  37  .081   New Mexico.......... (2) 35 28 30 19 14  16-13
   3  17  5  44  .273   BYU Cougars......... (3) 33 30 28 30 16  21-6
   4  14  7  37  .189
   5   5  5  21  .000
    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....  5| 21  10  56  .196|  0|  2   6|  0| 11| 0  3  1|  0|  24.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  5| 15   6  25  .360|  2|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  9  0|  1|  19.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 18   7  42  .262|  2|  0   4|  2| 12| 1  5  0|  0|  21.5
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  5| 12   4  30  .267|  0|  1   2|  3| 13| 1  4  0|  0|  16.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  5|  1   1   4  .000| 63|  3   0|  0| 14| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 14   5  22  .409|  2|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  5  1|  0|  16.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   3|  7| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 81  33 179  .268| 71|  7  15| 13| 71| 2 28  2|  1| 104.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22 11  50  .220   Site: Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
   2  13  7  30  .200   Date: 11-22-07       Attend:     Time: 2h 45m
   3  19  9  44  .227   Referees: Glen Sapp, Patsi Malta, Penny Edmond
   4  18  3  36  .417
   5   9  3  19  .316