Tough Night For BYU

LAS -- In the classic battle volleyball fans were expecting, BYU's Mountain West Conference Tournament title hopes came to an end in a five-game (35-33, 22-30, 31-29, 24-30, 16-14) loss at second-seeded UNLV on Friday night. The Cougars will now hope for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament when selections are announced Sunday at 6 p.m. MT on ESPNU.

Senior Chelsea Goodman led the Cougars with 22 kills while Ashton Hansen posted a career high with 18, Bryn Porter tallied 16, Rachel Dyer contributed 16 and Erica Lott added 12. Three Cougars topped the 20-dig mark for the first time this season as Pinegar recorded 31, tying for the fifth-most in program history, Goodman notched a season-high 26 and Lott contributed a career-best 21. BYU recorded 100 team digs, the third-most by a Cougar team since the beginning of rally-scoring in 2001.

After an early 3-1 UNLV lead in game one, the Cougars took the lead at 6-5 and managed to stay one step ahead to a 10-8 advantage. However, on a platy that resulted in a kill from Goodman, Lott went down with a twisted ankle and came out of the match. The Rebels scored back-to-back points as BYU adjusted to the new line-up, but the Cougars quickly rallied to push the lead to 13-10. Trailing 17-14 and with Lott still on the sidelines, UNLV made its move, scoring five straight to regain the lead at 19-17.

Lott re-entered the match for BYU, but the momentum stayed in the Rebels' favor to game point at 29-27. But Porter and Hansen responded with back-to-back kills to tie the game at 29-29. After a long rally, Dyer put up a block to give BYU a game-point opportunity, but the Rebels evened it up with a cross-court kill. The game see-sawed from there with chances for both sides to close it out until BYU finally did with a kill from Dyer and a Rebel hitting error to take game one 35-33.

The Rebels came out strong in game two, scoring the first four points before Hansen got BYU on the scoreboard with a kill down the middle. The UNLV lead grew to 10 points at 18-8 as the Cougars struggled to turn balls in transition and had no answer for the Rebel attack. Trailing 25-13, BYU began to find a groove, scoring nine of the final 14 points, but the early hole proved too much for the Cougars to overcome as they fell 30-22.

Game three was a battle early on until UNLV scored three straight to take a 12-9 lead. The advantage grew to 16-12 before BYU went on a 4-0 spurt including two kills from Goodman to tie the game. Moments later, Dyer gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with back-to-back kills to put BYU up 20-18 and prompt a UNLV timeout. The Rebels scored seven of the next nine to go up 25-23, but the Cougars refused to do down without a fight as BYU put together a 6-1 run of its own to get to game point at 29-26. UNLV fought off all three game-enders to tie the score at 29-29 before Porter finally put down the game-winner to give BYU a 31-29 win.

The Cougars jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game four, but the Rebels quickly responded to tie the game at 5-5 and renew the battle. Hansen set her career high in kills on the next ball with a winner down the middle, the first of three straight Cougar scores to put them up 8-5. The lead stretched to 14-10 until a 3-0 Rebel run gave them a chance to tie at 14-13. Lott put down a winner for BYU to stave off UNLV on the next ball, but the Rebels managed to take the lead at 19-18 after a 5-1 run and set up a fight to the finish. The Cougars scored the next two but suddenly found themselves trailing 25-20 after a 6-0 Rebel run. Facing elimination on its home floor, UNLV finished strong to post a 30-24 win and force a fifth game.

For the second time in as many days, the Cougars faced a game-five race to 15 points to decide their fate. With momentum being a key factor in game-five situations, the Rebels went up early at 3-1 and 5-3. However, back-to-back kills from Goodman put the Cougars in front 6-5. But after scoring five of the next six, the Rebels held a 10-7 lead as the match inched to a close. Trailing 14-11, the Cougars fought off two match points with back-to-back blocks and a Porter kill but fell 16-14 on a net call.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                Wyoming vs. BYU
                BYU Cougars vs UNLV (Nov 23 at Las Vegas, Nev.)
    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| 22   8  64  .219|  0|  0   2|  1| 26| 0  2  0|  0|  23.0
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  5| 18   2  28  .571|  4|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  6  1|  0|  21.0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 12   6  36  .167|  0|  2   3|  4| 21| 0  5  0|  0|  16.5
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  5| 16   5  57  .193|  3|  1   1|  6|  5| 0  4  0|  0|  19.0
 15 SCHLAUDER, Amy......  5|  0   0   3  .000| 69|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  1  0|  2|   0.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 16   5  35  .314|  3|  0   1|  0|  5| 2  6  1|  0|  21.0
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1| 32| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 PARKER, Catherine...  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  1|  0|   0.5
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 84  26 224  .259| 80|  3   7| 12|101| 2 25  3|  2| 101.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  6  48  .292   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  8  53  .151   BYU Cougars......... (2) 35 22 31 24 14  21-7
   3  21  4  46  .370   UNLV................ (3) 33 30 29 30 16  23-5
   4  17  5  40  .300
   5  10  3  37  .189
    UNLV                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  LUMSDEN, Brittani...  5|  8   8  27  .000|  1|  0   2|  2| 15| 0  1  1|  0|   8.5
 3  NUA, Melody.........  5|  1   2   8 -.125| 67|  1   1|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  1|   3.0
 6  ALADJOVA, Maria.....  5| 12   4  47  .170|  3|  0   1|  0| 18| 0  2  0|  0|  13.0
 10 MIRAMONTES, Lauren..  5| 34   9  86  .291|  1|  1   1|  0|  3| 3  4  0|  0|  40.0
 15 WALTERS, Jessica....  5| 10   2  18  .444|  0|  3   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|  13.0
 18 GREENWOOD, Erin.....  5| 22   5  51  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  3  0|  0|  24.5
 4  CUNNINGHAM, Camille.  5|  1   0   2  .500|  2|  2   0|  1| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 7  WALKER, Jada........  5|  1   0   2  .500|  5|  5   0|  0| 32| 0  0  0|  0|   6.0
 9  NOLAND, Samantha....  4|  1   0   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  1|   3.0
 12 MORAN, Gerryn.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 90  30 244  .246| 79| 12   6|  3| 99| 5 14  1|  2| 114.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22 12  62  .161   Site: Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
   2  17  3  50  .280   Date: Nov 23         Attend:     Time: 2h 54m
   3  19  6  53  .245   Referees: Glen Sapp, Verna klubnikin, Linda Orr
   4  21  5  46  .348
   5  11  4  33  .212