Fighting Illini Earn Sweep Over Cougars

PROVO -- After winning three matches in a row, the BYU women's volleyball team dropped its third consecutive decision 30-32, 27-30, 26-30 to Illinois Friday in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars record falls to 5-8 while the Fighting Illini improve their record to 6-2.

While the Cougar offense struggled to maintain momentum by being outhit .225 to .189, the BYU block continued to hold the team within striking distance throughout the match as the Cougars held a 12.0-4.0 advantage.

"We were doing a really good job until the end of the first game," head coach Karen Lamb said. "If we win that game the match takes on a whole different tone."

In the critical first game, the Cougars were the aggressors in seizing the early lead. BYU's lead bulged to as many as five, but Illinois fought back to tie the game at 21-21. The game was again tied, this time at 29-29, but an Erin Virtue service error put the Cougars up 30-29 before the Fighting Illini stormed back with a quick 3-0 run to take the game.

BYU was unable to mount offensive pressure early in the second game, and its first kill of the game came courtesy of Allison Larson when she made the game 8-12. Illinois built its lead to as many as seven at 12-19, but the Cougars chipped away and crawled to within two at 26-28 on a double block by Larson and Laura Nielsen. The Cougars could not get any closer, however, as Illinois took a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third game was much like the second, as the Cougars fell back early, but fought back to within striking distance of claiming the lead. However, a hard fighting Cougar squad could not overcome numerous missed serves and poor passes as Illinois walked out with the win.

"The difference between tonight and last night is they competed hard tonight," Lamb said. "I think we took a step forward tonight as a team, and win or lose that's our goal. We know if we keep moving in the right direction we will win."

The Cougars were led defensively by Larson and Carrie Bowers who each had a match-high six blocks. Six blocks also marks a career high for Larson. Lindsey Metcalf had 12 digs to go with four blocks. Metcalf has now recorded double-digit digs in five consecutive matches, and she is averaging 4.69 digs per game within that span.

Offensively Larson led the Cougars with nine kills, and Karina Puikkonen had seven kills with no hitting errors while hitting a match-high .700. She also managed to dish out 29 assists.

Jessica Belter, Sue Webber and Lisa Argabright each had 12 kills to lead Illinois. Webber also picked up 12 digs for a double-double on the night.

BYU will start Mountain West Conference play next week as it travels to UNLV Friday and San Diego State Saturday. The Cougars will next return home to host Air Force and New Mexico, Oct. 4-5.

                              Volleyball Box Score
              ILLINOIS vs BYU Cougars (Sep 20, 2002 at PROVO, UT)
    ILLINOIS               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  BELTER, Jessica.....  3| 12   6  29  .207|  1|  1   4|  1|  4| 0  1  0|  0
 2  VANDREY, Melissa....  3|  8   9  28 -.036|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 3  EISERMAN, Betsy.....  3|  2   1   6  .167| 45|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 5  O'BRYAN, Shelly.....  3|  8   2  14  .429|  0|  2   0|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 7  WEBBER, Sue.........  3| 12   4  25  .320|  2|  0   6|  2| 12| 0  2  0|  0
 11 ARGABRIGHT, Lisa....  3| 12   3  27  .333|  0|  3   5|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 10 VIRTUE, Erin........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 BAZZETTA, Kathleen..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  3   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 14 HARKS, Lauren.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 54  25 129  .225| 50|  9  16|  4| 46| 0  8  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  8  40  .225   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  21  9  48  .250   ILLINOIS............ 32 30 30  6-2, 0-0 BIG TEN
   3  16  8  41  .195   BYU Cougars......... 30 27 26  5-8, 0-0 MWC
    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  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  7   0  10  .700| 29|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  2  0|  1
 3  VARNER, April.......  3|  3   4  13 -.077|  1|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  6   3  21  .143|  2|  1   3|  0| 12| 0  4  1|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  4   3  23  .043|  0|  2   1|  0|  0| 0  6  1|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  3|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  7   1  15  .400|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3|  9   5  23  .174|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  6  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  3|  2   1   6  .167|  1|  0   0|  3|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  2|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 38  17 111  .189| 36|  4  10|  9| 38| 1 22  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  35  .229   Site: PROVO, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  10  4  33  .182   Date: Sep 20, 2002   Attend: 1269   Time: 1h 30m
   3  14  7  43  .163   Referees: ANNETTE COTTLE, MYLIE JEWKES, KAREN MARSHAL

Back on Winning Track, Cougars Host Arkansas Thursday and Illinois Friday

PROVO -- The BYU women's volleyball team returns home to the Smith Fieldhouse this week after posting a 3-1 record last week. The Cougars will play Arkansas Thursday and Illinois Friday with both matches scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday's match will be broadcast live on KBYU-TV and BYU Television as well as BYU Radio.

Thursday night's match against Arkansas will be Chamber Night where chamber members will receive $1 off admission to the match. In addition, the BYU baseball team will be recognized as the 2002 Mountain West Conference champions.

Last week, the Cougars ran off a three-match win streak, their longest of the season, but they will now look to take their winning attitude into play against the Lady Razorbacks and Fighting Illini this week.

"This team made excellent progress last week," head coach Karen Lamb said. "Arkansas and Illinois are both good teams and it will be a good test to see how we've come along."

Junior setter Karina Puikkonen was in rhythm last week, displaying her all-around skills by averaging 12.92 assists, 2.08 kills, 0.46 service aces, 2.62 digs and 1.46 blocks per game while hitting .453. Puikkonen's play especially shone against No. 17 Texas A&M Saturday, as she racked up her first career triple-double with 54 assists, 15 digs and 11 kills on .455 hitting.

The Cougar offense averaged a .113 attack percentage in the first seven matches of 2002, but last week BYU hit a combined .292. Puikkonen found her comfort zone in distributing the ball evenly as all six Cougar starters averaged over two kills a game.

Redshirt freshman Lexi Brown injured her knee against Weber State when she landed on a teammate's foot and twisted her knee. She had an MRI performed and was found to have a torn ACL. Brown will rehabilitate the injury and attempt to play in the coming weeks.

Junior middleblocker Carrie Bowers is becoming a progressively dominant force. Since Brown went down, Bowers has been a model of offensive consistency. For the week she averaged 3.15 kills and 1.69 blocks (both team-highs) with a .366 attack percentage. She stepped up her play against Texas A&M where she collected 14 kills and a .333 hitting percentage while picking up four blocks.

Junior transfer Laura Nielsen stepped in for Brown last week and performed well in her first opportunity of extended playing time. For the week she averaged 2.83 kills, 1.17 digs, 1.17 blocks per game while hitting .301. Against Weber State she made an immediate impact as she recorded seven kills with only one hitting error on .667 hitting after coming in for Brown.

"We had nice play from a lot of people last week," Lamb said. "Karina had a great week, Carrie is getting better all the time and Laura did a great job of stepping in for Lexi."

The Lady Razorbacks got off to a 7-0 start, before losing twice last week to Louisville and No. 17 Colorado State. The 8-2 team returns three starters to a squad that went 21-12 in 2001 in winning the Southeastern Conference West. This will mark the first meeting between BYU and Arkansas.

Arkansas is led by a pair of 6-foot-2 middleblockers. Senior Libby Windell and Sophomore Jennifer Haaser anchor the Lady Razorback attack with 2.94 (.367) and 3.78 kills (.249), respectively. Arkansas is outblocking its opponents 123.0-60.0 (3.42-1.67 bpg), while holding a .265 to .181 hitting percentage advantage.

The Cougars will take on Illinois Friday, a squad that was a No. 19 in the preseason USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Fighting Illini (5-2) are on a three-match winning streak on the strength of clinching the Illini Classic last week. The Cougars hold a 4-0 advantage all-time over Illinois. The last meeting between the two teams was a five-game match the Cougars squeaked out in 1988.

Headlining the Fighting Illini lineup is 6-5 junior middleblocker Lisa Argabright. She has collected over half of the Fighting Illini's 59 blocks (32). Argabright also collects 3.04 kpg on .346 hitting. Melissa Vandrey is a threat on the outside as she averages a team-high 3.30 kpg (.223).

"We're getting to the point where we're playing hard and consistent," Lamb said. "So with that there's more opportunity to implement different strategies. There should be some great volleyball played this week."