Cougars Hitting on All Cylinders in Win over Lobos

PROVO -- Senior Allison Larson led four Cougars with double-digit kills as BYU swept New Mexico 30-27, 30-20, 30-13 Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. With the win, BYU improved to 7-10 overall and 2-2 in the Mountain West Conference while the Lobos fell to 6-10 and 1-2.

"We attacked everything tonight and played with a lot of confidence," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "Our passing was good and we made plays. I was proud of the way we competed and hustled. Our outsides played particularly well I thought."

Larson, BYU's rightside hitter, hit a team-leading and career-best .458 attack percentage while putting down a match-high 13 kills with only two errors in 24 attempts. Sophomore outside hitter April Varner added 12 kills while hitting .409 while junior middle blocker Carrie Bowers and freshman outside Kim Wilson each contributed 11 kills for the Cougars.

Junior setter Karina Puikkonen tossed up 48 assists while helping BYU achieved its third-highest team attack percentage of the season at .355. Sophomore middle blocker Lindsey Metcalf hit .400 while Bowers hit .375 and Wilson a career-best .360. Puikkonen was the only player to hit below .360, with 2 kills and three errors in 10 attempts.

New Mexico hit .113 for the night with Vanessa Shields leading the attack with nine kills while Anna Reines added seven. The Lobos' Blaire Burns equaled BYU's Metcalf for match-high dig honors with 13 while Varner completed a double-double for BYU with 12 digs to go with her 12 kills.

The first game was tight throughout until BYU scored four straight points to turn a 27-26 New Mexico advantage into a 30-27 victory. Varner put down two of the four points, including the game winner. In game two, BYU jumped out to a 10-4 lead and was able to keep the momentum. Larson won the game with her 11th kill of the match, swinging from the right side and using the Lobo block to her advantage.

BYU kept rolling in the decisive game, hitting an amazing .516. With the score tied at 6-6, BYU tallied eight consecutive points with Bowers serving to kill any possible New Mexico comeback. Bowers finished with two aces along with Wilson while Metcalf had a match-high three service winners for the Cougars. BYU's seven aces equaled the team's season high.

Overall, BYU outblocked the Lobos 9.5 to 3.0 and came up with 58 digs to 44 for New Mexico. The Lobos had three aces.

BYU plays two instate matches next week, taking on Utah State Tuesday before meeting MWC-favorite Utah Friday in Salt Lake City.

                              Volleyball Box Score
             NEW MEXICO vs BYU Cougars (Oct 05, 2002 at PROVO, UT)
    NEW MEXICO             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  REINES, Anna........  3|  7   9  33 -.061|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 5  MEIHACK, Monica.....  3|  1   1   9  .000| 29|  1   2|  0|  8| 0  1  2|  1
 6  SHIELDS, Vanessa....  3|  9   3  26  .231|  0|  1   0|  1|  3| 1  0  0|  0
 8  SONDRUP, Chelsea....  3|  6   0  12  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  1|  0
 11 MASTEN, Staci.......  3|  3   4   9 -.111|  1|  0   0|  2|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 13 KAVENY, Cayse.......  2|  3   3  12  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  1  0|  0
 2  HAYES, Lynzie.......  3|  6   1  20  .250|  3|  1   0|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 10 BURNS, Blaire.......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  2| 13| 0  0  0|  0
 15 SANCHEZ, Andrea.....  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 35  21 124  .113| 33|  3   3|  7| 44| 2  2  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  6  40  .300   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   9  7  48  .042   NEW MEXICO.......... 27 20 13  6-10,1-2 MWC
   3   8  8  36  .000   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  7-10, 2-2 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|  2   3  10 -.100| 48|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  1  1|  1
 3  VARNER, April.......  3| 12   3  22  .409|  1|  0   1|  1| 12| 0  4  0|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  8   2  15  .400|  2|  3   2|  1| 13| 1  5  2|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3| 13   2  24  .458|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3| 11   2  24  .375|  0|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  3| 11   2  25  .360|  0|  2   1|  1|  9| 0  2  1|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 57  14 121  .355| 53|  7   5|  3| 58| 1 17  4|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  5  39  .359   Site: PROVO, UT (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  22  9  51  .255   Date: Oct 05, 2002   Attend: 699   Time: 1h 30m
   3  16  0  31  .516   Referees: VERNA KLUBNIKIN, ANETTE COTTLE, KAREN MARSHALL

PROVO -- The BYU women's volleyball team will host its first Mountain West Conference matches of the season against Air Force Friday at 7 p.m. and New Mexico Saturday at 8 p.m. Both matches will be held in the Smith Fieldhouse and the Lobos match will be broadcast on BYU Radio.

The Cougars opened their conference schedule on the road with a loss at San Diego State and a win at UNLV. BYU enters this week's play tied for fourth in the MWC with No. 20 Utah at 1-1 (6-9 overall).

BYU has a new look to its lineup with sophomore Lindsey Metcalf lining up at her third different position this season. In her second match as a middle blocker last week, the 6-foot Metcalf recorded a career-high 17 blocks against UNLV.

Senior Allison Larson is starting to get in a groove and leads the team with 2.69 kills per game. She recorded 16 kills and a career-high 10 blocks in the win over UNLV last week. Junior Karina Puikkonen leads the team in hitting percentage (.340) and assists per game (10.13) while also averaging 1.64 kills, 1.75 digs and 1.15 blocks per game.

BYU has struggled to find consistency in the early going partly because of a revamped lineup due to injury and inexperience, but also as the result of a tough schedule. Four of BYU's losses have come to teams currently ranked in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Cougars have lost to No. 1 USC, No. 3 Florida, No. 19 Washington State and No. 25 Texas A&M.

In addition the Cougars lost to Nevada (12-2), which reeled off a nine-match win streak after losing its first match of the year to WSU. The cumulative record of the teams BYU has lost to this year is 82-22 (.789).

Cougar injury report: Redshirt freshman middle blocker Lexi Brown currently has a torn ACL and is out indefinitely. Junior transfer middle blocker Laura Nielsen has a broken foot and is expected to be out at least several weeks.

BYU's opponents this week, Air Force and New Mexico, started its seasons slow, but have been surging of late.

Air Force

After losing its first seven matches (the worst in team history) to start the season, Air Force has gone 6-2. In their only match last week, the Falcons dropped their conference opener to New Mexico.

Air Force returns all six starters from last year's 2-21 team. With six wins already this season, the Falcons have tripled their win total from last year. Including conference championship matches, the Falcons have lost 36 straight Mountain West Championships. BYU is 8-0 all-time versus Air Force and swept both meetings last year.

New Mexico

Under the direction of first-year head coach, Kelley Sliva, New Mexico also lost its first seven matches to start the season, but has won six of seven matches since then and currently rides a five-match winning streak. The Lobos are coming off wins against New Mexico State and Air Force last week. BYU is 50-7 all-time against New Mexico and swept both meetings last year.

The match will be broadcast live on BYU Radio, which can be accessed through www.byucougars.com, clicking on the women's volleyball link and entering the online schedule or by clicking here.

PARKING NOTICE FOR BYU HOME MATCHES:

Because of construction on the new BYU athletic complex parking procedures have changed, but parking will be available in the lots east of Zion's Bank (accessible from University Avenue and Canyon Drive) and west of the Richards building (accessible from 1230 N. Bulldog Avenue).