Cougars Topple MWC Leader Colorado State

FORT COLLINS -- An injury-plagued season of struggles has made a pivotal turn for the BYU women's volleyball team as it defeated Mountain West Conference leader Colorado State 19-30, 30-25, 30-27, 24-30, 15-12 Friday night in the Moby Arena. The win evens the Cougars at 3-3 in the MWC and 8-12 overall, while the Rams suffer their first conference loss to fall to 5-1 and 13-7 overall.

"We deserved to win tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We didn't play our best match but we fought hard and kept plugging away. It was amazing."

The BYU victory in Fort Collins ended a string of four straight regular season Ram wins over the Cougars in Moby Arena, including three straight Ram sweeps. BYU's last regular season win at Colorado State was a 3-1 triumph in 1995. Overall, BYU's last win over the Rams in Fort Collins was at the 2000 MWC Tournament when the Cougars upset the Rams to win the tournament title.

In addition Colorado State had never lost a conference match at home under the direction of head coach Tom Hilbert. The Rams were a perfect 38-0 since Hilbert's arrival in 1997.

BYU was led Friday by four players with double-digit kills, but it was the return of middle blocker Laura Nielsen, from a broken foot, that fueled the Cougars win. In her first match back since Sept. 20, Nielsen racked up 11 kills on a match-high .643 hitting. She also had a team-high four blocks and chipped in two service aces.

"I can't even begin to explain what Laura did tonight," Lamb said. "She came back so huge. It was great to see."

The Cougars were caught flat-footed in the first game, as the Rams took the game in convincing fashion. Colorado State hit a blazing .371, while holding BYU to a .077 attack percentage.

"We were lucky to get to 19 in that first game," Lamb said. "But we made some adjustments and the girls started to believe we could win as we played the second game. We started to put some pressure on Colorado State and they started to make some errors."

BYU hit .167 and .350 in the second and third games, respectively, as it took a 2-1 lead. The Rams took the fourth game to set-up a decisive fifth game.

The Cougars took the early lead in the last game before the Rams tied it at 12-12, but BYU capitalized on a missed Ram serve to take the match.

For the Cougars April Varner (12), Kim Wilson (12) and Allison Larson (11) also compiled double-digit kills. Varner also had 10 digs for her team-leading eighth double-double of the year.

Carrie Bowers, questionable for the match with various injuries, was strong in the middle with nine kills, six digs, two blocks and a .261 attack percentage. Sahara Castillo contributed a career-high 11 digs in the Cougar win.

The Rams also had four players with double-digit kills. Tess Rogers had a match-high 17 kills, Katie Jo Shirley had 16 kills, Andreya Downs had 15 kills and Michelle Knox had 14 kills.

The Cougars will conclude their road trip by taking on Wyoming Saturday at 7 p.m. MDT, in the MultiPurpose Gym. Wyoming, off to its best start in years, swept No. 16 Utah Friday in Laramie.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
          BYU vs Colorado State (Oct 18, 2002 at Fort Collins, Colo.)
   BYU                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  5|  7   2  13  .385| 45|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  3  0|  0|   9.5
3  VARNER, April.......  5| 12  12  43  .000|  1|  0   3|  1| 10| 2  0  1|  0|  14.0
7  LARSON, Allison.....  5| 11   8  28  .107|  1|  3   6|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0|  15.0
8  BOWERS, Carrie......  5|  9   3  23  .261|  0|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
10 WEBB, Erin..........  1|  0   1   5 -.200|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
15 WILSON, Kimberly....  5| 12   4  32  .250|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 2  0  0|  0|  14.0
5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  5|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   2|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
12 CRABBE, Uila........  5|  0   1   1-1.000|  3|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
17 MAHAFFEY, Micelle...  5|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
18 NIELSEN, Laura......  4| 11   2  14  .643|  0|  2   2|  0|  0| 1  3  1|  0|  15.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 62  33 159  .182| 57|  7  15|  4| 51| 5 10  2|  0|  79.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13 10  39  .077   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2   9  5  24  .167   BYU................. 19 30 30 24 15  8-12, 3-3 MWC
   3  19  5  40  .350   Colorado State...... 30 25 27 30 12  13-7, 5-1 MWC
   4  14  9  39  .128
   5   7  4  17  .176
   Colorado State         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4  ROGERS, Tess........  5| 17   9  47  .170|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0|  18.5
9  COURTNEY, Melissa...  5|  2   3   8 -.125| 60|  1   2|  0|  6| 1  2  0|  0|   5.0
10 SARAUER, Becky......  5|  8   5  26  .115|  0|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   9.0
11 SHIRLEY, Katie Jo...  5| 16   3  24  .542|  2|  0   2|  1|  7| 1  3  1|  0|  18.5
13 KNOX, Michelle......  5| 14   9  36  .139|  0|  1   5|  0| 10| 2  3  1|  0|  18.5
17 DOWNS, Andreya......  5| 15   5  26  .385|  3|  1   3|  2|  9| 0  2  0|  0|  17.0
6  DENNETT, Melissa....  1|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
8  BAUER, Casey........  2|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
14 KERR, Lindsey.......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  3|   |        |   |   0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 72  35 170  .218| 65|  4  14|  7| 49| 4 14  2|  0|  87.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  3  35  .371   Site: Fort Collins, Colo. (Moby Arena)
   2  16 14  41  .049   Date: Oct 18, 2002   Attend: 1592   Time: 2:13
   3  17  8  38  .237   Referees: Verna Klubnikin, Joan Powell
   4  18  6  41  .293
   5   5  4  15  .067

PROVO -- The BYU women's volleyball team will continue its Mountain West Conference schedule and complete its four-match road trip as it travels to play at MWC leader Colorado State, Oct. 18, and Wyoming, Oct. 19.

The Cougars are off to a 2-3 start in MWC play and are 7-12 overall. They are coming off a week in which they lost a pair of hard fought matches to instate rivals Utah State and No. 16 Utah.

"Injury and inexperience could be excuses for our record, but I'm not making any excuses" BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We want to win, but we also want to improve and come together as a team. The losses don't bother me as much, as long as we're competing hard and continuing to improve."

With starting redshirt middle blocker Lexi Brown out for the season with a torn ACL, BYU's other starting middle blocker Carrie Bowers, bothered by a sore foot all season, is questionable for this weekend's play. Converted middle blocker Lindsey Metcalf sprained her ankle against USU and is also questionable. Not all is bad for the Cougars, though, as junior transfer middle blocker Laura Nielsen, sidelined for three weeks with a broken foot, is scheduled to return to action this week.

After flirting with inconsistency all season, sophomore outside hitter April Varner is starting to be a consistent force. Last week she led the Cougars in kills in both their matches against USU (17) and No. 16 Utah (13). She also led the team with a .241 attack percentage and tied for the team lead with 19 total digs. Varner picked up her team-leading seventh double-double against USU with 17 kills and 12 digs.

In the Rams and the Cowgirls, the Cougars will be taking on two rising teams.

Colorado State

Colorado State, No. 18 in the preseason USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll, has won six of its last seven and is a perfect 5-0 in conference play this season.

The Cougars hold a 42-12-1 all-time mark against the Rams and are 15-8 in Fort Collins. Since running off an 18-match winning streak between 1988-1997, BYU is 3-6 against CSU. The teams met twice last year; both Ram sweeps. CSU has swept BYU only four times in series history.

Wyoming

Wyoming is off to one of its best starts ever under first-year head coach Jim Barnes. The Cowgirls recently had an 11-match winning streak snapped, but have won 12 of their last 14.

BYU holds a 50-3 all-time record versus the Cowgirls, including a 19-2 record in Laramie. The Cougars swept all three meetings last year, and currently enjoy a 25-match winning streak against the Cowgirls dating back to 1990, including a 10-match win streak at Wyoming. BYU has swept the last 12 meetings between the two teams.

"To be successful and win matches this weekend we need to serve and pass well," Lamb said. "We've been blocking and playing solid defense for the most part, but we're getting better offensively. This team will be a late bloomer and there's a real possibility that we will do very well as the season progresses."

The Cougars return home to next week to continue their MWC schedule as they take on UNLV, Oct. 25, and San Diego State, Oct. 26.