PROVO -- Mountain West Conference leader Colorado State clinched the top seed for the MWC Tournament, Nov. 21-23, with a 3-0 win over the BYU women's volleyball team. The loss drops the Cougars to 12-16 overall and 7-7 in the MWC, while the Rams improve to 20-8, 12-2.

"I think we were flat tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "I think the five-game match last night took a little bit out of us. We haven't had very many matches like tonight's."

The story of the match was BYU's inability to sustain a consistent attack and its inability to effectively contain the CSU attacking game.

"Our serving allowed them to be in their offensive system more frequently than we would've liked, and our passing prevented us from being in our offensive system as we would've liked," Lamb said.

For the match BYU recorded 33 kills to CSU's 60, while being outhit .259 to .118.

After Andreya Downs put down a kill to give the Rams a quick 4-1 lead in the first game, the Cougars fought back with an 8-4 run and took the lead at 9-8 on an Allison Larson kill. CSU retook the lead and built a five-point lead (23-18) behind a relentless attack to force BYU into a timeout. Out of the timeout the Rams extended their lead and held a game-point advantage at 29-22, but BYU rallied with 4-0 run to narrow the lead to 29-26 before taking the game on a Tess Rogers kill.

In game two, BYU took the early lead and continued to build on it as it led by as many as seven points with a 17-10 lead. The Rams began to chip away at the lead, however, and Katie Jo Shirley led the Ram charge as she put down seven kills in CSU's last 20 points. The Rams tied the game at 23-23 and took the lead at 25-24 before winning the game on a Michelle Knox kill.

BYU never had the lead in the third game, as CSU continued to add to its lead throughout the game. The Cougars hit a match-low .024 in the game and Rogers sealed the match with a kill off a Cougar block.

The Cougars lone player with double-digit kills was Larson who led BYU for the second straight night with 11 kills on a match-high .526 hitting. She also put up four blocks on the night.

The Rams had three players with double-digit kills led by Shirley with 19. Rogers had 13 kills and Downs had 12 kills.

BYU will now prepare for the MWC Tournament, which will be held in Fort Collins, Colo.

"I feel that if we play well and put three good matches together that we can win the tournament," Lamb said. "Hopefully by next week we'll be healthier and ready to win."

                              Volleyball Box Score
       Colorado State vs BYU Cougars (Nov 16, 2002 at Brigham Young Univ)
    Colorado State         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  ROGERS, Tess........  3| 13   8  34  .147|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 9  COURTNEY, Melissa...  3|  1   1   3  .000| 47|  2   2|  0|  9| 1  1  0|  4
 10 SARAUER, Becky......  3|  3   6  14 -.214|  2|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  1  1|  0
 11 SHIRLEY, Katie Jo...  3| 19   4  31  .484|  0|  0   1|  0|  6| 2  3  0|  0
 13 KNOX, Michelle......  3|  8   1  16  .438|  0|  1   2|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0
 17 DOWNS, Andreya......  3| 12   4  29  .276|  1|  1   2|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 6  DENNETT, Melissa....  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 8  BAUER, Casey........  3|  3   0   5  .600|  0|  1   1|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 14 KERR, Lindsey.......  3|  1   1   2  .000|  3|  0   0|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 60  25 135  .259| 53|  5   8|  3| 45| 3 10  1|  4
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  7  42  .333   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  21 12  46  .196   Colorado State...... 30 30 30  20-8,12-2 MWC
   3  18  6  47  .255   BYU Cougars......... 26 28 19  12-16,7-7 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|  3   2   8  .125| 26|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  2  2|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  4   5  21 -.048|  1|  1   0|  2|  7| 0  3  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  2   3  14 -.071|  0|  1   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  3|  7   6  29  .034|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   1|  2|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  6   3  16  .188|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  5  0|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   3|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3| 11   1  19  .526|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  4  1|  0
 10 WEBB, Erin..........  1|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 33  20 110  .118| 30|  3   4|  5| 27| 0 17  3|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  5  36  .278   Site: Brigham Young Univ (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2   8  6  32  .062   Date: Nov 16, 2002   Attend: 826   Time: 1h 40m
   3  10  9  42  .024   Referees: JOHN MARTIN, KIM NORMAN, KAREN MARSHAL

PROVO -- In preparation for the Mountain West Conference Women's Volleyball Championship, BYU will close out its MWC schedule as it hosts Wyoming Friday and Colorado State Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse and the Cougars and Cowgirls match will be broadcast on BYU-Radio.

Plagued by an injury-filled season BYU lost a close four-game match to No. 21 Utah last week. With April Varner still hobbled by a severely sprained ankle, Lindsey Metcalf and Carrie Bowers still ailing from a sprained ankle and feet stress fractures, respectively, the Cougars continue their injury-themed season as they host the Cowgirls and MWC-leading Rams this weekend.

With Varner, the Cougars' top offensive force out, true freshman Kim Wilson has developed into a consistent attacker. Wilson has led the Cougars in kills in five of the past seven matches averaging 3.64 kills per game during that stretch, more than doubling the 1.66 kpg she averaged in the first 15 matches of the season.

Junior middle blocker Laura Nielsen continues to be effective and is tied for third in the MWC with a .333 hitting percentage while averaging 2.48 kpg.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cougar block remains a team strength as they stand third in the MWC with 2.80 bpg. Individually Neilsen is second in the MWC with 1.41 bpg and Lindsey Metcalf is fourth with 1.36 bpg. Nationally the Cougars are the No. 13 blocking team with 3.14 bpg.

Junior setter and two-time all-MWC Karina Puikkonen continued to display her all-around skills as she tossed up 46 assists, had 12 digs, five blocks and eight kills while hitting a match-high .500 against Utah.

WYOMING (20-8, 5-7 MWC)

First-year head coach Jim Barnes took over a team that returned four starters, including Sara Maytorena who has twice been named MWC Player of the Week this season.

The Cowgirls have won 20 matches for the sixth time in their 31 history, and first time since 1989 (24-7). After starting the year 15-2, Wyoming is 5-6 in its last 11 matches.

BYU is 51-3 all-time vs. Wyoming with a 25-1 record against the Cowgirls at home. BYU currently rides a 26-match winning streak against Wyoming and have swept 12 of the past 13 matches against the Cowgirls. The Cougars won a five-game match at Wyoming, Oct. 19.

COLORADO STATE (18-8, 10-2)

A team that returned only two starters, Colorado State is the current MWC leader by one match over Utah and San Diego State. BYU and SDSU are the only teams to defeat CSU in MWC play this season.

In MWC play, the Rams lead in four key offensive categories; hitting percentage (.257), assists (14.82), kills (15.89) and service aces (1.98).

BYU is 43-12-1 all-time vs. Colorado State, including a 22-4 mark at home. After reeling off an 18-match winning streak against the Rams between 1988 and 1997, the Cougars are 4-6 against the Rams in the 10 matches since. In their last meeting, the Cougars defeated the Rams at the Moby for the fist regular season win by a conference opponent since 1997, a streak of 38 matches.

COUGARS IN UPCOMING WEEKS

BYU will travel to Fort Collins, Colo., to play in the MWC Tournament, Nov. 21-23. The Cougars close out their regular season schedule with matches against No. 3 Hawai'i, Nov. 26, and No. 16 Arizona, Nov. 29.

BYU-RADIO INFORMATION

BYU-Radio is available on the Dish Network, extended package (channel 980) and online through the scheudule link on the BYU women's volleyball homepage.