BYU Hits a Season-High .439 in Sweep of UNLV

PROVO -- Led by a relentless attack that improved with each passing game, the BYU women's volleyball team swept UNLV 3-0 (30-21, 30-23, 30-20) Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win improves the Cougars to 15-5 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain West Conference, while UNLV drops to 8-10, 2-5.

After hitting at a .360 clip in the first game, BYU hit .474 in the second and .514 in the third for a cumulative .439 percentage in the match -- their best hitting night on the season. BYU only committed seven attack errors in the three games.

The Cougars were led by the outside hitting tandem of Kim Wilson and Lindsey Metcalf, who each put down match highs of 18 kills. It represented a career high in kills for Metcalf and Wilson also contributed 12 digs for her third consecutive and seventh overall double-double of the season.

"We started and played very well tonight," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We passed really well, we dug really well and we continued to communicate on the court."

Friday night's serving star Lindsey Kearl started the Cougars off on the right foot in the first game with her strong serving. BYU took advantage as Laura Nielsen and Lauren Richards put down consecutive kills, followed by Metcalf who put down back-to-back kills to give the Cougars a quick 4-0 lead. BYU would hold the lead throughout and led by as many as ten points in the game (16-6). Wilson was all over the court as she put down eight kills, while putting up eight digs, both game highs.

BYU also held the lead throughout the second game in getting out to a 4-1 lead, powered by two Metcalf kills. UNLV would stay close until a decisive 4-0 BYU run gave the Cougars a commanding 18-9 lead. Wilson again put down eight kills, the last of which ended the game.

UNLV took its first lead of the match at the start of the third game after consecutive kills by Sheila Ocasio-Clemente and Leiana Oswald. The Cougars proceeded to take the lead after an immediate 5-0 run, including three Metcalf kills, for a 5-2 advantage. BYU wouldn't look back, although the Rebels kept the game close, drawing to within two points on numerous occasions. After a Metcalf attack error drew the Rebels to within two at 16-14, BYU took off on a 7-0 run, on the back of Lexi Brown's serving, which helped to induce five consecutive UNLV attack errors. Brown would also figure prominently to end the match, as she put down the last three Cougar points, all kills, to seal the match.

Richards had another stellar all-around night in leading the BYU attack. She dished out 46 assists and put down eight kills of her own with a .538 attack percentage. Richards also collected eight digs and two blocks.

Defensively, Uila Crabbe continues to stake her claim as the best libero in the MWC, as she put up a match-high 18 digs. Nielsen tallied a match-high six blocks.

"I want to complement Uila on her leadership," Lamb said. "She comes prepared to win every night and is playing at a very high level right now. She's vocal when she needs to be, but she is a great example."

The Cougars will start the second half of their MWC schedule next week when they travel to play Wyoming Friday and No. 20 Colorado State Saturday.

"We have to continue to start like we did tonight," Lamb said. "Our offense will only continue to improve as we add some new wrinkles. Our goal is to win the conference championship and we need some help, but we have to take care of things on our end first."

                              Volleyball Box Score
                       2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
            UNLV vs BYU Cougars (Oct 18, 2003 at Brigham Young Univ)
    UNLV                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  KING, Nicki.........  3|  2   0   5  .400| 37|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  1  0|  0
 3  ASSUNCAO, Patricia..  3| 10   5  33  .152|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 4  OSWALD, Leiana......  3|  7   5  32  .062|  1|  0   2|  0|  9| 1  0  0|  0
 8  BANKS, Michelle.....  3|  0   2   9 -.222|  0|  0   1|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 9  OCASIO-CLEMENTE, S..  3| 15   3  30  .400|  0|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 15 KIRSCHNER, Christina  2|  3   1  12  .167|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  KOOCHI, Kristin.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 11 DUNKLAU, Stacy......  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 KEITH, Tarin........  1|  2   4   6 -.333|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 14 JOHNSON, Michelle...  2|  2   1   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 18 FRANCHINI, Nina.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  21 134  .157| 41|  1   7|  1| 47| 1  4  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  6  47  .149   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  6  45  .178   UNLV................ 21 23 20  8-10,2-5 MWC
   3  15  9  42  .143   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  15-5,5-2 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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  8   1  13  .538| 46|  0   2|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  2
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3| 18   1  34  .500|  1|  0   0|  1|  6| 1  2  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3| 18   3  33  .455|  0|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  6   1  18  .278|  1|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  2|  2   0   4  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3|  4   1  14  .214|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  6  1|  1
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  1|  4   0   6  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KEARL, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   3|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  5|  0   0|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CASTILLO, Sahara....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   3|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 61   7 123  .439| 54|  1   9|  1| 58| 1 16  1|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  21  3  50  .360   Site: Brigham Young Univ (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  21  3  38  .474   Date: Oct 18, 2003   Attend: 1313   Time: 1h 30m
   3  19  1  35  .514   Referees: GLENN SAPP, BRUCE GRANT, KAREN MARSHALL

PROVO -- Approaching the midway point in its Mountain West Conference schedule, the BYU women's volleyball team will host San Diego State Friday at 7 p.m. and UNLV Saturday at 7 p.m. Both matches will be held in the Smith Fieldhouse.

After the conclusion of the Cougars' match against the Aztecs Friday, the BYU men's volleyball team will hold its annual Blue and White Scrimmage.

BYU (13-5 overall, 3-2 MWC) is currently tied for third in the MWC with SDSU (12-8, 3-2) and is the second-best hitting team in the conference with a .255 team attack percentage.

"These are two important conference matches for us," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We are improving our play as a team, but now we have to take the next step and translate that to wins on the court."

The Cougars are the only conference team to have three players ranked in the MWC top 10 for hitting percentage. Lindsy Lewis-Hartsock is third at .341, Carrie Bowers is seventh at .304 and Laura Nielsen is eighth at .295. Sophomore middle blocker Lexi Brown stood out last week, as she put down a career-high 16 kills against Utah, while hitting a team-beast .349 on the week.

A strong blocking team, BYU is the No. 19 blocking team in the nation with a 2.90 blocks per game average. Senior libero Uila Crabbe continues to lead the MWC with a 3.42 digs per game average.

SDSU has struggled at times this season, suffering through three two-match losing streaks, but remains a formidable defensive team that is ranked fifth in the nation with a 3.18 blocks per game average. The Aztecs are coming off a pair of wins over Air Force and New Mexico last week.

UNLV (8-8, 2-3) has been successful at home, but has struggled on the road with a 1-5 away record. The Rebels are also coming off a pair of wins over Air Force and New Mexico to even their record.

BYU drew its largest crowd of 2,312 fans out against Utah last Friday night. BYU has drawn over 1,000 fans in each of its three conference matches so far this season. Overall, the Cougars' average attendance is 1,379, tops in the MWC.

"It's imperative for us to get off to good starts in both these matches," Lamb said. "We have to come out with energy and protect our home-court advantage."

The Cougars will have their match against San Diego State broadcast live on KBYU-TV (Channel 11), BYUTV (Dish Network [channel 9403] and DirecTV PLUS [channel 374]) and BYU-Radio. Additionally, a live audio/video stream of the BYU vs. SDSU match will be available online. All links to broadcast matches and Live Stats of all home matches will be available via the BYU women's volleyball home page at www.byucougars.com.

Weekly Notes:

Week #7 in Review ...

BYU had its first early week match of the season when it played at Weber State on Tuesday night. After dropping a close first game, the Cougars took the next three to win the match. BYU then turned around to play instate rival Utah at home in the Smith Fieldhouse. After dropping the first two games, the Cougars rose to dominate the third, but the Utes rebounded to take the fourth game and the match.

Poll Position

After spending four consecutive weeks receiving votes in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll, BYU fell out of the polls as a listed team this week. The Cougars peaked as they were listed No. 26 on Sept. 26. Since the beginning of the AVCA Coaches Top 20 Poll in 1982, BYU has been ranked a total of 252 weeks, which ranks the Cougars eighth in NCAA history.

Offensively Okay

BYU is second in the MWC with a .255 team hitting percentage. The Cougars are the only team with three players in the MWC top 10 for hitting percentage (3-Lindsy Lewis-Hartsock .341; 7-Carrie Bowers .304; 8-Laura Nielsen .295).

Brown Bomber

Sophomore middle blocker Lexi Brown is proving to be an offensive force. Last week, she led BYU with a .349 attack percentage and was second on the team with 21 kills. Against Utah, Brown recorded a career-high 16 kills while hitting a match-high .448. On the season, Brown is the Cougars' most efficient attacker, hitting at a .359 clip.

Ten-Win Mark

The Cougars are half way to 20 wins. With its win against Wyoming on Sept. 27, BYU won its 10th match of the season. Last year, the Cougars didn't win their 10th match until Nov. 1 against New Mexico. BYU's next win will be its 14th, which would equal last year's win total.

Cougar Block; Top-25 Nationally

With a block that's improving with each passing week, moved up to the No. 19 spot in national blocking with a 2.90 blocks per game average.

BYU Attendance

BYU drew its largest crowd of 2,312 fans out against Utah on Friday night. This season, the Cougars have drawn three crowds of 2,000 or more. The others were against Ohio State (2,071) and UVSC (2,086). In their eight home matches this season, the Cougars have drawn over 1,000 fans in six matches. The two matches that fell below the mark were day matches against Rice and Nevada that fell on the same days as BYU football games. BYU's average attendance is 1,379, the best in the MWC.

By the Numbers

BYU is a perfect 13-0 this season when it has a higher attack percentage than its opponent and is 10-1 when it has more digs and aces than its opponent.

Injury Update

It is relatively quiet on the injury front for the Cougars. Other than various minor bumps and bruises there is nothing serious.

Iron Women

Carrie Bowers, Lauren Richards and Uila Crabbe are the only Cougars to play in every game this season, as BYU continues to search for its most effective lineup.

Redshirts for 2003

Of BYU's eight incoming true freshman, seven are slated to redshirt the 2003 season. They are: Erica Lott, Catherine Parker, Lindsey Evans, Stacie Powell, Amy Hulse, Annie Kemp and Kimberly Dabo.

Best and Worst Starts to a Season

The Cougars' best-ever start to a season is 23-0 in 1977, a year in which they finished 34-5. BYU's worst start to a season is 1979 when it started 0-2. The Cougars have never lost more than two matches in a row to start a season.

Roster of Champions

After an unprecedented year in which nine of the 16 players on the roster sustained injury, BYU made it a mandate to recruit additional talent. While at times last year the Cougars didn't have enough players to scrimmage, with the current 21 players on the roster, BYU is not only ensured of having enough players to practice, but the team's competitive level of play in practice has risen.

Young and Experienced

Of the Cougars' nine returning letterwinners, eight have starting experience. Of those eight, all eight have the potential to be All-MWC team selections with playing time.