COLORADO SPRINGS -- Just two days after sweeping the New Mexico Lobos, BYU once again dominated its opponent, earning a three-game sweep (30-26, 20-18, 30-27) at Air Force Saturday night to move to 7-6 on the year and 2-1 in the Mountain West Conference.

"Air Force was feisty, especially in the third game," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "It was a little bit of a test for us to see if we could get the win in the third game. We just stayed calm and put them away."

The Cougar offense, led by Kim Wilson with 13 kills, put up its best numbers of the season with a .405 hitting percentage. Setter Lauren Richards ended the night with 43 assists, nine digs and seven kills on .700 hitting, a career-high.

Junior Lexi Brown added 11 kills as well as leading the Cougars in blocks with four while senior Lindsey Metcalf contributed 10 kills. Senior April Varner earned her second start of the season at the libero position and picked up 10 digs to lead the Cougars. Air Force's Brooke Akers was the only Falcon to record double-digit kills as she put down 11.

While BYU failed to record double-digit blocks for just the second time this season, picking up only eight in the short match, the Cougars are ranked nationally in blocks per match as they average 3.00, good enough for 23rd in the nation. BYU has out-blocked its opponents in ten of thirteen matches this season and is 7-3 in those matches.

With the victory, the Cougars now own a 13-1 advantage in the series with Air Force, including the last five straight. BYU is 7-0 against Air Force in Colorado Springs.

After going 2-1 on the road this week, the Cougars will now return home for a three-match stretch. BYU will face instate rival Weber State Tuesday night at 7 p.m. before matching up with MWC foes San Diego State Friday night at 5 p.m. and UNLV Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Wildcats are 2-14 after losing their last four while the Aztecs are 1-13 (1-1 MWC) after snapping a thirteen game losing streak with a win over Wyoming Friday night and the Rebels are currently 7-5, (1-1 MWC). Live stats will be available for all three matches on the schedule page of the BYU Women's Volleyball home page at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                    Brigham Young Univ. Cougars - Volleyball
     Brigham Young Univ. vs Air Force (Oct 02, 2004 at USAF Academy, Colo.)
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     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|  7   0  10  .700| 43|  0   3|  0|  9| 0  2  0|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3| 10   2  20  .400|  5|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3| 13   8  31  .161|  1|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3| 11   1  20  .500|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  4  1|  0
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  3|  9   2  16  .438|  0|  2   3|  0|  3| 1  2  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  8   1  12  .583|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 2  KIHOLM, Mandi.......  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 3  VARNER, April.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  3| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 59  14 111  .405| 53|  3  11|  3| 41| 1 14  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  5  35  .343   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  22  4  36  .500   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 30  7-6 (2-1)
   3  20  5  40  .375   Air Force........... (0) 26 18 27  4-9 (0-4 MWC)
    Air Force              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  AKERS, Brooke.......  3| 11   1  20  .500|  1|  0   0|  1|  2| 1  3  0|  0
 4  SIEFKEN, Carly......  3|  2   0   5  .400| 32|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 7  JEFFERSON, Lamecca..  3|  8   4  21  .190|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  2|  0
 9  OLIGNEY, Brittany...  3|  7   4  20  .150|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0
 13 GALLEGOS, Rebecca...  3|  2   2  11  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 23 HAMLETT, Kristin....  3|  9   7  26  .077|  0|  2   2|  1|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 2  BURKE, Jenalee......  3|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 3  ARRINGTON, Elizabeth  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KALLABIS, Kimberly..  2|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 15 MOONEY, Rachael.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   2|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 16 WHITE, Molly........  3|  2   1   7  .143|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 42  19 113  .204| 37|  3   8|  3| 30| 1  6  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  15  8  35  .200   Site: USAF Academy, Colo. (Cadet East Gym)
   2  10  5  29  .172   Date: Oct 02, 2004   Attend: 305   Time: 1:39
   3  17  6  49  .224   Referees:

PROVO -- The Cougars are heading out of town this week hoping to improve on their 5-5 record with matchups against instate rival Utah State and Mountain West Conference foes New Mexico and Air Force.

BYU will first face the Aggies Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Logan, Utah, before playing at New Mexico on Thursday at 7 p.m. and at Air Force on Saturday at 7 p.m.

"We like to play all the Utah schools and win those instate rivalries," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "All three of these schools have good programs even though they're a little down this year. We know these will be competitive matches."

The battle for instate bragging rights actually began last Friday as BYU dropped its first Mountain West Conference game to then-No. 23 Utah in the Smith Fieldhouse despite a career-high night for Lindsey Evans, who recorded 21 digs, and a powerful performance by Kim Wilson, who led all players with 19 kills on .395 hitting.

Individual highlights are many for the Cougars so far this season as both veterans and newcomers have contributed to BYU's quest for victory.

A total of four Cougars currently rank in the top five in several MWC statistical categories. Sophomore middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock leads the Cougars and is second in the MWC in both hitting percentage (.410) and blocks per game (1.68). Wilson's all-star efforts have placed her third in the conference in kills per game with 3.63 and fifth in hitting percentage with a .345 mark. Returning All-MWC setter Lauren Richards currently tops the charts with 0.60 aces per game while redshirt freshman Erica Lott is tied for the third spot with 0.42 aces per game.

Wilson, Richards and Lott have also earned All-Tournament honors during the Cougar preseason at the Penn State Classic and BYU Mizuno Invitational.

Still, the Cougars are anxious to prove that they are better than their record.

"We're kind of frustrated right now, especially with our play at the end of matches," said Lamb. "The key for us is figuring out how to do great things without pushing too hard. We just need to play our game and not worry about trying to do too much."

This week BYU is looking to get back on the winning track. The Cougars have not lost consecutive conference matches since the 2002 season and are 0-1 on the road so far in 2004. The following is a look at the teams that will take the floor against the Cougars this week.

UTAH STATE

At 2-7, the Aggies are suffering through their worst start to a season since they began 1-8 in 1999. Utah State split its two matches last week, losing at Idaho but defeating UC Davis. Over the last five years, the Aggies are 40-16 at home but are 0-2 so far this season. Junior Zuzana Cernianska ranks fourth all-time in kills at Utah State.

BYU holds a 46-12 series advantage over the Aggies all-time. The Cougars barely escaped with the win last year in a tight five-game contest in Provo (26-30, 29-31, 30-24, 30-28, 15-12). Lauren Richards, Lexi Brown and Lindsey Metcalf all recorded double-doubles in the match.

NEW MEXICO

The Lobos return five starters from last year's 4-25 squad and at 6-6 have already won more games in 2004 than in the entire 2003 season. Senior Adah Burke leads the Mountain West Conference in digs per game with 4.71.

The Cougars are 54-7 all-time versus the Lobos, including wins in both meetings last season. In fact, the Cougars have not dropped a single game to New Mexico since 1995.

AIR FORCE

The Falcons return 10 letterwinners and four starters and are 4-6 overall in 2004. Last week, Air Force defeated Texas Pan-American in straight games but lost to Wyoming in four games and Colorado State in three to begin Mountain West Conference play 0-2.

BYU leads the relatively new series with a 12-1 overall record. The Cougars won both regular season matchups in 2003 and then defeated the Falcons again in the first round of the MWC Tournament.