PROVO -- BYU posted its 12th sweep of the season Friday night with a 30-28, 30-28, 30-28 win over the visiting Eastern Washington Eagles. Led by senior April Varner, playing in her last home match, the Cougars kept their NCAA hopes alive and moved to 19-11 on the season, winning eight of their last ten matches.

"I don't think we were as sharp tonight as we have been, but we did what we needed to do to win and that's the important part," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We're playing really well right now and we've done what we can. Hopefully things will work out for us."

Varner led the Cougars with a match-high 15 kills while Kim Wilson added 14. Lindsy Hartsock recorded nine blocks, reaching 200 for the season, and Lindsey Evans led the Cougar digging effort with 10. Lauren Richards notched eight kills on 10 attempts and only one error to tie her career-high hitting percentage with a .700 mark. As a team, the Cougars out-blocked the Eagles 10-7, marking the 24th time BYU has recorded more blocks than its opponents in a match.

Three Cougar seniors were honored during the match for their contributions as Lindsey Metcalf, April Varner and Mandi Kiholm played their final home matches. Kiholm was a spark off the bench for the Cougars in her two seasons, recording a career-high five blocks against New Mexico and posting two kills in Friday's match. Varner finished the season ranked seventh in the Mountain West Conference in digs with 2.60 per game and led BYU in digs five times. Metcalf, who received All-MWC honors this season, finished ninth in the league in hitting percentage with a .282 mark and led the Cougars in digs eight times and blocks five times this year.

"Kiholm did a very nice job when we needed her to and gave up a lot to come here from UVSC, which we appreciate," Lamb said. "Varner is a real team player and hard worker who came on strong at the end of the season after an injury early on. Metcalf is an awesome athlete who was solid for us all around this year."

The Cougars are now hoping for an at-large NCAA invite to extend their season and mark the 22nd postseason appearance in the history of the program. The NCAA brackets will be announced Sunday at 4:40 MST on ESPNNews. Fans can turn go to the women's volleyball home page at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/ for the latest tournament information.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                        Brigham Young University Cougars
           Eastern Washington vs Brigham Young (Nov 26, 2004 at BYU)
    Eastern Washington     |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  ALBERS, Deanna......  3| 10   6  23  .174|  1|  2   0|  2|  6| 0  1  0|  0|  12.5
 6  ALBERS, Christina...  3|  1   0   5  .200| 36|  1   1|  0|  5| 0  1  2|  2|   2.5
 9  SONDERSEN, Keva.....  3| 10   3  19  .368|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 1  2  0|  0|  12.0
 11 MELLOR, Lizzy.......  3|  9   6  26  .115|  0|  2   2|  0| 14| 0  1  0|  0|  11.5
 12 KITTERMAN, Megan....  3| 10   2  16  .500|  1|  0   1|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|  12.0
 15 JENSEN, Ashley......  3|  2   1   9  .111|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   3.5
 3  PAGE, Brittney......  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 4  POIRIER, Coco.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 10 JOHNSON, Angie......  3|  5   2  14  .214|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 14 VERDOLJAK, Andrea...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  2|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  20 114  .237| 44|  5   5|  4| 38| 2 10  2|  2|  59.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  4  40  .375   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  13  7  33  .182   Eastern Washington.. (0) 28 28 28  20-9
   3  15  9  41  .146   Brigham Young....... (3) 30 30 30  19-11
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VARNER, April.......  3| 15   4  34  .324|  0|  0   1|  1|  7| 0  1  0|  0|  15.5
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  8   1  10  .700| 46|  2   4|  0|  7| 0  2  1|  2|  11.0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  4   2  12  .167|  7|  1   2|  1|  6| 1  3  0|  0|   7.5
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3| 14   5  23  .391|  0|  1   2|  2|  6| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  3|  7   2  18  .278|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  1|  0|   7.0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  9   4  22  .227|  1|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  9  0|  0|  13.5
 2  KIHOLM, Mandi.......  1|  2   1   6  .167|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 16 EVANS, Lindsey......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 59  19 125  .320| 55|  4  11|  5| 40| 1 18  2|  2|  73.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  4  40  .450   Site: BYU (Smith Field House)
   2  22  9  45  .289   Date: Nov 26, 2004   Attend: 1079   Time: 1H 40M
   3  15  6  40  .225   Referees: Daphne Nelson, Annette Cottle, Karen Marshall
                                         1   2   3 Total
                        Tie scores       4   4   4    12
                        Lead changes     3   4   3    10

PROVO -- The Cougars return home Friday night for what could be their final match of the 2004 season as they face the Eastern Washington Eagles at 7 p.m. At 18-11 on the year with a semifinal loss in last week's Mountain West Conference tournament, BYU needs to get a win this week and hope for an at-large invitation to the NCAA Championships.

"We're playing at a very high level," said BYU head coach Karen Lamb. "We've shown a lot of heart over the last few weeks. We've still got one more match to play and then we'll see what happens."

The match will mark the final home appearance for three Cougar seniors, April Varner, Lindsey Metcalf and Mandi Kiholm, who will be honored.

Varner, a three-year Cougar who transferred from Long Beach State College, leads BYU in digs with 2.61 per game, which also ranks seventh in the MWC. She recorded four double-doubles on the season to reach 15 in her career and with 11 digs against Colorado State in the MWC tournament, Varner reached 500 digs for her career.

All-MWC hitter Metcalf is the Cougars' most versatile athlete, beginning the season at the libero spot and seeing action as a traditional outside hitter before moving to the rightside. She finished sixth in the MWC in digs her junior season and is currently ninth in the league with a .285 hitting percentage. She also recorded her first career triple-double this season with 13 kills, 18 digs and 10 blocks at UNLV. Metcalf was selected to the CoSIDA District VIII Academic All-District team in each of the past two seasons.

A UVSC transfer, Kiholm has provided a spark off the bench in each of her two seasons at BYU. Against UVSC last season, she contributed by combining with Lindsy Hartsock on the match-sealing block and against New Mexico this year, she posted a career-high five blocks while helping BYU secure a victory. Kiholm also saw action in the Cougars' tournament loss to CSU, helping BYU fight back in game four with two kills and two blocks.

BYU will also recognize the winners of the annual "Thanks for Good Sports" contest, which rewards 13 local 5th and 6th graders for their efforts to promote sportsmanship at their respective schools. The winner of the promotion will take home a new bicycle courtesy of Mad Dog Cycle.

In last week's action as the third seed in the conference tourney, the Cougars easily defeated quarterfinal opponent San Diego State Thursday, earning their 11th sweep of the season with the 30-18, 30-28, 30-15 victory. BYU then faced tournament host and nationally-ranked Colorado State in the semifinals. The Cougars and Rams played a nail-biter in the final weekend of the regular-season with CSU finally prevailing in five games, but BYU could not recreate the magic against the Rams in the tournament, losing 30-19, 22-30, 17-30, 25-30.