PROVO -- In a match that saw all of BYU's starters for the first time since Sept. 7, the No. 17 Cougar women's volleyball team (19-2, 9-1 MWC) earned its 13th sweep of the season with a 30-15, 30-14, 30-23 win over Weber State Tuesday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.
"It was nice to have a line up back that has been missing for quite some time," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "It was good to get our starters comfortable playing together again and build some confidence going into our match against Utah on Friday."
The return of starting middle blocker Rachel Dyer to the line up after missing two weeks with a foot injury marked the first time in 14 matches that the Cougars have had the services of their entire starting rotation. Starting setter Amy Schlauder missed eight matches with a broken finger suffered on Sept. 7 while starting rightside hitter Erica Lott missed two matches (Sept. 29 against Utah and Oct. 3 at UVSC) with a back injury. Dyer injured her foot the day before Lott and Schlauder returned to the starting line up on Oct. 6.
"It's great to get back on the court with my teammates," said Dyer. "It was really fun. I feel great, and I'm excited for Friday."
Schlauder took full advantage of having an intact starting line up as she spread the ball around offensively, allowing several Cougars to get in on the action. Senior outside hitter Kim Wilson Sorensen led BYU with 13 kills on a season-high .565 hitting, marking the seventh straight match in which she has reached double-digit kills. Erica Lott and Bryn Porter each added eight kills while Dyer posted five in two games and Goodman four in one game. Dyer also led BYU with a season-high seven blocks.
"I'm very happy for Kim (Sorensen)," said Watson. "I'm happy that she's found her identity and been able to have success lately. We're going to need her to do that as we get into the tail end of the season."
Dyer immediately announced her presence in the match with a kill on the first ball of game one, sparking a 6-1 BYU run to start things off. The smash off the slide set the tone for the rest of the game as the Cougars cruised to a 30-15 win in the opening period. Dyer recorded four kills and four blocks while Sorensen slammed home six kills on six swings.
The momentum continued in game two for the Cougars as they jumped out to an 8-2 lead and never looked back on the way to a 30-14 win. BYU's defense was stifling in the second stanza, putting up four team blocks, including three more from Dyer, and keeping Weber State completely out of its offense with a -.082 hitting percentage through the first two games.
"I thought we served and blocked particularly well, which enabled us to do a nice job defensively against Weber," said Watson.
Weber State came out firing in game three, posting a quick 8-3 lead on the Cougars, who went to their bench in the third period. BYU tied it up at 9-9 on the strength of Sorensen's swing, but could not manage to put the Wildcats away as the two teams battled back and forth. However, the Cougars kept their composure and continued fighting to find a way, finally getting the run they needed with a 6-0 spurt to go up 22-17. While the Wildcats continued applying pressure, the crowd and the momentum on BYU's side proved too much as the Cougars sealed the match with the 30-23 win.
The Cougars' next match will pit the No. 17 BYU squad against No. 9 Utah on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Salt Lake City. The Utes are just one match ahead of the Cougars in the league standings, having beaten BYU in four games in Provo earlier this season. The match can be heard live on BYU Radio.
Volleyball Box Score
BYU Cougars
Weber State Wildcats vs #17 BYU Cougars (Oct 24, 2006 at Provo, Utah)
Weber State Wildcats | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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3 Leah Burmeister..... 3| 7 8 23 -.043| 1| 1 3| 1| 8| 0 1 0| 0
9 Brittney Bisaillon.. 3| 3 1 9 .222| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0
11 Amy Dunford......... 3| 2 3 8 -.125| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0
12 Kristi Lindley...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 15| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0
13 Caitlyn Anderson.... 3| 1 5 10 -.400| 0| 0 0| 2| 3| 0 0 0| 0
14 Jenna Leggat........ 3| 6 9 28 -.107| 2| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 0
2 Kellie Henry........ 3| 3 1 13 .154| 0| 2 1| 1| 0| 0 0 0| 1
5 Kaytie Thorpe....... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0
6 Kolbie Murphey...... 2| 5 2 11 .273| 0| 0 1| 0| 1| 1 2 0| 0
7 Keelee Kap.......... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 1| 1| 2| 0 0 0| 0
8 Heather Spencer..... 3| 0 0 2 .000| 7| 0 2| 0| 3| 0 2 0| 2
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Totals.............. 3| 27 29 104 -.019| 27| 3 9| 5| 36| 1 8 0| 3
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 5.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 4 10 27 -.222 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 10 9 34 .029 Weber State Wildcats (0) 15 14 23 4-23
3 13 10 43 .070 BYU Cougars......... (3) 30 30 30 19-2
BYU Cougars | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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1 GOODMAN, Chelsea.... 1| 4 3 10 .100| 0| 0 2| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0
7 SORENSEN, Kim....... 3| 13 0 23 .565| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 3 0| 0
10 LOTT, Erica......... 3| 8 1 19 .368| 1| 2 2| 2| 7| 0 4 0| 0
14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy.... 2| 1 1 5 .000| 1| 1 1| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0
15 SCHLAUDER, Amy...... 3| 1 0 3 .333| 34| 0 1| 0| 8| 0 3 1| 0
44 DYER, Rachel........ 2| 5 2 10 .300| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 7 0| 0
2 BEAUMONT, Janvier... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 1| 0 0 0| 0
4 HANSEN, Ashton...... 1| 0 0 3 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0
8 VANDERSTEEN, Marisa. 1| 0 3 4 -.750| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 0| 0
11 PINEGAR, Annie...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 0| 0| 11| 0 0 0| 0
13 PORTER, Bryn........ 2| 8 3 16 .312| 1| 1 1| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 0
20 JUDKINS, Jenna...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 40 13 93 .290| 40| 5 7| 3| 37| 0 24 1| 0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 6 33 .333 Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
2 8 1 16 .438 Date: Oct 24, 2006 Attend: 954 Time: 1h30m
3 15 6 44 .205 Referees: Daphne Nelson, Tom Given, Ryan Mortensen
PROVO -- The No. 17 BYU women's volleyball team will step out of Mountain West Conference play on Tuesday night with a match against Weber State at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The contest pitting the Cougars (18-2, 9-1 MWC) and the Wildcats (4-22, 1-11 Big Sky) will be televised nationally on BYU-TV.
"Weber State is an in-state nonconference opponent with a lot of the same systems as us," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "It's important for us to be successful against in-state competition. We hope we can come in focused and determined to do our best."
BYU is coming off two weekend sweeps of UNLV and San Diego State that improved the Cougars to 19-1 at home over the last two seasons. BYU's attendance average of 2,147 currently ranks eighth in the nation.
Of the seven overall statistical categories tracked by the Mountain West Conference, BYU players lead the league in four of them (hitting percentage -- Rachel Dyer; kills -- Chelsea Goodman; assists -- Amy Schlauder; points -- Chelsea Goodman) and are second in one other (blocks -- Lindsy Hartsock). Goodman is also ranked in the remaining two statistical categories as she is ninth in aces and 10th in digs. BYU also packs one-two punches in three categories as Rachel Dyer and Lindsy Hartsock rank first and second, respectively, in hitting percentage; Chelsea Goodman and Erica Lott rank first and second, respectively, in kills; and Goodman and Lott also rank first and second, respectively, in points.
The Wildcats are 4-22 so far this season, having split two matches against Utah Valley State College and losing in three games to Utah. Weber State is also 0-10 on the road. The Wildcats are sophomore outside hitters Chelsea Bair with 3.33 kills per game and Leah Burmeister with 3.13 kpg. Bair is also second on the team in digs per game with 3.44 while senior libero Keelee Kap paces Weber with 4.17 dpg. The Wildcat block is led by sophomore middle blocker Brittney Bisaillon, who averages 1.45 blocks per game. As a team, the Wildcats hit .145 while allowing opponents a .208 attack efficiency. BYU has never lost to Weber State, going 54-0 in the all-time series.
Fans of BYU women's volleyball can catch all the action of Tuesday's match in a variety of ways. In addition to the national BYU-TV broadcast, the match will be streamed live over the Internet to all BYU Cougars All-Access and CSTV XXL subscribers. Live stats will also be available. Links to these options can be found by clicking on the schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at www.byucougars.com.
BYU will return to action on Friday as the Cougars travel to Sal Lake City to take on No. 9 Utah in match with MWC title implications.