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PROVO -- First-year BYU head coach Shay Goulding celebrated her first career Division I victory Friday night as the BYU women’s volleyball team swept Utah State (25-16, 25-23, 25-13) in the 2008 season opener for both teams. Action Friday night from the BYU Molten Classic also saw Missouri defeat Tulane in four games.

“I’m very pleased with our result tonight,” said Goulding. “Utah State did a great job, but we showed a lot of maturity and composure. We have a lot of work to do, but overall, it was a great way to start our season.”

The first match of the year saw several new Cougars in action as true freshman Malia Marquardt and junior transfers Kayla Walker (Pepperdine) and Morgan Lloyd (Salt Lake Community College) made their first BYU starts. All three made the most of the opportunity as Marquardt tied for team-high honors with 10 kills on .421 hitting while Walker added nine putaways on .353 hitting and Lloyd tallied 14 digs. Senior Bryn Porter also posted 10 kills and tied her career high with five blocks while junior Ashton Hansen Hosford paced the Cougars with seven rejections. Senior Rachel Dyer notched seven kills on .545 hitting.

“All of our newcomers did a great job tonight,” said Goulding. “They’ve integrated well with our returning players. They were a huge factor.”

Set one was an evenly matched battle through the first half as the two teams scrambled for even point. With the Cougars trailing by one point at 12-11, Marquardt announced her presence on the BYU volleyball scene with two kills and a block to spark a 4-0 Cougar run. The Aggies scored two of the next three points to get to within two at 16-14, but from there it was all BYU as a 9-2 run sealed the 25-16 win, the Cougars’ first set victory of the season. BYU hit an impressive .462 in the set while tallying 4.5 blocks.

After an early 7-4 BYU lead in set two, Utah State stormed back with 5-1 run to take a 9-8 advantage. The momentum continued to swing wildly as a 12-10 Cougar lead quickly became a 15-13 Aggie advantage with scoring spurts working on both sides of the net. Strong defensive play allowed USU to stay in front to a score of 21-17, but just when it looked like the Aggies would even the match, the home crowd got the Cougars going. BYU scored eight of the last 10 points to take the 25-23 win, getting help from all over the court in a balanced team effort.

Sensing a season-opening victory just around the corner, BYU came out strong in set three, scoring the first six points of the set while jumping out to a 10-2 lead with dominating offensive play. Trailing 14-4, the Aggies fought back with three straight points, but the BYU lead proved insurmountable. The Cougars cruised to a 25-13 victory while holding the Aggies to just -.167 hitting in the set.

The Cougars will continue play in the Molten Classic on Saturday, hosting Tulane at 12 p.m. and Missouri at 7:30 p.m. Utah State will play Missouri at 10 a.m. and Tulane at 5:30 p.m. All four matches can be followed via live stats on the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page.

Missouri Defeats Tulane in Four Sets

The women’s volleyball season at BYU began on Friday night with the first match of the Molten Classic in the Smith Fieldhouse, where, unusually, no one was cheering for the Cougars.

The Missouri Tigers took the first win of the tournament over the Tulane Green Wave in a four-game match. The key contributor for Missouri was sophomore Weiwen Wang with 15 kills, seven blocks and 22.5 points. Also notable was Missouri’s Caitlyn Vann with 17 digs. Senior Sara Radosevic of Tulane marked 16 kills, seven digs and 17 points.

The first set proved to be a warm-up for both teams, with each offense struggling. The Tigers chalked up eight kills as a team with 12 digs and a hitting percentage of .079. The Green Wave brought relatively higher numbers with 16 team kills, 18 digs and a hitting percentage of .154. Although Missouri’s defense produced five team blocks, it was not enough to overtake Tulane, who pulled through with a win, 25-23.

Set two brought a closer game and longer rallies. After a back-and-forth battle for the first seven points, the momentum of set one was with the Green Wave as they had a four-point streak, bringing the score to 10-7. The Tigers fought back, and, with the help of Wang and her seven kills, had their own streak to achieve a nine-point lead for a score of 23-14. In spite of Tulane’s best efforts, it could not catch Missouri’s lead as the Tigers eventually took the win, 25-20.

With each team experiencing a win, set three continued to show the even matchup between the two schools. Missouri’s defense was again on top of things with seven team blocks, two individually going to Wang, proving her to be a key contributor for the Tigers. Even so, Tulane maintained a lead for a majority of the set. The Tigers didn’t see a lead until the last two points for an unexpected win of 26-24.

Missouri sealed the match win in the final set where, after an initial battle for the lead, the Tigers were ahead the whole set. Tulane fought in the beginning but lost momentum as Missouri took six straight points for a score of 14-10. The Tigers took the win quickly after that, with a final score of 25-14.

PROVO -- The No. 20 BYU women’s volleyball team will kick off the 2008 season this weekend hosting the annual BYU Molten Classic in the Smith Fieldhouse. The event will feature six matches in total with the Cougars competing Friday night at 7 p.m. against Utah State and twice on Saturday.

“We are opening the season with some great opponents,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “The first big test is in-state rival Utah State on Friday night. We know they will come to play. It will really give us a chance to measure where we are and what we must do to get where we want to go. The girls are ready and anxious to get on the court and to prove themselves.”

In addition to the Cougars and Aggies, Missouri and Tulane will also be playing on Elaine Michaelis Court this weekend. Both teams received votes in the preseason AVCA/CBS College Sports Top 25 Poll while the Cougars are ranked No. 20. BYU leads the all-time series over Utah State, 49-13, while the Cougars have never faced the Tigers or Green Wave.

The Molten Classic will get started on Friday at 4 p.m. with Missouri and Tulane facing off. BYU will then open its season at 7 p.m. against the Aggies. Saturday’s early action will feature Utah State vs. Missouri at 10 a.m. followed by BYU vs. Tulane at 12 p.m. The tournament will conclude Saturday evening with a 5:30 p.m. match pitting Utah State against Tulane and a 7:30 contest between BYU and Missouri.

Senior middle blocker Rachel Dyer, an AVCA All-America honorable mention recipient last season, headlines three returning starters among eight letterwinners from last year’s team that advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinals. Goulding enters her first season as the head coach at BYU after a highly successful tenure at Salt Lake Community College over the past five years and will be looking to record her first Division I victory on Friday.

BYU is 32-6 all-time in season openers (no match-by-match records for 1971) and has not lost a season opener since 1999. This year marks the first time since 1990 that the Cougars have opened the season at home and just the 13th time overall in the 40-year recorded history of the program. BYU is 10-2 overall when beginning the season in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Live stats will be available for all six matches while the BYU vs. USU contest will be available via Internet video streaming for CSTV XXL and BYU All-Access subscribers. For links to these options, visit the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page on the BYU women’s volleyball home page at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/.

Promotions

Friday, 7 p.m. – New Student Night (admission is free for all new BYU students)

Saturday, 12 p.m. – Free admission

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. - $1 admission with football ticket stub; create-a-sign contest (supplies will be provided)