COLUMBIA -- Kayla Walker and Kiana Rogers posted double-doubles as they led BYU to a sweep (25-17, 25-22, 25-16) of Texas State at the Tiger Invitational on Saturday. The Cougars have now started 2-0 for seven-straight seasons and will conclude play at the Tiger Invitational tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT against Missouri.

“I’m pleased with the composure and efforts of our team right now,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “We are learning and getting better each match. We have played two nice teams and we look forward to meeting Missouri tonight. They have a great program and a terrific crowd. It will be a fun match tonight.”

Walker had a team-high 13 kills on .387 hitting to go with 11 digs and two blocks. Rogers set BYU to a .302 hitting percentage and had 30 assists, a match-high 12 digs and six blocks. Nicole Warner (eight kills) and Casey Speredon Thurston (five kills) hit .500 apiece.

Jessica Weynand had a match-high 18 kills to lead Texas State and Brittany Collins had 20 assists. Caleigh McCorquodale had a team-high nine digs.

With the scored tied early in set one, Thurston pounded a kill that sparked a 3-0 run and the Cougars never looked back. Walker followed with back-to-back kills and BYU extended to a 9-6 lead. Texas State got within two at 10-8 but a Christina Measom kill started a 6-1 run that helped the Cougars pull away. Leading 21-17, BYU recorded blocks for the final four points — Warner had a hand in three — to close out the set.

Walker finished the first set with five kills and four digs while Rogers and Warner posted four blocks apiece. BYU hit .400 as a team with Rogers posting 14 assists. The Cougars collected seven team blocks and limited the Bobcats to .119 hitting as a team.

BYU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in set two on an ace by Morgan Lloyd Sorensen and a kill by Christie Carpenter but Texas State responded with a 4-0 run to take its first lead of the match. The Bobcats extended their lead to 7-4 but the Cougars came back to tie at 8-all on back-to-back Texas State attack errors.

The set was tied seven more times and Texas State led 17-14 before BYU took the lead for good at 20-19 on a Walker kill. Rogers followed with a kill and Walker added two more to help the Cougars close out the set with a 25-22 victory. BYU hit .321 in set two compared to .182 for the Bobcats. Walker led the way in set two with four kills while Warner, Carpenter and Thurston had two apiece.

Set three was all BYU early on as Rogers and Measom teamed up on blocks to make it 2-0. After a Warner kill gave the Cougars a 5-1 lead Texas State clawed back to cut the BYU advantage to one at 9-8. The Cougars were quick to respond to the challenge as Walker posted a kill and Measom and Carpenter posted a rejection to help start a 6-2 lead that made it 15-10. BYU dominated the rest of the way and posted a 10-6 run to win 25-16.

Walker had a team-best four kills in set three while Warner connected on 3-of-4 attempts and Measom had four blocks.

 Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
           Texas State vs BYU Cougars (Aug 29, 2009 at Columbia, Mo.)
   Texas State            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5  Caleigh McCorquodale  3|  0   0   0  .000| 10|  0   1|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
8  Matti Schumacher....  3|  2   3   7 -.143|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  Jessica Weynand.....  3| 18   6  41  .293|  1|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
12 Brittany Collins....  3|  0   1   5 -.200| 20|  1   3|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
13 Mo Middleton........  3|  5   4  22  .045|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
17 AJ Watlington.......  3|  5   4  17  .059|  0|  0   1|  2|  4| 0  0  0|  0
1  Shelbi Irvin........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
2  Lydia Werchan.......  2|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
3  Ally Buitron........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
10 Ashley Emanuel......  3|  5   5  14  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
11 Whitney Rhoden......  1|  0   2   6 -.333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  1|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 35  26 113  .080| 35|  1   8|  2| 42| 0  0  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 0.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  13  8  42  .119   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  12  6  33  .182   Texas State......... (0) 17 22 16  0-3
   3  10 12  38 -.053   BYU Cougars......... (3) 25 25 25  2-0
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7  MEASOM, Christina...  3|  5   1  11  .364|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  3|  1   0   4  .250| 30|  0   1|  0| 12| 1  5  0|  0
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  3| 13   1  31  .387|  0|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  2  0|  0
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  3|  6   5  24  .042|  1|  1   1|  0|  6| 1  5  1|  0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  3|  8   1  14  .500|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0
20 SPEREDON THURSTON,Ca  3|  5   0  10  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   2|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
2  HANNEMANN, Heather..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 PHILLIPS, Camilla...  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0
16 LAU, Stephanie......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 38   9  96  .302| 38|  2   6|  1| 45| 3 20  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  2  35  .400   Site: Columbia, Mo. (Hearnes Center)
   2  12  3  28  .321   Date: Aug 29, 2009   Attend:     Time: 1:23
   3  10  4  33  .182   Referees: Jose Jones, Daryl Korinek, Kent Brockman

PROVO -- The BYU women’s volleyball team will kick off the 2009 season this weekend traveling to the Tiger Invitational held at the University of Missouri. The event will feature six matches in total with the Cougars competing Friday at 3 p.m. MT against Ole Miss and twice on Saturday against Texas State at 9 a.m. MT and Missouri at 5:30 p.m. MT.

“We are opening the season with some great opponents,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “It will be an exciting weekend and we know each team 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.”

Senior rightside hitter, Kayla Walker, will lead the Cougars in the Tiger Invite. She was named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Conference Team, leading the Cougars with 285 kills last season. Anchoring the team in the back row is libero Melissa Lake Wright, who led with 253 digs in 2008.

BYU is 33-6 all-time in season openers (no match-by-match records for 1971) and has not lost a season opener since 1999. The team leads Ole Miss 2-0 in the all-time series, the last meeting was the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament where the Cougars won 3-0. BYU also leads the all-time series against Missouri 1-0, with the only meeting coming in 2008, which was a five-set win for the Cougars. Saturday’s meeting against Texas State will be the first in history.

The Ole Miss Rebels finished the 2008 campaign with a 14-15 mark and a 10-10 record in Southeastern Conference play. Led by sophomore Katie Norris, who paced the team with 321 kills in 2008 despite only starting 15 matches, the Rebels have one of the youngest teams in the SEC with only one senior on their roster. The lone senior - Caitlin Weiss - finished second on the team with 205 kills during the 2008 season.

The Texas State Bobcats come into the 2009 season as the defending Southland Conference Champion. Overall, Texas State finished with a 23-14 record in 2008, including a 14-2 mark in league play. The Bobcats are led by senior Jessica Weynand, who led the team in kills (372), digs (365) and service aces (35).

Missouri returns five starters and its libero from last season as nearly 70-percent of the team's point production returns to the floor, highlighted by Julianna Klein, who finished 2008 with a team-best 446.0 points. The Tigers also return 91-percent of their season dig total as all three back-row regulars - libero Caitlyn Vann, Annie Lopez and Priscilla Armendariz - each return for another season. The trio accounted for 1,052 digs in 2009, accounting for 62-percent of the returning defense. Each of the nine players returning in 2009 saw action in at least 22 of Mizzou's 30 matches in 2008.

Live stats will be available for all six matches; visit the Mizzou women’s volleyball schedule page on the Mizzou women’s volleyball home page by clicking HERE to access these links.