PROVO -- BYU women’s volleyball (3-2) defeated a mentally tough Cal Poly Mustang (0-5) squad Friday night in five sets (25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 16-25, 15-13) in the second match of the BYU Nike Classic at the Smith Fieldhouse. After losing the first two sets the Mustangs continued to give the Cougars their best, winning the next two sets. However, thanks to the combined forces of BYU’s hitters the Cougars finished the match victorious with a 15-13 win in set five.

"I was really pleased with how we started," said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. "Although sets three and four were disappointing, the team we put out there was playing well and was doing what we wanted it to do. We love playing tournament games like this, especially at home, because it gives us the opportunity to play many matches in a short period of time so we'll be ready to go when conference play starts."

The Cougars were led by Senior Kayla Walker who had a career high 22 kills with .314 hitting percentage. She also tied her career high with eight blocks (one solo block) and had seven digs. Casey Speredon Thurston and redshirt freshman Nicole Warner each posted eight kills while Christie Carpenter and Christina Measom also contributed with seven kills each. Junior setter Kiana Rogers had 41 assists and two kills. Libero Melissa Lake Wright had 14 digs.

Holly Franks led Cal Poly with 16 kills and 6 blocks. Molly Pon posted 13 kills while Megan McConnell had 12 kills. Setter Hailey Fithian assisted on 37 points for the Mustangs.

Down 1-2 in the opening minutes of the first set, the Cougars bounced back with kills from Christie Carpenter and Kayla Walker during a BYU 3-0 run. With a 22-17 lead late in the first set Walker sparked the Cougars with her first solo block of the season. The Mustangs then scored two straight points but it wasn’t enough as BYU finished off the first set with a kill by Walker and a set-point by Thurston.

BYU came out strong in the second set to take an early 4-1 lead but Cal Poly did not give up, fighting back to tie the set at 4-4. The second set remained tight until BYU went on a 6-0 run thanks to the combined attack of Walker, Measom and Chelsea Goodsell putting BYU ahead 17-9. However, once again Cal Poly would not go down without a fight bringing the score to 24-22. Despite the Mustangs persistence, BYU did not let up and won the second set 25-22 with an easy kill by Camilla Phillips for the win.

The third set was a battle from the very beginning with both teams exchanging points to tie the score at 2-2, the first of 10 ties in the set. Cal Poly continued to give the Cougars their best pulling ahead 6-3 early on. BYU fought back with a 4-0 run to take a 10-7 lead but once again Cal Poly came back to tie the score 10-10. The Mustangs pulled ahead 16-18 but Walker led the cougars back with 2 consecutive kills spurring a 4-0 run. Rogers pancaked the ball to Carpenter for a kill for the fourth point of the run. Again, the Cougars could not shake the Mustangs who tied the score at 20-20 and went on to win the set 25-22.

Walker began the fourth set with three kills and a block to combat and tie Cal Poly at 4-4. The Mustangs did not back down from the BYU 6-5 rightside hitter taking a 13-6 lead. However, it was Walker who ended Cal Poly’s 7-0 run with a kill. BYU was forced to take a timeout with the Mustangs leading 20-12. Although Walker came out of the timeout with yet another kill for the Cougars, BYU was unable to comeback as Cal Poly won the fourth set 25-16.

With the match on the line BYU opened the fifth set with a 3-0 run forcing Cal Poly Head Coach Jon Stevenson to call a timeout. The timeout proved to be effective as Cal Poly scored two consecutive points of their own and continued to battle back tying the score at 11 and again at 13. Still, the BYU combined team effort proved to be too much for the Mustangs as BYU won the set 15-13.

The Cougars will play two matches Saturday beginning at noon against Weber State. They will conclude the BYU Nike Classic by playing Kansas State at 7 p.m. Saturday. All BYU students will be admitted for free with a valid student ID card.

#23 Kansas State downs Weber State in first game of BYU Nike Classic

The Nike Classic volleyball tournament at BYU began Friday night in the Smith Fieldhouse. The first match of the tournament seeded the No. 23-ranked Kansas State Wildcats (2-2) against the Big Sky’s Weber State Wildcats (1-3).

The Kansas State Wildcats notched the first win of the tournament, with a three set match win. The weakness of the Weber State team was hitting percentage, as they ended the match at a .186-.356 disadvantage. The key contributor for the victorious Wildcats was Kelsey Chipman with 15.5 total points and 11 kills. Senior Caitlyn Anderson led Weber State with 9.0 total points.

The first set of the match was back and forth throughout. Kansas State fell behind early, but came back quickly thanks to a 5-0 run to tie the score at 13. The lead continued to rotate between the teams until Kansas State went ahead 21-20. With the help of libero Caitlyn Donahue, who scored a set-high 5.5 points, Kansas State won the first set 25-22.

The second set of the match began the same as the first, with the two Wildcat teams constantly rotating the lead. Kansas State took their biggest lead late in the game after a 6-0 made the score 19-12. Despite Weber State’s best efforts in a comeback, Kansas State came away with the win to take a 2-0 overall lead (25-22, 25-22). Kansas State’s second set victory came despite a .265 hitting percentage, compared with the .444 hitting percentage they posted in set one. Kelsey Chipman led the set in total points, with 8.5.

Kansas State sealed the early victory in set three. The Big 12-member Wildcats took an early 6-2 lead and never let up. JuliAnne Chisholm dominated the set with a set-best 9.0 points. The biggest advantage for Kansas State came in the form of hitting percentage. Weber State finished set three with a match low .161 hitting percentage, compared with Kansas State’s .440 hitting percentage. Weber State was never in this set, as Kansas State ended the match with a 25-17 final set victory.

Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
             Cal Poly vs BYU Cougars (Sep 04, 2009 at Provo, Utah)
   Cal Poly               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Olowolafe, Dominique  5| 10   5  28  .179|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  5  0|  0|  12.5
4  Smith, Catie........  5|  0   2   6 -.333|  1|  2   3|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
6  Pon, Molly..........  5| 13   7  31  .194|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|  13.0
8  Keddy, Jennifer.....  2|  0   1   3 -.333|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  2|  0|   0.0
14 Keanini, Anuhea.....  5|  0   1   1-1.000| 15|  0   2|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
21 Franks, Holly.......  5| 16  10  40  .150|  7|  0   4|  0|  8| 1  5  1|  0|  19.5
2  Mort, Alison........  5|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  1   0|  2| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
3  Fithian, Hailey.....  4|  2   0   4  .500| 37|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  1|   2.5
5  McConnell, Megan....  5| 12   3  25  .360|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  2  0|  0|  13.0
11 Law, Lauren.........  5|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  1| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
15 Santos, Anicia......  5|  9   2  17  .412|  0|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  13.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 63  31 158  .203| 61|  5  11|  4| 59| 1 18  3|  1|  78.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  10  4  21  .286  14-25  56%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10 11  44 -.023  12-24  50%   Cal Poly............ (2) 18 22 25 25 13  0-5
   3  15  9  37  .162  11-23  47%   BYU Cougars......... (3) 25 25 22 16 15  3-2
   4  17  4  36  .361  12-16  75%
   5  11  3  20  .400  10-14  71%
   BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6  GOODSELL, Chelsea...  5|  0   2   5 -.400|  2|  1   2|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  5|  3   1   7  .286| 41|  1   1|  0|  7| 0  3  0|  0|   5.5
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  5|  0   0   1  .000|  3|  0   1|  1| 14| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  5| 22   6  51  .314|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 1  7  0|  0|  26.5
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  5|  7   5  17  .118|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  6  2|  0|  10.0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  5|  8   5  24  .125|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  5  2|  0|  10.5
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  5|  0   0   0  .000|  4|  2   1|  2| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
7  MEASOM, Christina...  5|  7   6  27  .037|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  1|  0|   7.5
10 PHILLIPS, Camilla...  2|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
20 SPEREDON THURSTON,Ca  5|  8   2  18  .333|  1|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  2|  0|   9.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  5| 56  27 151  .192| 53|  4   7|  5| 52| 1 25  7|  0|  73.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  15  4  25  .440  14-18  77%   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  12 10  39  .051  13-23  56%   Date: Sep 04, 2009   Attend: 1145   Time: 2:20 pm
   3   7  5  29  .069  10-24  41%   Referees: Maile Jewkes, Daphne Nelson, Karen Marshall
   4  11  6  39  .128  12-25  47%
   5  11  2  19  .474  11-14  78%
                                         1   2   3   4   5 Total
                        Tie scores       3   1  12   3   3    22
                        Lead changes     1   0   8   2   0    11

PROVO -- After having four road games the BYU Cougars (2-2) will come home to the Smith Fieldhouse Friday and Saturday to host the BYU Nike Classic. Kansas State, Weber State and Cal Poly are the featured teams for the 30th year of the tournament.

“We’re very excited to be playing on our home court,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “The last two games were losses partially because of the other team’s home-court advantage. We’ve collected ourselves after the last couple games and we’re ready to play. We’ll be looking for a couple players to step up and lead this team this weekend.”

Preseason tournaments hosted by BYU have been a tradition since 1977. With the exception of two years (1993 and 1999), the Cougars have hosted at least one tournament each year. It is one of college volleyball’s longest running traditions, and although the name of the marquee tournament has evolved over the years from the BYU Preview to the BYU Invitational to the BYU Mizuno Classic to the BYU Molten Classic, to the current BYU Nike Classic, the premise has always been the same – to gather top teams from around the country for intense competition.

The Nike Classic will get started on Friday at 5 p.m. with Kansas State and Weber State facing off. BYU will then open its home season at 7 p.m. against Cal Poly. Saturday’s early action will feature Cal Poly vs. Kansas State at 10 a.m. followed by BYU vs. Weber State at 12 p.m. The tournament will conclude Saturday evening with a 5 p.m. match pitting Weber State against Cal Poly and a 7 p.m. contest between BYU and Kansas State.

Live stats will be available for all six matches while the BYU vs. Weber State contest will be available via Internet video streaming for BYU All-Access subscribers. For links to these options, visit the BYU women’s volleyball schedule page by clicking HERE.

Because All-Sport passes have not yet been distributed, all students can get into the volleyball matches with a valid BYU student ID.