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PROVO -- After dropping the first set, the BYU women’s volleyball team (12-10, 6-4 MWC) defeated Mountain West Conference foe UNLV (6-13, 4-7 MWC) in four sets (18-25, 25-15, 25-23, 23-14) Thursday night. The crowd of 1,478 marks BYU’s fourth-straight home crowd above the 1,000 mark.

“It’s crucial to win these conference games,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “Our goal is to win out the rest of the season. We’re taking it one game and one ball at a time.”

Donning pink uniforms in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Cougars were led in kills by senior Kayla Walker who recorded 13 and added 10 digs, giving her six double-doubles on the season. Casey Speredon-Thurston and Christina Measom added nine kills apiece, while Melissa Lake-Wright’s 18 digs marked her fourth-straight match in double-digits. Freshman Nicole Warner also boasted a .857 hitting percentage off of six kills and no errors.

The night began with the Cougars jumping out to a 6-3 lead off kills from Kiana Rogers, Warner, Measom and Walker. After a tied score of 9-9, the Rebels went on a 6-0 run to take a 13-9 lead. The deficit continued to increase despite several UNLV attack errors as the Rebels took the first set 25-18.

Both teams were evenly matched to start the second set, tying the score four times before either team had more than eight points. Thurston knocked down three kills as BYU scored six unanswered points to take a 14-8 lead. Next it was Measom’s turn to record a trio of attacks, leading the Cougars to a 25-15 win to tie the match one-set-all.

“Our serve really picked up in the second set,” said Goulding. “When we served well, our hitting went well. In that first game when we served out it made it really easy for UNLV.”

Finding themselves trailing early in the third set, the Cougars came back to take a 13-10 advantage after two Thurston kills and several UNLV miscues. Despite BYU holding a consistent lead throughout the remainder of the set, the Rebels came back to tie things up 23-23 after a kill by Kelsey Keeler. A UNLV service error brought up set-point for the Cougars, which was followed by a joint block from Warner and Camilla Phillips to clinch the 25-23 win.

Walker picked up her 10th kill of the night to give BYU an early 6-3 lead in the fourth set. The Cougars dominated as they went on an 8-point run to go up 18-8, thanks to kills by Phillips, Thurston and Rogers. The double-digit lead continued as BYU approached match-point and Phillips knocked down one last kill giving the Cougars the overall win.

During the break between the second and third sets, BYU honored all women who have suffered from breast cancer, including Goulding’s grandmother.

“It’s an honor to have her come out,” said Goulding. “That was a traumatic experience for our family, but this was a great opportunity to honor those who’ve had breast cancer and raise awareness.”

Up next the Cougars travel to take on TCU on Nov. 5 at 8:30 p.m. CT. The match will be televised live on The Mtn.

Volleyball Box Score
                           BYU Cougar Volleyball 2009
            UNLV Rebels vs BYU Cougars (Oct 29, 2009 at Provo, Utah)
   UNLV Rebels            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 SP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  TE'O, Nile..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   2|  2|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
5  KEELER, Kelsey......  4| 15  11  42  .095|  3|  0   0|  1|  8| 0  1  1|  1|  15.5
8  RICHARD, Samantha...  4|  4   1   8  .375| 38|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
9  NOLAND, Samantha....  4|  2   3   8 -.125|  2|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  1|   4.0
13 JACKSON, Cursty.....  4| 10   9  25  .040|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  2  1|  0|  11.0
18 GREENWOOD, Erin.....  4| 12   1  33  .333|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  14.0
1  LAU HEE, Kela.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   3|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
2  MAKIWI, Jealynn.....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 NEHF, Sara..........  4|  7   5  27  .074|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  1|   7.0
11 MAURER, Leah........  2|  1   0   4  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 51  30 147  .143| 47|  1   7|  4| 68| 0 12  2|  3|  58.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  17  4  35  .371  13-18  72%   SET SCORES                1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  8  39  .051  11-25  43%   UNLV Rebels......... (1) 25 15 23 14  6-13, 4-7 MWC
   3  15  8  43  .163  13-24  54%   BYU Cougars......... (3) 18 25 25 25  12-10, 6-4 MWC
   4   9 10  30 -.033  10-25  40%
   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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  LLOYD SORENSEN, Morg  4|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  2   2|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
7  MEASOM, Christina...  4|  9   3  21  .286|  1|  1   2|  0|  1| 0  7  0|  0|  13.5
9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  4|  3   0  10  .300| 38|  1   0|  0|  9| 0  7  1|  1|   7.5
12 WALKER, Kayla.......  4| 13   8  47  .106|  0|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  3  0|  0|  14.5
14 CARPENTER, Christie.  1|  1   2  12 -.083|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
15 WARNER, Nicole......  4|  6   0   7  .857|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  6  0|  0|   9.0
5  TAUALII SOON, Brooke  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
6  GOODSELL, Chelsea...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
10 PHILLIPS, Camilla...  4|  8   3  17  .294|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0|   9.5
11 LAKE WRIGHT, Melissa  4|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
20 SPEREDON THURSTON,Ca  3|  9   1  27  .296|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   9.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  4| 49  17 142  .225| 42|  4   6|  1| 53| 0 27  1|  1|  66.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER SET                                            TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
 Set   K  E  TA   Pct Sideout Pct
   1  11  6  41  .122  13-25  51%   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  12  3  33  .273  11-15  73%   Date: Oct 29, 2009   Attend: 1478   Time: 1H 41M
   3  14  6  38  .211  14-24  58%   Referees: GARY HOUGHTON, TOM GIVEN, KAREN MARSHALL;JR;MF
   4  12  2  30  .333  10-14  71%
                                         1   2   3   4 Total
                        Tie scores       1   5   9   0    15
                        Lead changes     1   1   3   0     5

PROVO -- After a five-match heartbreaking loss to Utah at home Friday, the BYU women’s volleyball team (10-10, 5-4) looks for revenge on Utah Valley (16-7, 6-1) and UNLV (6-12, 4-6) Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

“We’re looking to get as many people healthy as possible to face UVU and UNLV this week,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “They are both great teams so we are going to have to excel in the serving and passing part of our game to win. We have made huge improvements in the last couple weeks and we only look to get better as the season continues.”

BYU has yet to lose a match to UVU with the all-time series record of 6-0 while BYU also leads the UNLV series 22-6, beating the Rebels 3-0 earlier this season on Oct. 3 in Las Vegas.

Thursday’s match against UNLV will be a DIG PINK match for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all fans are encouraged to wear pink along with the Cougars.

The Cougars’ last time out was in front of a season-high 2,249 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse the Cougars battled a close match with the Utes, falling in five sets. The Cougars were led by outside hitter Christie Carpenter with 17 kills, followed by Camilla Phillips who tallied a career-high nine kills.

Nicole Warner and Christina Measom both finished off the night with eight kills. Morgan Lloyd Sorensen tied her career high of 24 digs, making this the fourth-straight match with double-digit digs, and Melissa Lake Wright came away with 12 digs, her second-straight match with double-digit digs as well.

All fans are encouraged to wear blue to cheer on their Cougars Tuesday night and pink in honor of breast cancer awareness month for Thursday’s match. The Cougars will next travel to TCU Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. CT.