PROVO -- Courtney Cox had 19 kills to lead unbeaten and No. 6-ranked Colorado State to a three-game win over No. 16 BYU Friday at the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars, now 16-5 on the year, fell 24-30, 28-30, 27-30 to the now 20-0 Rams.
The Cougars find themselves in third place in the Mountain West Conference standings at 8-3 while Colorado State remains atop the league with a 10-0 record. Colorado State plays second-place Utah (9-2) Saturday in Salt Lake City.
"Colorado State is a very mature and accomplished team," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "They have a lot of weapons. Our passing wasn't on tonight and it disrupted our offense."
The Cougars struggled early with their passing, which reflected in the team's .108 attack percentage in game one. The Cougars rebounded to play better in games two and three but lost two closely contested battles with a Ram team that has only lost three games all year while achieving its perfect 20-0 record.
"Anytime you can come into this kind of place and win its big -- really big," Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert said. "Courtney (Cox) played an outstanding match, especially at crunch time."
Cox hit .300 with 19 kills, including several key points to keep the Cougars at bay during the final two games. Angela Knopf added 16 kills and Soraya Santos 14 for the Rams.
BYU hit .220 for the match compared to the Rams' .277 attack. BYU had a one-dig edge with 45, while Colorado State had six team blocks, one more than BYU. Sunny Mahe had 12 kills to lead BYU. Lauren Richards and Jackie Bundy added nine kills apiece.
With the loss, the Cougars suffered their first back-to-back home setbacks since September 1996 when BYU lost three straight matches to Pacific, Pepperdine and Long Beach State. Before its recent four road wins, BYU lost to Utah State on Oct. 16 in Provo.
The Rams' win was their first regular season victory in Provo since 1984.
Volleyball Box Score
The Automated ScoreBook
Colorado State vs BYU Cougars (Nov 02, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
Colorado State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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3 DARGER, Emily....... 3| 3 4 15 -.067| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 3.0
5 KNOPF, Angela....... 3| 16 3 32 .406| 1| 0 0| 1| 11| 0 2 1| 0| 17.0
6 SANTOS, Soraya...... 3| 14 3 24 .458| 0| 0 2| 2| 4| 0 3 0| 0| 15.5
14 KERR, Lindsey....... 3| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 1 0| 1| 9| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0
15 PECKHAM, Allison.... 3| 0 0 4 .000| 55| 1 2| 0| 7| 0 1 0| 1| 1.5
20 KERR, Kelly......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 2 0| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0| 2.0
4 COX, Courtney....... 3| 19 7 40 .300| 1| 0 1| 0| 6| 0 3 0| 0| 20.5
10 SARAUER, Becky...... 3| 1 2 4 -.250| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0
13 KNOX, Michelle...... 3| 9 3 21 .286| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 5 0| 0| 11.5
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Totals.............. 3| 62 23 141 .277| 59| 4 5| 4| 44| 0 14 1| 1| 73.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 19 7 39 .308 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 23 7 51 .314 Colorado State...... 30 30 30 20 - 0 10 - 0 MWC
3 20 9 51 .216 BYU Cougars......... 24 28 27 16 - 5 8 - 3 MWC
BYU Cougars | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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2 WHITTAKER, Natalie.. 3| 8 0 23 .348| 2| 1 0| 0| 6| 0 2 0| 0| 10.0
5 PUIKKONEN, Karina... 3| 4 0 6 .667| 32| 1 0| 0| 5| 0 1 2| 0| 5.5
9 PUIKKONEN, Nina..... 3| 3 4 13 -.077| 0| 2 2| 0| 9| 1 2 1| 0| 7.0
10 BUNDY, Jackie....... 3| 9 5 20 .200| 2| 0 0| 2| 9| 0 3 0| 0| 10.5
12 CRABBE, Uila........ 3| 0 0 2 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 9| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 MAHE, Sunny......... 3| 12 3 31 .290| 3| 0 1| 2| 5| 0 2 0| 0| 13.0
8 BOWERS, Carrie...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
11 RICHARDS, Lauren.... 3| 9 6 28 .107| 3| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 9.0
17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle.. 1| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 3| 45 18 123 .220| 43| 4 3| 4| 45| 1 10 3| 0| 55.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 11 7 37 .108 Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
2 19 6 43 .302 Date: Nov 02, 2001 Attend: 2096 Time: 1H 45 M*
3 15 5 43 .233 Referees: VERNA KLUBNIKIN, TERI JACKSON, KAREN MARSHALL