PROVO -- Displaying its mettle in winning an unevenly played match, the BYU women's volleyball team extended its winning streak to five after a sweep of Nevada 3-0 (30-26, 30-19, 30-24) at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars improve to 9-3, while dropping the Wolf Pack to 6-7.
BYU was led by the tandem of senior rightside hitter Carrie Bowers and freshman middle blocker Lindsy Lewis-Hartsock, who each recorded match highs with 11 kills and zero attack errors. Lewis-Hartsock was especially effective, as she hit a career-high .846.
"I'm thrilled to have come out of the weekend with two wins," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "It wasn't the prettiest match. I didn't feel we were off, but they had a slow tempo. We like to play at a quicker pace."
BYU jumped out to a quick lead in the first game, as it held an early 8-2 lead. The Wolf Pack wouldn't go away, however, and with kills from Christine Harms, Kellie Burton, Lauren Galler and Carly Sorensen managed to claw their way back into the game. Nevada took the lead for the first time at 19-18 after a Kim Wilson attack error. A kill by Lauren Richards tied the game again at 20-20, and from there Lewis-Hartsock provided the difference as she put down three kills down the stretch to power BYU. Consecutive kills by Bowers and Laura Nielsen ended the game. The Cougars put down a total of 22 kills as a team.
"I've had a little trouble connecting with Lauren all season long," Lewis-Hartsock said. "But things are coming around and it feels good to be doing well and connecting with her."
The Cougars wouldn't look back in the second and third games as they held the lead throughout. Game two saw the BYU defense emerge, forcing Nevada into a bevy of errors, as the Wolf Pack managed seven kills on -.120 hitting. Conversely, the Cougars hit a match-high .455 in the game and pulled away from the Wolf Pack with numerous three- and four-point runs.
Although BYU was up from the start to the finish in the third game, Nevada would prevent a Cougar rout, by chipping away with timely points. The Wolf Pack would close within one point at 21-20 on a Galler kill, but BYU would use a pair of Nielsen and Lewis-Hartsock kills to seal the match.
Junior outside hitter April Varner came on in relief in the second game and finished with nine kills and six digs, with a .438 hitting percentage. Richards led the team to a .333 team hitting percentage in dishing out 35 assists to go with 11 digs, six kills and three blocks.
Bowers, who put down nine kills without an error on Friday, in a win over UVSC, finished the weekend with 20 kills and zero attack errors (20-0-35) with a .571 attack percentage.
"I keep track of how many errors I have in my head during the match," Bowers said. "If my hitting percentage is low, I'm not going to play, so I try to make smart choices on the court."
The Cougars held Nevada's top duo of Salaia Salave'a and Carley Sorensen in check. Both finished with negative hitting percentages at -.048 and -.031, respectively. The Wolf Pack did not have a player finish with double-digit kills.
BYU will conclude its three-week home stand next week, when it opens Mountain West Conference play. The Cougars will face Colorado State on Friday at 7 p.m. and Wyoming on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both matches are scheduled to be held in the Smith Fieldhouse.
"We're thrilled to be playing the way we are, because it's great for the fans," Lamb said. "We feed off of fan excitement and we've had great fan support so far this season. This coming weekend is huge for us, though, and we would love to see the fans come out and pack the Fieldhouse."
Volleyball Box Score
2003 BYU Women's Volleyball Stats
NEVADA vs BYU Cougars (Sep 20, 2003 at Provo, Ut)
NEVADA | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Salave`a, Salaia.... 3| 4 5 21 -.048| 1| 1 1| 0| 8| 0 5 1| 0
8 Adams, Tristin...... 3| 3 1 9 .222| 25| 1 1| 0| 7| 0 2 0| 0
9 Burton, Kellie...... 3| 2 3 6 -.167| 0| 2 1| 0| 2| 2 2 0| 0
12 Harms, Christine.... 3| 5 1 16 .250| 1| 2 1| 2| 7| 0 1 1| 1
24 Sorensen, Carly..... 3| 9 10 32 -.031| 1| 0 1| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
27 Galler, Lauren...... 3| 6 4 27 .074| 1| 1 1| 0| 2| 0 4 0| 1
3 Donaldson, Emily.... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
10 Brush, Alyse........ 1| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
14 Holda, Lindsay...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 7| 0 0 0| 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 3| 29 24 112 .045| 29| 7 6| 3| 38| 2 14 2| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 11 5 40 .150 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 7 10 25 -.120 NEVADA.............. 26 19 24 6-7
3 11 9 47 .043 BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30 9-3
BYU Cougars | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 RICHARDS, Lauren.... 3| 6 2 15 .267| 35| 1 5| 0| 11| 1 2 0| 3
6 METCALF, Lindsey.... 2| 4 3 19 .053| 0| 0 1| 1| 3| 0 2 0| 0
7 WILSON, Kim......... 2| 4 6 15 -.133| 1| 1 2| 1| 3| 0 1 0| 0
8 BOWERS, Carrie...... 3| 11 0 21 .524| 2| 0 1| 1| 5| 0 1 0| 0
14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy.... 3| 11 0 13 .846| 0| 1 0| 0| 4| 0 4 0| 0
18 NIELSEN, Laura...... 3| 8 2 16 .375| 1| 0 1| 0| 2| 0 3 2| 0
3 VARNER, April....... 2| 9 2 16 .438| 1| 0 2| 0| 6| 0 1 0| 0
4 TOGO, Melanie....... 2| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 1| 0 0 0| 0
12 CRABBE, Uila........ 3| 1 0 1 1.000| 2| 0 0| 3| 11| 0 0 0| 0
15 CASTILLO, Sahara.... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 3| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals.............. 3| 54 15 117 .333| 42| 3 15| 7| 47| 1 14 2| 3
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 22 7 49 .306 Site: Provo, Ut (Smith Field House)
2 13 3 22 .455 Date: Sep 20, 2003 Attend: 427 Time: 1h 20m
3 19 5 46 .304 Referees: KIM NORMAN, ANNETTE COTTEL, KAREN MARSHALL