PROVO -- The No. 19 BYU women's volleyball team will travel to Logan, Utah, on Tuesday night to face the Utah State Aggies at 6 p.m. in its last nonconference match before opening the Mountain West Conference schedule this weekend at home against Air Force and Colorado State. At 7-1 on the season, the Cougars are looking to finish the preseason strong heading into a tough league slate.
"Utah State will be a challenge to our program," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "They are well coached with solid systems. I'm eager to see how our team responds to this opportunity to compete."
The Aggies are 5-4 so far this season with wins against BYU-opponents New Mexico and Weber State and a loss against Utah. Utah State is led by junior Amanda Nielson with 3.26 kills per game. Senior libero Kelsi Peterson paces the Aggies with 4.20 digs per game while freshman middle blocker Melissa Larson leads the USU block with 1.21 stops per game. As a team, Utah State hits .123 while allowing opponents to hit .125. BYU leads the all-time series between the two teams, 48-13.
After recording six sweeps in their first eight matches of the year, the Cougars lead the MWC in hitting percentage and are second in blocking, also ranking nationally in both categories. Senior middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock also leads the league in hitting percentage and is second in blocking and ranks nationally in both categories. Junior rightside hitter Erica Lott paces the conference in kills and points while ranking in the top 10 in hitting percentage and blocks.
BYU traveled to Kansas last weekend for the Jayhawk Classic, splitting two matches. The Cougars opened the event on Thursday with a three-game loss against host Kansas during which BYU starting setter Amy Schlauder suffered a broken finger. However, the Cougars rebounded on Friday with a sweep of Arkansas, their sixth sweep of the season, behind the play of back-up setter Jenna Judkins.
Fans of BYU women's volleyball can catch the action of the Utah State match in a variety of ways. BYU Radio will carry a live audio stream of the match over the Internet, which can be accessed by going to the Schedule page of the BYU women's volleyball homepage at http://www.byucougars.com/volleyball_w/. Live video will also be available for CSTV XXL subscribers via CSTV Online.