LAS -- The No. 16 BYU women's volleyball team overcame a stiff challenge from the UNLV Rebels Saturday night in Las Vegas to record its ninth sweep of the season, 31-29, 31-29, 33-31, and remain undefeated in Mountain West Conference action at 4-0 in league play and 12-1 overall.
"We feel good about where we're at this point in the season," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "This was a difficult road trip for us, and it comes on the end of a stretch of three weeks without much rest. But we're making progress and finding ways to win under pressure."
Junior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman recorded a match-high 17 kills and was one dig shy of her eighth double-double on the year with nine. Junior rightside hitter Erica Lott also reached double-digit kills with 15 and was one dig off of a double-double with nine. Sophomore libero Janvier Beaumont led BYU with 14 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Rachel Dyer led the Cougars with six blocks while Lott and senior middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock each added five and Goodman posted four rejections.
"Goodman was unbelievable again," said Watson. "She was good at San Diego State, and she was good again this evening. She came up big for us."
The Rebels were led by junior outside hitter Maria Aladjova with 16 kills while adding 11 digs. Junior libero Jada Walker, who entered the match ranked second in the league in digs per game, posted a match-high 17 digs for UNLV, who falls to 9-5 overall and 1-2 in MWC play with the loss.
UNLV controlled much of game one, leading 21-18 heading into the stretch, but BYU's Lindsy Hartsock got hot when it mattered. The senior co-captain, who ranks in the top 20 nationally in both blocks and hitting percentage, put down two kills and combined with Lott on a block during a 6-1 Cougar run to give BYU a 24-22 lead. Hartsock posted five blocks in game one alone. But the Rebels were not done, tying it up at 26-26 and then earning game point at 29-28. Goodman refused to let her team go down, however, putting down two straight kills to give the Cougars the game-winning opportunity, which they converted on a Rebel hitting error to take the 31-29 nail-biter.
Game two was more of the same as BYU constantly found itself trying to play catch-up. But once again, trailing 25-22, the Cougars received solid play from Hartsock and put together a 5-2 run to tie the game up at 27-27. A fight to the finish ensued as BYU staved off a game point at 29-28 and then pounded out another 31-29 win with a kill from Rachel Dyer and a Rebel hitting error.
"UNLV made some great runs," said Watson. "It was good that we were able to stay fairly even through them and then make some plays late that put some pressure on them that resulted in them making some errors. We've matured to a point where the highs aren't very high and the lows aren't very low. That's the key to us going on the road and playing well."
BYU began game three leaving nothing to chance, leading by as many as five points through the first 15 points. However, this time it was UNLV's turn to stage the big comeback as the Rebels stormed back to take a 20-17 lead with a 6-1 run. But the lead was short-lived as three kills, a block assist and an ace from Goodman sparked a 9-3 BYU run to give the Cougars a 26-23 lead. However, the Rebels once again proved resilient as they clawed their way to a 31-30 game-point opportunity. Despite finding themselves facing an opponent game-point for the third straight game, the Cougars dug deep and found the resolve they had in games one and two and forced two Rebel hitting errors to take the 33-31 win.
No. 16 BYU will now return home to prepare to host No. 18 Utah on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars own a 62-19 all-time series lead over the Utes but have lost 12 of the last 13 matches against Utah with the lone win coming in four games last September in Provo.
Volleyball Box Score
BYU Cougars
#16 BYU Cougars vs UNLV (09-23-06 at Las Vegas, Nev.)
BYU Cougars | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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1 GOODMAN, Chelsea.... 3| 17 4 32 .406| 3| 2 3| 1| 9| 0 4 0| 0
10 LOTT, Erica......... 3| 15 6 38 .237| 1| 0 5| 0| 9| 0 5 1| 0
11 PINEGAR, Annie...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 1| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0
14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy.... 3| 9 3 17 .353| 1| 0 0| 1| 2| 0 5 0| 1
20 JUDKINS, Jenna...... 3| 2 0 2 1.000| 50| 0 0| 0| 9| 0 0 0| 2
44 DYER, Rachel........ 3| 9 3 22 .273| 2| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 5 0| 0
2 BEAUMONT, Janvier... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 0| 3| 14| 0 0 0| 0
13 PORTER, Bryn........ 3| 10 4 24 .250| 1| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 1 0| 0
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Totals.............. 3| 62 20 135 .311| 59| 3 9| 5| 53| 1 20 1| 3
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 8 49 .204 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS
2 22 5 42 .405 BYU Cougars......... (3) 31 31 33 12-1, 4-0 MWC
3 22 7 44 .341 UNLV................ (0) 29 29 31 9-5, 1-2 MWC
UNLV | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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5 KOOCHI, Kristin..... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 20| 1 1| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0
6 ALADJOVA, Maria..... 3| 16 5 40 .275| 1| 1 0| 0| 11| 0 2 0| 1
8 BANKS, Michelle..... 3| 4 5 15 -.067| 0| 0 0| 2| 5| 0 0 0| 0
9 NOLAND, Samantha.... 3| 10 2 19 .421| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 2 2 0| 1
14 JOHNSON, Jennifer... 3| 5 3 17 .118| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
18 GREENWOOD, Erin..... 3| 8 0 22 .364| 0| 2 0| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 0
2 LUMSDEN, Brittani... 2| 3 3 11 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 1 0| 0
3 NUA, Melody......... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 23| 1 0| 0| 7| 0 0 0| 0
4 CUNNINGHAM, Camille. 3| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 0 0| 1| 3| 0 0 0| 0
7 WALKER, Jada........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 17| 0 0 0| 1
15 WALTERS, Jessica.... 3| 5 5 18 .000| 2| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 1
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Totals.............. 3| 52 23 143 .203| 49| 5 1| 3| 50| 2 8 0| 4
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 16 9 53 .132 Site: Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
2 20 7 48 .271 Date: 09-23-06 Attend: 1162 Time: 1:47
3 16 7 42 .214 Referees: Patsy Malta, Yvonne Arguello
ID-444816