LAS -- In the classic battle volleyball fans were expecting, BYU's Mountain West Conference Tournament title hopes came to an end in a five-game (35-33, 22-30, 31-29, 24-30, 16-14) loss at second-seeded UNLV on Friday night. The Cougars will now hope for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament when selections are announced Sunday at 6 p.m. MT on ESPNU.
Senior Chelsea Goodman led the Cougars with 22 kills while Ashton Hansen posted a career high with 18, Bryn Porter tallied 16, Rachel Dyer contributed 16 and Erica Lott added 12. Three Cougars topped the 20-dig mark for the first time this season as Pinegar recorded 31, tying for the fifth-most in program history, Goodman notched a season-high 26 and Lott contributed a career-best 21. BYU recorded 100 team digs, the third-most by a Cougar team since the beginning of rally-scoring in 2001.
After an early 3-1 UNLV lead in game one, the Cougars took the lead at 6-5 and managed to stay one step ahead to a 10-8 advantage. However, on a platy that resulted in a kill from Goodman, Lott went down with a twisted ankle and came out of the match. The Rebels scored back-to-back points as BYU adjusted to the new line-up, but the Cougars quickly rallied to push the lead to 13-10. Trailing 17-14 and with Lott still on the sidelines, UNLV made its move, scoring five straight to regain the lead at 19-17.
Lott re-entered the match for BYU, but the momentum stayed in the Rebels' favor to game point at 29-27. But Porter and Hansen responded with back-to-back kills to tie the game at 29-29. After a long rally, Dyer put up a block to give BYU a game-point opportunity, but the Rebels evened it up with a cross-court kill. The game see-sawed from there with chances for both sides to close it out until BYU finally did with a kill from Dyer and a Rebel hitting error to take game one 35-33.
The Rebels came out strong in game two, scoring the first four points before Hansen got BYU on the scoreboard with a kill down the middle. The UNLV lead grew to 10 points at 18-8 as the Cougars struggled to turn balls in transition and had no answer for the Rebel attack. Trailing 25-13, BYU began to find a groove, scoring nine of the final 14 points, but the early hole proved too much for the Cougars to overcome as they fell 30-22.
Game three was a battle early on until UNLV scored three straight to take a 12-9 lead. The advantage grew to 16-12 before BYU went on a 4-0 spurt including two kills from Goodman to tie the game. Moments later, Dyer gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with back-to-back kills to put BYU up 20-18 and prompt a UNLV timeout. The Rebels scored seven of the next nine to go up 25-23, but the Cougars refused to do down without a fight as BYU put together a 6-1 run of its own to get to game point at 29-26. UNLV fought off all three game-enders to tie the score at 29-29 before Porter finally put down the game-winner to give BYU a 31-29 win.
The Cougars jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game four, but the Rebels quickly responded to tie the game at 5-5 and renew the battle. Hansen set her career high in kills on the next ball with a winner down the middle, the first of three straight Cougar scores to put them up 8-5. The lead stretched to 14-10 until a 3-0 Rebel run gave them a chance to tie at 14-13. Lott put down a winner for BYU to stave off UNLV on the next ball, but the Rebels managed to take the lead at 19-18 after a 5-1 run and set up a fight to the finish. The Cougars scored the next two but suddenly found themselves trailing 25-20 after a 6-0 Rebel run. Facing elimination on its home floor, UNLV finished strong to post a 30-24 win and force a fifth game.
For the second time in as many days, the Cougars faced a game-five race to 15 points to decide their fate. With momentum being a key factor in game-five situations, the Rebels went up early at 3-1 and 5-3. However, back-to-back kills from Goodman put the Cougars in front 6-5. But after scoring five of the next six, the Rebels held a 10-7 lead as the match inched to a close. Trailing 14-11, the Cougars fought off two match points with back-to-back blocks and a Porter kill but fell 16-14 on a net call.
Volleyball Box Score
Wyoming vs. BYU
BYU Cougars vs UNLV (Nov 23 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|POINTS
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1 GOODMAN, Chelsea.... 5| 22 8 64 .219| 0| 0 2| 1| 26| 0 2 0| 0| 23.0
4 HANSEN, Ashton...... 5| 18 2 28 .571| 4| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 6 1| 0| 21.0
10 LOTT, Erica......... 5| 12 6 36 .167| 0| 2 3| 4| 21| 0 5 0| 0| 16.5
13 PORTER, Bryn........ 5| 16 5 57 .193| 3| 1 1| 6| 5| 0 4 0| 0| 19.0
15 SCHLAUDER, Amy...... 5| 0 0 3 .000| 69| 0 0| 0| 12| 0 1 0| 2| 0.5
44 DYER, Rachel........ 5| 16 5 35 .314| 3| 0 1| 0| 5| 2 6 1| 0| 21.0
11 PINEGAR, Annie...... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 1| 32| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
12 PARKER, Catherine... 1| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0| 0.5
20 JUDKINS, Jenna...... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 5| 84 26 224 .259| 80| 3 7| 12|101| 2 25 3| 2| 101.5
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 20 6 48 .292 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 16 8 53 .151 BYU Cougars......... (2) 35 22 31 24 14 21-7
3 21 4 46 .370 UNLV................ (3) 33 30 29 30 16 23-5
4 17 5 40 .300
5 10 3 37 .189
UNLV | 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 LUMSDEN, Brittani... 5| 8 8 27 .000| 1| 0 2| 2| 15| 0 1 1| 0| 8.5
3 NUA, Melody......... 5| 1 2 8 -.125| 67| 1 1| 0| 8| 0 2 0| 1| 3.0
6 ALADJOVA, Maria..... 5| 12 4 47 .170| 3| 0 1| 0| 18| 0 2 0| 0| 13.0
10 MIRAMONTES, Lauren.. 5| 34 9 86 .291| 1| 1 1| 0| 3| 3 4 0| 0| 40.0
15 WALTERS, Jessica.... 5| 10 2 18 .444| 0| 3 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 13.0
18 GREENWOOD, Erin..... 5| 22 5 51 .333| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 3 0| 0| 24.5
4 CUNNINGHAM, Camille. 5| 1 0 2 .500| 2| 2 0| 1| 15| 0 0 0| 0| 3.0
7 WALKER, Jada........ 5| 1 0 2 .500| 5| 5 0| 0| 32| 0 0 0| 0| 6.0
9 NOLAND, Samantha.... 4| 1 0 3 .333| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 2 0| 1| 3.0
12 MORAN, Gerryn....... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 5| 90 30 244 .246| 79| 12 6| 3| 99| 5 14 1| 2| 114.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 22 12 62 .161 Site: Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
2 17 3 50 .280 Date: Nov 23 Attend: Time: 2h 54m
3 19 6 53 .245 Referees: Glen Sapp, Verna klubnikin, Linda Orr
4 21 5 46 .348
5 11 4 33 .212