Cougars, Utes open MWC volleyball tournament play with sweeps

LAS VEGAS — The top-seeded Cougars began their quest for the Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament title Thursday with a sweep over eighth-seeded TCU, marking BYU's 13th three-game win of the season.

"I was very pleased with our performance over time tonight, especially in coming from behind and going on a 20-8 run to win game three," said BYU head coach Jason Watson. "Both Lindsy Hartsock and Rachel Dyer were very efficient, and it was good to get Lexi Patterson involved. She has been steadily improving and continues to progress."

Dyer led BYU with 11 kills on the night while All-MWC outside hitter Chelsea Goodman added 10 kills and a career-high five blocks. Patterson hit .583 to lead the Cougars while MWC Player of the Year Lindsy Hartsock hit .500, her 15th match hitting .500 or better. As a team, BYU hit .330 while allowing TCU to hit just .164.

With the quarterfinal win, BYU now advances to the semifinals of the MWC Tournament with a 24-2 overall record. The Cougars will take on the winner of Thursday night's match between Tournament-host UNLV and San Diego State, both of which the Cougars swept in the season-series this year. The match will begin at 8 p.m. PST and will be televised live on CSTV.

UTAH SWEEPS WYOMING: In one of the morning matches Thursday, No. 3-seeded University of Utah (20-8) advanced the MWC semifinals for the seventh straight year by sweeping No. 6 Wyoming (12-16) in three games.

Game scores were 30-24, 30-23 and 30-18.

"I thought we played a complete match," said head coach Beth Launiere. "We stayed in control the entire time and every time they got a run, we answered.

"That was one of our best blocking matches of the year. We averaged six blocks per game. That's off the charts."

The Utes hit .342 for the match and were led by Airial Salvo's 12 kills. Shelly Sommerfeldt collected 11 kills but hit a smooth .370.

Utah held the Cowgirls to .102 hitting and out-blocked them 18-3.5. Emillie Toone led the Utes at the net with 10 total blocks. She nearly had a double-double with nine kills on .412 hitting.

USU ADVANCES TO WAC SEMIS: Carolyn Forbush recorded a career-high 23 kills to lead second-seeded Utah State to a four-game win — 26-30, 31-29, 30-16, 30-27 — against seventh-seeded Fresno State in the first round of the 2005 Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament Thursday afternoon.