Y. volleyball throttles Weber

PROVO — The No. 17 BYU women's volleyball team made short work Tuesday of Weber State, defeating the Wildcats 30-15, 30-14 and 30-23.

Led by a season-high seven blocks from middle blocker Rachel Dyer, the Cougars (19-2) played a stifling defense that prevented Weber State (4-23) from mustering anything resembling offensive consistency.

"I thought we served particularly well and I thought we blocked particularly well," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "I thought those two things enabled us to do a nice job defensively against Weber."

The fact that the Wildcats committed 38 errors (29 attacking, nine on serves) only made it that much easier for a talented Cougar team to impose its will on an overmatched Weber State squad.

"We struggled to get any kind of rhythm in our play, which makes for ugly volleyball," Wildcat coach Al Givens said. "BYU is a talented team and they're good, but I thought we made them look stellar tonight. For that part, I'm disappointed that we didn't at least execute better."

Game 3 was the only one which was ever in doubt. With the Cougars subbing out their starters, Weber State carved out a 14-11 lead. But BYU reinserted some of its better players and immediately reeled off six consecutive points to go ahead 22-17. At the end of the six-point Cougar run, the Wildcats appeared completely demoralized as they trudged off the court for a timeout after a point that included three BYU blocks and ended with Weber State outside hitter Amy Dunford hitting the ball low into the net on a spike attempt.

With Dyer back in the lineup after three weeks on the shelf with a foot injury, Tuesday marked the first match since Sept. 7 that the Cougars had their entire starting lineup on the court. With this weekend's showdown against No. 9 Utah looming on the horizon, Watson was happy to have his team back at full strength.

Kim Wilson and Erica Lott led the BYU attack with 13 and eight kills, respectively.

All-Conference outside hitter Chelsea Goodman and reigning Mountain West Conference player of the year Lindsy Hartsock started for the Cougars, but each saw limited action and both were out of the match for good midway through the second game.