Cougar women sweep own volleyball tourney

PROVO— The BYU volleyball team won the BYU Molten Classic volleyball tournament held at the Smith Fieldhouse after taking three victories, the final coming over Northern Iowa with a 30-27, 30-26, 30-18 win.

Chelsea Goodman led the team both in the match against the Panthers and in the entire tournament as she snagged the all-tournament MVP trophy.

Goodman finished the match against Northern Iowa with 15 kills and 16 digs, pulling together her 37th career double double, landing her in third place all-time in the Mountain West Conference.

Goodman also tied her career-high block total with six against the Panthers, and she did it all with a thigh injury and a little fatigue.

"It was really good for us to play while we were tired," she noted after the team played two Saturday matches. "It was good practice for the NCAA tournament."

The team came out a little slowly in each of the first two games against the Panthers but came on strong after the slow start for the big finish and the easy three-game win.

In addition to Goodman's spectacular plays, Rachel Dyer added 11 kills in the match against Northern Iowa and also found herself on the all-tournament team. Erica Lott and Ashton Hansen each finished with nine kills, and Kiana Rogers added 39 assists. Lott also made the all-tournament team.

"Each team we've played challenged us to raise our level. That's important for what we need to accomplish on the road (against Stanford next week)," said BYU coach Jason Watson.

The No. 15 Cougars backed up their five-game victory over No. 10 Wisconsin with two solid matches, taking the first from American with the 30-18, 30-19, 30-28 final score earlier in the day.

In taking down the Eagles, the Cougars served up 52 total kills to the Eagles' 35. Goodman led BYU with 14 kills and nine digs, while Lott added 12 and Dyer pounded down 10.

Brighton High product Cassandra Ricketts played in two games for the Eagles and scored on five kills, also picking up six digs and 1.5 blocks in the contest. Former BYU setter Lauren Richards-Evans is now an assistant coach with the Eagles.

UTAH: The Utah women's volleyball team split a pair of five-game matches on the final day of the Mortar Board Purdue Premier, falling to Dayton, 3-2, before upsetting No. 17 Purdue, 3-2, to close out the tournament.