Cougar spikers avoid getting stuffed in quarterfinal

LAS VEGAS — In its Thursday quarterfinal opener of the Mountain West Conference women's volleyball tournament, BYU looked like it was going to bring another turkey of a Thanksgiving Day performance and get stuffed in an upset.

But the Cougars did their own stuffing, thanks to Bryn Porter's match-point block at the net in the five-game afternoon victory over New Mexico at UNLV's Cox Pavilion.

With the 33-35, 30-28, 28-30, 30-19, 16-14 victory over the No. 6 seed Lobos, the third-seeded Cougars (21-6) advance to today's 4:30 p.m. MST semifinals against No. 2 UNLV, which dispatched No. 7 Wyoming 3-1 in quarterfinal play.

Chelsea Goodman led five Cougars in double-digit kills with 21, while Erica Lott added 18, Ashton Hansen 15, Rachel Dyer 14 and Porter 12.

Trailing 2-1 after three games, the Cougars came on strong, hitting .417 in the fourth game and .316 in the decisive fifth.

With the win, BYU avoided an early ouster similar to last season, when as the No. 2 seed it suffered an 3-1 elimination by No. 7 San Diego State.

"It's a relief — that's how it seems — to get over that hump, but we did it in a challenging way," said BYU coach Jason Watson, adding "We started to get a little worried, like, 'Oh, no, here it comes again."'

In Game 1, the Cougars led late but squandered a couple of game-point chances in a 35-33 extended-score loss. BYU came back in the second to win 30-28, but had a double-digit lead at 21-10 nearly erased as UNM pulled to within one at 29-28.

"We couldn't' ever get into any rhythm," Watson said. "And even in Game 2, we let them come back."

The Lobos, who finish with a 16-13 record, took the third game by the same 30-28 score, needing to win one of the last two to advance.

"It wasn't a nervous feeling — it was more an anxious one," said Goodman, admitting that closing out opponents "has kinda been a challenge for us this season."

Game 4 wasn't a challenge as the Cougars ripped through the Lobos, turning an early deficit into advantages at 9-7, 17-10 and 26-17 before claiming the 30-19 victory.

In the fifth, the Cougars trailed early at 5-3, hindered by unforced errors. But they rallied to go up 10-7 — leading by three with only five points needed to win the match.

But BYU made it difficult on itself again as UNM used back-to-back aces by Sara Kwasigroch and an Anna Lehne block to take a 13-11 lead.

The Cougars came back as Hansen stuffed a long Lobo dig to tie it at 13-all, with a Lott kill putting BYU up 14-13 before UNM knotted it at 14. A New Mexico kill error gave BYU match point, followed by Porter's block on a setter's attempted dink.

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