By STACY THIOT

The BYU women's volleyball team will hit the road for the first time in 2008 this weekend, playing in the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

The 3-0 Cougars will take on Siena, Friday at 3:30 p.m. before facing American, Saturday at 8:30 a.m.and finally the host Aggies at 6 p.m. All three matches will be broadcast on BYU Radio.

The Texas A&M Aggies got off to a rougher start in the 2008 season, going 0-3 last weekend with losses to No. 21 LSU, No. 16 Minnesota and Creighton.

Siena began the season going 0-2 with defeats against Hofstra and Seton Hall. While American had a more successful opening weekend, bouncing back from a season-opening loss to George Washington with victories over Georgetown and George Mason to open the year 2-1.

"We are very excited to travel to Texas and play in the invitational," BYU head coach Shay Goulding said in a news release. "We did an excellent job defending the Smith Fieldhouse last weekend, but now it is time to be tested on the road."

The Cougars did indeed defend the fieldhouse last weekend, taking home the Molten Classic crown with wins over Utah State, Tulane and Missouri.

Even though the Cougars have added a lot of new faces to the roster this year; their cohesiveness is exceptional and very rare, according to Goulding.

"We've had a lot of new talent come in with nine remaining players and seven new," Senior middle blocker Rachel Dyer said of the new Cougar team, "But we have great chemistry and are optimistic we will do very well."

Several newcomers shined for BYU as they debuted at the fieldhouse last weekend. Freshman Malia Marquardt and junior transfers Morgan Lloyd (Salt Lake CC) and Kayla Walker (Pepperdine) made their presences known on the BYU volleyball scene. Marquardt was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Bryn Porter earned the Molten Classic MVP and Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors. The Senior outside hitter led BYU with 3.67 kills per set. Junior middle blocker Ashton Hansen Hosford was also a crucial part of the Cougars' success as she posted 2.25 blocks per set this past weekend.

Coach Goulding believes BYU will play against stiff competition this weekend.

"We will be facing some very talented teams, so we must take it one match at a time," Goulding said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 5 Sep 2008