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Sept. 7, 2002
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The No. 8 University of Utah women's volleyball team (5-1) suffered its first loss of the season tonight when they fell to No. 1 Stanford University 12-30, 16-30, 30-27, 16-30, in the championship match of the Stanford Invitational.
In game one, Stanford jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. They out-hit the Utes .577 to -.103 and had 11 team blocks compared to Utah's three. The Utes were better in game two, but fell 30-16. Utah fought back in game three for a 30-27 victory, hitting .417 on the game. However, in game four, Stanford took advantage of the tough jump serve of senior Ashley Ivy, who served 10 straight points and sealed the win for the Cardinal.
The Utes were led by senior Sylva Strzinkova, who finished with another double-double, notching 11 kills and 11 digs. Junior Kim Turner added nine kills and five blocks, while libero Jackie Morrill had seven digs. Sophomore setters Kelsie Kartchner and Tracy Neumeier split time, with Kartchner dishing out 25 assists and Neumeier finishing with 12.
Stanford was led by Sara McGee, with 20 kills, and Ogonna Nnamani, who had 15 kills. McGee also added eight blocks. Utah hit .085 on the match, while Stanford hit for .346.
"We played scared the first two games, but when we decided we could play against them in game three, we hit .417," Head Coach Beth Launiere said. "This was a good match to play early in the season. We're a good team, but we need to develop as a team. We learned a lot - I'm glad we were in this situation tonight."
In leading Utah to a second-place finish, Strzinkova, Turner and Kartchner were all named to the all-tournament team.
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