|
|
Junior setter Stephanie Neeley posted her third double-double this season Thursday against Colorado State.
|
Nov. 12, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY - Karolina Bartkowiak and Stephanie Neeley both turned in double-doubles but the University of Utah volleyball team fell 3-1 (20-25, 21-25, 25-19, 23-25) to Colorado State in a Mountain West Conference match Thursday at Crimson Court.
Despite the loss, Utah (15-10, 8-5 MWC) has still won 13 of its last 15 conference matches at Crimson Court. The Utes earned a 12-10 edge in team blocks as well as a slight 4-3 advantage in service aces. But Utah was only able to hit .203 in the match, compared to a .234 mark for CSU. Digs were virtually split in the match, with CSU coming up with 62 while Utah had 61.
"I thought we played a good match," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "We got better as the match went on. We started off a little shaky and had some problems with our offense but we really turned that around. We didn't allow them to go on big runs in sets three and four so that was a big difference."
Neeley had a team-high 25 assists to go with a season-high-tying 12 digs. The Saugus, Calif., native also tied her career high with three kills on four swings for a .750 hitting percentage to go along with one service ace. She now has 14 career double-doubles with three coming this season.
Bartkowiak posted a team-high 13 kills on 31 swings with six errors for a .226 hitting percentage. She also added 13 digs for her 10th career double-double, all coming this season. Bartkowiak has hit double-digits in kills 18 times this season and 32 times in her career. For digs, she has 14 double-figure performances that have all occurred this season.
Danielle Killpack had an impressive performance as well with nine kills on five swings for a .400 hitting mark. The Idaho Falls, Idaho native also tied for match-high honors with seven blocks and has led Utah in blocks during nine matches in 2009.
|
|
 |
Junior libero Keisha Fisher came up with a team-high 16 digs for her 19th consecutive double-figure-dig match. The Ririe, Idaho native has turned in 24 such efforts in 25 matches this season and 57 times in her career.
Senior Cinthia Silva turned in 11 digs to go with nine kills and four blocks. Classmate Chelsey Sandberg had eight kills to go with four blocks, four digs, and a service ace.
The Utes jumped out to a 3-1 lead to start the match before the Rams grabbed their first lead at 6-5 thanks to a 4-1 run. There were 11 more ties in the set and neither team led by more than two points before CSU closed the set on a 5-0 run to earn a 25-20 win in the first set. Utah outblocked CSU 5-2 and held a 1-0 edge in service aces but was outhit .184 to .000 for the set. Jennifer Lanting and Sandberg both registered two kills apiece.
Utah scored four of the first five points of the second set, including a pair of Silva kills, and built its largest lead to six points at 9-3. The Rams forced the first tie of the set at 13 points apiece with a 7-1 run. CSU then pushed to a three-point lead (18-15) but Utah fought back to cut its deficit to one (18-17) after a pair of Bartkowiak kills. The Rams regained their three-point lead (22-19) and went on to a 25-21 win to take a 2-0 edge in the match. The Utes improved their hitting mark to .222, but the Rams were able to register a .324 mark. Silva came up with four more kills while Killpack and Bartkowiak each registered three apiece.
There were three ties early in the fourth set before CSU got out to a three-point advantage, 8-5. Utah quickly put together a 3-0 run to tie the set for fourth time at eight points apiece. There were four more ties before Utah took its first lead of the set at 15-14 and the Utes would eventually edge out to a 24-18 lead after going on a 7-1 run en route to a 25-19 win to bring the match to 2-1. The Utes outhit the Rams, .258 to .146, for the set and also held a 3-2 advantage in team blocks. Four different Utah players posted two kills apiece: Sandberg, Bartkowiak, Silva and Sarah Hibbert.
The Utes scored three of the first four points in the fourth set but the Rams came back to tie the set at four. There would be eight more ties before Utah scored back-to-back points to climb to a 15-13 lead. The Utes' lead would grow to as many as three, at 19-16, before the Rams tied the set at 20 apiece thanks to a 4-1 spurt. The set would be tied three more times, with the last coming at 23-23, before CSU was able to close match with a pair of Jacque Davisson kills en route to the 25-23 win. Bartkowiak closed strong with seven kills on 10 attempts with just one error for a .600 hitting mark in the set while Killpack came though with five kills on nine swings, without an error, for a .556 percentage.
Colorado State (21-4, 13-1 MWC) was led by 20 kills by Danielle Minch and seven blocks by Megan Plourde.
The Utes conclude their regular-season home slate Saturday at 1 p.m. against Wyoming.
