Utah to take on UNLV in championship game.
Nov. 23, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Behind four players in double digit kills, the fifth-seeded Utah volleyball team won a hard-fought five-game match, 3-2 (23-30, 30-16, 18-30, 30-22, 15-12), against No. 20 and top-seed Colorado State in the second round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Utah moves on to play UNLV in the championship match, at 8 p.m. PT, in the Cox Pavilion on the campus of the host Rebels. The match will be televised live on CSTV.
Kathryn Haynie led the Utes with 20 kills and 15 digs. Lori Baird hit .357 with 13 kills, nine blocks and two aces. Keisha Fisher recorded a team-high 20 digs with 31 assists and two aces. Kate Robison tallied 11 kills, 19 digs and two aces.
With the match tied, 2-2, Utah surged at the end of the final game to take the win. Down 11-9, the Utes finished the game on a 6-1 run for the 15-12 win. Kate Robison, Baird and Whitney Webb each had a kill in the winning drive and the only Utah mistake in the final points was a Connie Dangerfield service error.
"This game was so much about serving and passing early on," head coach Beth Launiere said. "Both teams had runs of really good serving, and that was the difference. We held them under .200 in hitting, and we won this game with defense.
"This was a great team effort. No one had a bad match, and some people stepped up and had a great match."
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After falling in game one, 30-23, the Utes rallied to dominate game two, 30-16. With the score tied, 13-13, Utah went on a 17-3 run for the remainder of the match, which included runs of 6-0 and 8-0. The Utes tallied five aces in the match, led by Baird's two, while Karolina Bartkowiak and Haynie each had three kills.
In game three, Colorado State held a 15-11 lead before going on a 7-0 run to put the game out of reach for the Utes. Mekana Barnes had three kills in the game-deciding drive for the Rams.
Up 8-7 in the fourth game, Utah went on an 11-1 run to give the Utes control of game. The Utes hit .343 in the fourth game, led by Haynie's seven kills.
Dangerfield had 15 kills for Utah while Webb tallied 12 kills. Bartkowiak recorded eight blocks and eight kills. Stephanie Shardlow tallied 26 assists and nine digs.
Colorado State was led by Barnes, who had 16 kills, six blocks and four aces. Tessa Nelson tallied 11 kills with 10 blocks. Katelin Batten led the team with 21 digs and Jamie Strauss recorded 18 kills and nine digs. Ashley Fornstrom came away with 51 assists.
