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Sept. 9, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY -
THIS WEEK: No. 8 Utah hosts Idaho State for a 7:00 p.m. match on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at Crimson Court. Over the weekend, the Utes travel to Boise, Idaho, for the Boise State Invitational. Utah will face Eastern Washington at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13. On Saturday, Sept. 14, the Utes will play Boise State at 12:30 p.m. and George Washington at 5:00 p.m.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK: Utah placed second in the Stanford Invitational last weekend after going 2-1 in the tournament. The Utes swept Cal Poly and San Jose State before falling to No. 1 Stanford in four games in the championship match.
Three Utes were named to the all-tournament team: senior Sylva Strzinkova, junior Kim Turner and sophomore Kelsie Kartchner.
TURNER SETS BLOCKING RECORD: In last Saturday's match against San Jose State, Turner set a new school record for total blocks in a three-game match. She notched 13 total blocks (4 solo, 9 assists), breaking the old record of 11 held by both Maria Moen (vs. TCU, Oct. 11, 1996) and Linda Byington (vs. Weber State, Nov. 6, 1990). "In two matches this season, Kim has individually taken the match over with her blocking," Head Coach Beth Launiere said. "That was one of them."
September 9, 2002 USA Today/AVCA Top 25
Rank School Total 2002 Last
(1st-place Votes) Points Record Week
1 Stanford (59) 1617 6-0 1
2 USC (2) 1550 6-0 3
3 Hawai'i (4) 1483 6-0 4
4 Nebraska 1436 4-1 2
5 Long Beach State 1370 6-0 5
6 Florida 1288 5-1 6
7 Northern Iowa 1225 8-1 9
8 Utah 1179 5-1 8
9 Ohio State 947 3-2 10
10 Pepperdine 894 5-3 14
11 Penn State 839 6-0 15
12 Wisconsin 810 4-1 16
13 Minnesota 808 7-2 20
14 UCLA 802 3-3 7
15 Arizona 624 3-3 11
16 Texas A&M 588 5-1 17
17 Colorado State 573 4-1 18
18 UC Santa Barbara 534 6-0 19
19 Michigan State 529 5-1 12
20 North Carolina 461 6-0 23
21 Pacific 306 3-3 13
22 Santa Clara 262 6-0 24
23 South Carolina 246 5-1 NR
24 Kansas State 173 4-1 25
25 Washington State 111 6-0 NR
Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Illinois (98), San Diego (65), Duke (64), Georgia Tech (38), Louisville (35), Arkansas (29), Colorado (26), Eastern Washington (21), Loyola Marymount (21), Texas (19), Wright State (15), Missouri (7), California (4), Notre Dame (4), Arizona State (3). Five teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 21 combined points.
MWC STANDINGS
Overall Conference
W L Pct. W L Pct.
Utah 5 1 .833 0 0 0.000
Colorado State 4 1 .800 1 0 1.000
Wyoming 4 2 .667 0 1 0.000
San Diego State 3 3 .500 0 0 0.000
UNLV 3 3 .500 0 0 0.000
BYU 2 5 .286 0 0 0.000
Air Force 0 7 .000 0 0 0.000
New Mexico 0 5 .000 0 0 0.000
BOISE STATE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
Sept. 13 (Fri.) Boise State vs. George Washington 5:00 p.m.
UTAH vs. Eastern Washington 7:15 p.m.
Sept. 14. (Sat.) George Washington vs. Eastern Washington 10:00 a.m.
UTAH vs. Boise State 12:30 p.m.
UTAH vs. George Washington 5:00 p.m.
Boise State vs. Eastern Washington 7:15 p.m.
SERIES SHORTS:
* The Utes lead the all-time series with Idaho State 24-10. The last time the two teams met, on Sept. 25, 2001, Utah won 3-1 in Pocatello. The Utes are 11-3 at home, 11-3 away and 2-4 at a neutral site vs. the Bengals.
* Utah trails the all-time series with Boise State 3-4. In their last meeting on Aug. 31, 1996, the Utes lost in three games at Crimson Court. Utah is 2-2 at home, 0-1 away and 1-1 at a neutral site vs. Boise State.
* The Utes are 2-0 all-time against Eastern Washington. The last time the two teams faced each other was Sept. 20, 1985, when the Utes won 3-1 in Provo. Utah is 1-0 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. Eastern Washington.
* Saturday's meeting is the first-ever between Utah and George Washington.
QUOTING HEAD COACH BETH LAUNIERE:
On the upcoming match against Idaho State - "This is our most important match right now. It's all we're focusing on."
On the upcoming Boise State Tournament - "Eastern Washington is undefeated and we play them first at the tournament. We need to be prepared for them before we look to the other teams. Right now we're just taking it one match at a time."
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Idaho State
The Bengals are 2-3 on the season after beating Montana-Western last Wednesday. Idaho State, which hosts Wyoming tonight (Sept. 9), is led by Melanie Tucker, who averages 3.78 kills and 3.00 digs per game.
Eastern Washington
The 8-0 Eagles won the Georgia Bulldog Invitational last weekend, defeating Georgia and Georgia Southern to remain undefeated on the year. It was the second tournament title Eastern Washington has won in as many weekends, as they claimed the Jacksonville University tournament championship the previous weekend. The Eagles are led by Lindsay Page, who averages 3.57 kills and 1.39 blocks per game, and was named MVP of the Georgia Invitational. Janelle Ruen is also key, as she is averaging 3.24 kills and 2.96 digs per game. As a result, she was named to the all-tournament teams at both tournaments.
Boise State
The Broncos are currently 1-4 after suffering losses last weekend to Oregon State and Cal State Northridge at the Oregon State Classic. Megan Tranter leads Boise State with 3.07 kills and 2.07 digs per game averages. In the team's win over Eastern Kentucky, Tranter finished with 18 kills and 12 digs. As a team, the Broncos are hitting for .090 on the season.
George Washington
The 5-2 Colonials are coming off a second-place finish at the George Washington Invitational last weekend after falling to Rutgers 3-1 in the title match. Outside hitter Ruth Lazzari was named tournament MVP and setter Lauren Dunning was also named to the all-tournament team. Lazzari averages 3.08 kills and 3.81 digs per game, while Dunning has a 10.24 assist and 2.76 dig average on the season.
MWC LEADERS: As a team, the Utes lead the MWC in winning percentage (.833), opponent hitting percentage (.127) and blocks per game (3.62). The Utes also rank second in assists per game (13.38).
Individually, Strzinková leads the league in kills per game (4.48), and ranks sixth in service aces (0.43), eighth in digs per game (2.81) and 10th in hitting percentage (.281). Turner ranks second in blocks per game (1.71) and eighth in kills per game (3.43). Sophomore Sabine Schulz is 10th in digs (2.65), while Kartchner is sixth in assists (10.14). Senior Brenda Beal and sophomore Lyndsey Phillips are sixth and seventh, respectively, in blocks (1.32, 1.27) and junior Jackie Morrill is 14th in digs (2.52).
NEXT WEEK:
Utah travels to Weber State for a 7:00 p.m. match on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The Utes then host Arkansas at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, and Illinois at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21.
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