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Junior setter Stephanie Neeley is 10th in school history with 1,621 career assists.
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Oct. 12, 2009
Wyoming-Colorado State Match Notes 
The University of Utah volleyball team will continue its Mountain West Conference schedule with a pair of road matches this weekend. The Utes will visit the UniWyo Sports Complex in Laramie, Wyo., Thursday for a 7 p.m., match against the Cowgirls. Utah will cap its road trip Saturday at current conference front-runner Colorado State. First serve from Moby Arena is set for 1 p.m.
The Utes are 19-1 in their last 20 MWC matches after a 3-1 loss to New Mexico last Saturday. The defeat to the Lobos broke up a 19-match win streak that began after consecutive losses at Colorado State and Wyoming to start the 2008 conference slate.
Live stats for both matches will be provided by Gametracker on the women's volleyball schedule page at the schools' respective athletic web sites, wyomingathletics.com and csurams.com.
Live video streams of both matches can be purchased at http://www.wyomingathletics.com/allaccess/ (for Thursday's match) and http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=csu (for Saturday's match).
Also be sure to follow Utah Volleyball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/utahvolleyball and please watch highlights from the historic Sept. 25 BYU match on the Utah Volleyball Blog at http://utahvolleyball.blogspot.com.
Week in Review: The Utes finished 2-1 last week in three four-set affairs at Crimson Court. Utah defeated Weber State and TCU, but fell to New Mexico.
In its most recent match, Utah dropped a 3-1 match to New Mexico last Saturday. The Utes were outhit by the Lobos, .377 to .197, and were also at a 13-5.5 disadvantage in the team block category. Utah dropped to 21-3 at Crimson Court since 2008 and had its 17-match MWC home win streak snapped as well.
Thursday against TCU, five different Utes reached double-figures in kills and five more hit double-digits in digs as Utah tied the school record with its 19th consecutive MWC victory in a 3-1 decision over the Horned Frogs. Utah outhit TCU .198 to .134 in the match and earned a 9-8 advantage in blocking. The Utes dropped the first set in extra points, 32-30, but came back to earn a pair of 27-25 wins before easing to a 25-18 win to clinch the match.
Tuesday against Weber State, the Utes outhit the Wildcats .289 to .237 in the finale but were outblocked, 5-2. The Utes held a .295 to .141 edge in hitting in the fourth set.
MWC Win Streak Snapped: The Utes finished one victory short of setting a new school record for consecutive conference wins. The Utes' last victory of the stretch came against TCU on Thursday and began against Air Force on Sept. 25, 2008. After dropping its first two MWC matches in 2008 at then-No. 15 Colorado State (Sept. 18, 2008) and at Wyoming (Sept. 20, 2008), Utah cruised to the conference title with 14 straight wins.
The stretch was the second time Utah had won 19 consecutive conference matches. The first occurrence ranged from Nov. 24, 2005 to Nov. 20, 2006 and included a perfect 16-0 record in MWC play in 2006, the only unblemished season in the MWC's 10-year history.
Wyoming Series History: Despite last season's setback in Laramie, Wyo., the Utes have won 17 of the last 18 matches in the series. Utah owns a 40-24 lead in the all-time series with Wyoming. The teams split the pair of last season's meetings with each school winning at home.
Colorado State Series History: The Utes have won five of the last eight matches in the series. In the most recent meeting, Utah wrapped up its sixth MWC title (tournament and regular season) in school history with a `Championship Saturday' victory over Colorado State on Nov. 22, 2008 at Crimson Court. Lori Baird pounded down a team-high 13 kills. Kathryn Haynie was second on the team with 11 kills and also had a team-high 14 digs for her 19th career double-double. Then-No. 15 CSU took a five-set thriller in the first meeting last season on Sept. 18, 2008.
Keep It Simple: When focusing on the fundamentals of the game and simply out-performing their opponents in key areas of the game (hitting, blocking, and serving), the Utes have established an impressive record this season. Utah is 12-0 when accumulating a higher hitting percentage, 11-0 when outblocking its opponents, and 6-0 when serving more aces than their opponents.
Karolina Carries the Utes: Reigning MWC Player of the Week Karolina Bartkowiak (Aurora, Ill.) became the award's second three-time winner this season after leading the Utes with 3.33 kills per set and tied for the team-high honors with 1.00 blocks per set in Utah's three four-set matches last week. She also was second on the squad in hitting percentage and digs. Bartkowiak posted a .438 hitting percentage, converting 40 kills on 73 attempts with only eight errors and totaled 36 digs.
To open the week, Bartkowiak posted a team-high 17 kills and hit double-digit kills for the fourth straight match and the 25th time in her career in Tuesday's 3-1 win over Weber State. She posted a career-high hitting .800 hitting percentage, needing only 20 swings to get her 17 kills while committing only one error. She also had seven digs from the back row and tied her season high with six blocks. Bartkowiak had six kills on seven attempts for a .857 clip in the final frame of the match against the Wildcats after leading the way with six kills on six swings for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage in the first set. Bartkowiak led a group of five different Utes who reached double-figures in kills and five more hit double-digits in digs in Utah's 19th consecutive MWC victory, a 3-1 decision over TCU. She turned in 14 kills and a career-high 23 digs for her sixth double-double this season. She has now reached double figures in kills in five of Utah's last six matches and owns six career double-double performances. Saturday against New Mexico, Bartkowiak came up with nine kills, her final one being her 200th of the season, to go with six digs and two blocks.
`C' For Versatility: Cinthia Silva (San Paulo, Brazil) has arguably been Utah's most versatile player this season. Silva has put together consecutive double-doubles and is third on the team in kills (2.31 k/s) and digs (2.22 d/s) and ranks fourth in blocks (0.63 b/s). Silva led Utah in kills for the second time this season with 11 on Saturday against New Mexico. She also turned in a team-high 12 digs to become only the second Ute other than Keisha Fisher (Ririe, Idaho) to lead the team in digs this season.
Doubling Up: Bartkowiak, Silva and Stephanie Neeley (Saugus, Calif.) each had double-double performances last Thursday against TCU. Those three players along with Abby Simmons (Phoenix, Ariz.) have combined for 14 double-double performances this season. Silva turned in Utah's most recent double-double with 12 digs and 11 kills against New Mexico on Saturday.
In addition to Bartkowiak's performance against TCU, Silva contributed 17 digs and 12 kills for her eighth career double-double and fourth this season. Neeley dished out a season-high 28 assists and also turned in a season-high 12 digs for her first double-double performance of the season and the 12th of her career.
Chelsey In the Clutch: Senior middle blocker Chelsey Sandberg (West Jordan, Utah) hit a career-high with 14 kills twice last week. Sandberg initially set her career high for kills as she helped Utah stage a fourth-set comeback in its 3-1 win over Weber State, its seventh consecutive win in the series.
The Utes were down 24-21 late in the fourth set against WSU but put together three straight points to tie the set. The teams were knotted two more times, at 25 and 26, before the Utes took a 28-26 match-clinching win. Sandberg then tied Bartkowiak for match-high honors Thursday against TCU by tying her career high with 14 kills for the second consecutive match.
Sandberg leads the MWC with 0.40 aces per set thanks to a total of 27 aces in 67 sets this season and also stands fourth in the league with a .359 hitting percentage, Sandberg is second on the Ute squad with a 1.03-block-per-set average that is ninth in the league.
Splitting the Sets: As part of Utah's 6-2 system, Neeley and Simmons have shared opportunities at the setter position for the Utes this season. Simmons ranks ninth in the MWC with a 5.88 assist-per-set average, while Neeley is distributing 5.24 assists per set, which ranks 10th in the league.
Neeley now has 1,621 career assists and is 77 assists shy of tying Cheryl Tye (1983-85) for ninth place on the school's all-time career list.
Making the Most of their Swings: The Utes have been very efficient on the attack so far this season as they lead the league in hitting percentage through their first 18 matches, hitting for a .240 mark, which has them one percentage point ahead of CSU. Sandberg ranks fourth in the MWC with a .359 hitting percentage this season, converting 146 kills on 309 attempts with only 35 errors.
Utah ranks third in the conference with 12.90 kills per set, led by Bartkowiak's 3.03 kill-per-set mark that ranks seventh in the MWC. Hibbert follows in ninth among the league leaders with 2.82 kills per set.
Digging In on Defense: In Thursday's contest against TCU, the Utes had 97 digs in four sets, a mark that is just three shy of the school record in four-set matches. Earlier this season, the Ute defense posted 76 digs in a five-set match against BYU on Sept. 25. That mark stands as Utah's current season-high for five sets. Utah came up with a season-high 57 digs in a three-set victory over San Diego State on Sept. 19, which finished well above the 12.41 digs per set they were averaging entering the match.
Fishing for Digs: Fisher came up with a season-high 27 digs to lead Utah's tough defense. The Ririe, Idaho native set the tone early with 10 digs in the first set and also had nine more digs in the fourth set. Fisher ranks fifth in the MWC with 3.90 digs per set.
Dani on the Block: Danielle Killpack (Idaho Falls, Idaho) owns a team-high average of 1.14 blocks per set to take fourth place in the MWC statistical rankings and has led the Utes in blocks six times this season. She chipped in five blocks in Tuesday's win over Weber State after coming up with a career-high nine blocks to lead Utah against BYU on Sept. 25.
Killpack connected for a career-high 10 kills, her first career double-digit output for kills in her career Thursday against TCU. She also accumulated a match-high .716 hitting percentage, the highest mark of her career, after not committing an error on 14 attempts. She also posted a team-high five blocks against the Horned Frogs.
Utes in the Polls: Utah's highest ranking in the poll this season was No. 17 on Aug. 18. Utah was last listed in the AVCA Top-25 AVCA Coaches Poll on Sept. 7, receiving 75 votes. Utah also received votes in the Sept. 8 Volleyball Magazine poll. The Utes are 0-2 against ranked teams this season, suffering losses to then-No. 12 Oregon at Crimson Court on Sept. 15 and to then-No. 25 Arizona on Sept. 11 in Santa Clara, Calif. The Utes earned a 3-2 win over Cincinnati, which received five votes, on Aug. 29 before facing Santa Clara, which received four votes on Sept. 12.
Launiere Reaches 400 Victories: An intense 3-2 win Sept. 25 over BYU in the first Deseret First Duel match of the season gave Utah head coach Beth Launiere her 400th career victory. Launiere currently owns a 403-218 (.649) mark in her 20th season at Utah, the only school at which she has been head coach. After taking over in 1990, the three-time AVCA West Region and MWC Coach of the Year has 63 percent of the program's all-time victories.
Utes Picked to Win MWC: Utah was selected to repeat as MWC champions in the 2009 Preseason Coaches Poll. In addition, Bartkowiak was named to the Preseason All-MWC Team.
Launiere for President: Launiere has served as President of the AVCA since Jan. 1. Since 2004, she has guided volleyball on the national stage as a member of the AVCA Board of Directors.
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