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Reigning MWC Co-Player of the Week Kelsie Kartchner and the Utes close out regular-season MWC play this weekend.
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Nov. 10, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
The Utes (16-7, 10-2), in sole control of second place in the Mountain West Conference, close out regular-season MWC play at San Diego State (17-11, 7-5) and UNLV (10-14, 3-9) this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
Utah defeated rival Brigham Young in four games (30-19, 23-30, 30-24, 30-27) last Friday. The Utes hit for .241 on the match and held the Cougars to .180. Senior All-America candidate Kim Turner finished with 22 kills on 35 attempts with just three errors for a .543 hitting percentage. She also added 13 digs, four blocks and an ace.
Turner led a group of five Utes in double-digit kills. Joining her was junior Kelsie Kartchner, who posted her second triple-double of the season - 25 assists, 12 digs and 11 kills. She hit for .381 on the match and also added four blocks and a service ace. Junior Lyndsey Henderson and sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt added 11 kills apiece, while sophomore Danielle Leichliter finished with 10. Junior setter Tracy Neumeier dished out 31 assists on the match. She also had 13 digs, as did senior libero Jackie Morrill.
On the season, the Utes are led by Turner, who averages 4.02 kills, 2.29 digs and 1.51 blocks. Sommerfeldt adds 3.67 kills per game, while Morrill averages a team-high 3.41 digs per game. Neumeier averages 9.36 assists per game, while Kartchner has an 8.42 assists per game average.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
San Diego State
The Aztecs (17-11, 7-5) ran its winning streak to four matches last week with sweeps of Air Force (30-18, 31-29, 30-28) and New Mexico (30-26, 30-22, 30-23) on the road.
On the season, the Aztecs are led by Megan Schauermann, who boasts a team- and league-high 1.60 blocks per game average, while setter Sara Engstrom averages 11.52 assists per game. Two players -- Aspen McPartland (3.72, 2.13) and Kara Moriarty (3.05, 2.24) -- average 3.00 or more kills and 2.00 or more digs per game.
UNLV
The Rebels (10-14, 3-9) snapped a nine-match road losing streak last week with a 3-0 sweep (30-20, 30-20, 30-27) of Air Force on Saturday. UNLV had lost at New Mexico 3-1 (25-30, 30-26, 30-23, 30-28) on Thursday.
The Rebels are led this season by Leiana Oswald, who averages 4.01 kills and 2.17 digs per match. Setter Nikki King averages 11.80 assists per match, while Nina Franchini adds 2.26 digs.
SERIES SHORTS:
* The Utes trail the all-time series with San Diego State 12-16. The two teams last met on Oct. 18, with Utah winning 3-0. The Utes are 8-6 at home, 2-10 away and 2-0 at a neutral site against the Aztecs.
* Utah leads the all-time series with UNLV 14-1. The last time the two teams met, on Oct. 17, Utah won 3-0 at Crimson Court. The Utes are 6-0 at home, 7-1 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. the Rebels.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Beth Launiere:
On this weekend's matches at San Diego State and UNLV - "This is a tough road trip. Both teams player very well at home. We've got a lot of momentum right now and we want to keep it going strong as we head into the Mountain West Conference Tournament."
USA TODAY/AVCA TOP 25 NOV. 10, 2003
Rank School Total 2003 Last
(1st-place Votes) Points Record Week
1 USC (65) 1,625 24-0 1
2 Hawai'i 1,551 26-1 2
3 Florida 1,502 26-1 3
4 Pepperdine 1,427 20-2 4
5 Kansas State 1,327 23-3 5
6 Georgia Tech 1,278 26-1 7
7 Stanford 1,256 18-5 8
8 UCLA 1,132 20-5 6
9 California 1,092 19-4 9
10 Nebraska 1,070 22-3 10
11 Washington 943 17-7 11
12 Notre Dame 865 21-2 12
13 Santa Clara 759 17-8 14
14 Northern Iowa 751 21-4 13
15 Colorado State 682 21-4 15
16 Penn State 673 22-4 16
17 Loyola Marymount 603 22-5 17
18 Texas A&M 402 18-6 21
19 Louisville 370 17-4 23
20 Cincinnati 336 25-2 24
21 UC Santa Barbara 263 16-7 19
22 San Diego 255 17-8 18
23 Wisconsin 176 18-7 22
24 Minnesota 163 17-9 20
25 Illinois 161 19-5 NR
Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Michigan State 119, Southwest Missouri State 98, Arizona 49, Florida A&M 42, San Francisco 29, Arkansas 27, Ohio 25, Missouri 20, Maryland 15, Kansas 7, Utah 3.
MWC STANDINGS Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
Colorado State 12 0 1.000 21 4 .840
UTAH 10 2 .833 16 7 .696
BYU 8 4 .667 18 7 .720
San Diego State 7 5 .583 17 11 .607
UNLV 4 8 .333 11 14 .440
Air Force 3 9 .250 13 13 .500
Wyoming 3 9 .250 14 14 .500
New Mexico 1 11 .083 4 22 .154
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, the Utes rank second in the MWC in digs (13.35) and assists (13.68), third in blocks (2.98), opponent hitting percentage (.173), hitting percentage (.240) and kills (15.16), and fourth in service aces (1.66).
In conference-only statistics, Utah leads the league in hitting percentage (.266), opponent hitting percentage (.155), ranks second in kills (15.72), assists (14.30) and digs (13.51), and third in blocks (2.98) and service aces (1.60).
Individually, Kim Turner ranks second in blocks per game (1.51), kills per game (4.02) and points (5.15), and fourth in hitting percentage (.336). Sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt is eighth in kills per game (3.67) and ninth in points per game (4.19). Senior Jackie Morrill is second in digs per game (3.41), while sophomore Danielle Leichliter is second in services aces per game (0.44). Junior Tracy Neumeier is tied for seventh in service aces per game (0.34) and seventh in assists (9.36), while junior Lyndsey Henderson is eighth in blocks per game (1.15). Junior Kelsie Kartchner is eighth in assists (8.42) and 10th in hitting percentage (.297), and freshman Amie Toone is tied for 12th in blocks per game (1.04).
In conference-only statistics, Turner ranks first in blocks (1.51), hitting percentage (.404) and points (5.48), and second in kills (4.33). Morrill leads the league in digs (3.58), while Neumeier ranks sixth in service aces (0.37) and seventh in assists (10.83). Sommerfeldt is ninth in kills (3.58) and points (4.08), while Leichliter is second in service aces (0.50). Toone is 11th in blocks (1.08), while Henderson is eighth in hitting percentage (.312) and 12th in blocks (1.07). Kartchner is ninth in assists (5.58).
KARTCHNER REIGNING MWC CO-PLAYER OF WEEK:
Utah's Kelsie Kartchner is the MWC Co-Player of the Week for Nov. 2-8. She shared the honor with CSU middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley. Kartchner is a first-time award winner. Kartchner showed her versatility by playing outside hitter and setter in Utah's 6-2 offensive scheme last week. She posted her second triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 25 assists and 12 digs in a 3-1 victory over BYU, marking the Utes' seventh straight win over the Cougars. Kartchner also posted four blocks, including two solos, and hit .381 (11-3-21). She averaged 2.75 kills, 6.25 assists, 3.0 digs and 1.0 blocks per game.
CLOSING IN:
Senior All-America candidate Kim Turner currently has 1,472 kills on her career, good for second place all-time in the Ute record book. She needs 94 more kills to move into first place (1,566). Turner already ranks first in both total blocks (628) and block assists (554), third in block solos (74) and fifth in attempts (3,031).
STEADY SOMMERFELDT:
Sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt has posted double-digit kills in 20 of 23 matches this season. Her 15-match streak was ended in Utah's three-game win over Air Force on Oct. 31.
BLOCKING MACHINE:
Kim Turner, the all-time Utah blocks leader, has recorded at least one block in the last 117 matches, dating back to her freshman year in 2000. In fact, the senior has at least one block in 119 of the 120 matches of her career at Utah. The only match in which she didn't record a block was Sept. 2, 2000, against New Hampshire, in just the third match of her career.
TURNER PRESEASON MWC PLAYER OF YEAR:
Senior Kim Turner, the reigning Co-MWC Player of the Year, was selected by the league's head coaches as the 2003 preseason MWC Player of the Year. Turner is the only two-time MWC Tournament MVP in league history.
Joining Turner on the preseason all-conference team was junior setter Kelsie Kartchner, who was named the Best Setter at last year's MWC Tournament.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF WEEK FOR OCT. 27-NOV. 1:
Middle blocker Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Oct. 27-Nov. 1. Turner helped the Utes to a pair of wins over Air Force and New Mexico last week. She hit more than .200 above her season average last week as she put away 25 kills in 40 attempts for a .525 efficiency. She was hitting .319 entering last week's competition. The All-America candidate hit .647 (12-1-17) with five digs and five blocks vs. the Falcons, followed by a .435 mark (13-3-23) with eight digs and six blocks vs. the Lobos. For the week, Turner averaged 4.17 kills, 2.17 digs and 1.83 blocks per game.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR OCT. 12-18:
Senior captain Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Oct. 12-18, after helping the Utes to wins over UNLV and San Diego State. After dropping the first game of the UNLV match, Turner paced a Utah rally by recording her second triple-double of the year with 20 kills, 13 digs and 10 blocks, including three solo blocks, while hitting .467 vs. the Rebels. In the victory over San Diego State, she hit .500 with 14 kills, six digs and eight blocks. For the week, Turner hit .480 (34-10-50) and averaged 4.86 kills, 2.71 digs, 2.57 blocks and .43 aces per game.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR SEPT. 1-6:
Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Sept. 1-6. Turner was named MVP of the Utah Classic for the third straight year as she helped the Utes capture the championship. In a five-game win vs. Washington State, Turner posted a triple double (15 kills, 15 digs, 11 blocks) and set Classic five-game records with nine block assists and three aces. For the week, Turner hit .284 and averaged 3.55 kills, 2.82 digs and 1.82 blocks per game.
INTERNET AUDIO/VIDEO BROADCASTS:
All of Utah's home matches can be seen and heard on the Internet through live audio and video streaming. To listen/watch, go to: http://155.99.112.235/vball/. You can also go to the volleyball page at www.UtahUtes.com and click on "Watch/Listen to Ute Home Matches Live."
UP NEXT:
The Utes travel to San Diego, Calif., for the 2003 MWC Tournament next Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 20-22, at Peterson Gym on the campus of San Diego State.
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