Nov. 10, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY - With a pair of Mountain West Conference road victories at San Diego State and UNLV last week, the University of Utah volleyball team improved one spot to No. 23 in the Bison/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll, the AVCA announced Monday.

Utah (19-5, 11-2 MWC) has won 11 consecutive conference matches and 12 of its last 13 contests overall. The Utes currently enjoy a half-game lead in the win column over Colorado State for first place in the conference standings. The Utes appeared in the national rankings for the first time this season on Nov. 3, coming in at No. 24.

Individually, Utah's Lori Baird earned her third Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Week award this season, the league office announced Monday. Baird has been recognized with the honor three times this season, all since Oct. 6. Baird has now won four career conference player of the week awards.

The six-foot-one Murray, Utah, native helped Utah to a three-set win at San Diego State Thursday by serving a career-high seven service aces, while chipping in nine kills on 13 swings (.615 hitting percentage) to go along with three digs against the Aztecs.

After dropping the first set Saturday at UNLV, Baird charged a Ute comeback that saw them take the next three set in convincing fashion. Baird finished with a match-high 17 kills at a .516 clip and one attack error in 31 swings as well as a match-high eight blocks and six digs.

In seven sets during the week, Baird averaged 3.71 kills, 1.14 blocks, 1.00 aces and 5.29 points per set. Baird posted a total of 26 kills, two errors and 44 attempts for a .545 percentage. Baird shared the award with TCU's Kourtney Edwards.

A Ute player has earned the award five times since Oct. 6, with middle blocker Emillie Toone taking the accolade on Oct. 13 and Nov. 3, the first such honors of her career.

No. 23 Utah hosts BYU in a Deseret First Duel match Friday at Crimson Court. First serve for the match is set for 7:30 p.m., with the mtn. providing a live telecast.